The film begins as a ‘hip’ Western with a flashy opening and contemporary music. Initially it appears to be some sort of ‘black power’ film with black actors in the leading parts. When the film continues, also the bad guys prove to be black, so it is more an almost entirely black cast movie.
In the cliffhanger we see a young boy who watches his family being killed. This boy -of course- is the main character in the film years later. Naturally, he is after the people responsible for his parents’ deaths.
Nat Love (Jonathan Meyers) also became a fairly famous outlaw who made an enemy of an even more famous outlaw Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) who is freed by his gang and out for revenge.
Having a mostly black crew of course already is a statement, there are more such statements in the film. These thematics, but also the approach reminded me of the mini series “Watchmen” a few times. The fiery eyes of Regina King surely added to that.
All in all, “The Harder The Fall” is a nice take on the Western genre with a few uncommon elements, yet fairly traditional to the style.
