Gorgeous but meandering
The Premise: When young boy Nat Love sees his father and mother gunned down by the ruthless outlaw Rufus Buck (Idris Elba), he vows to someday even the score. Now an adult, Nat (Jonathan Majors) and his gang (including Zazie Beetz and Edi Gathegi) make their living robbing from other robbers. But, when Nat hears that Buck’s gang (led by Regina King and Lakeith Stanfield) have busted their leader out of prison, he decides the time has come for his revenge.
The 100 Words: Stylish, gorgeous, with tons of foul language
and bloody shootouts, and several long soliloquies to showcase the actors, this
film feels like it was directed by Quentin Tarantino. But, first-time writer/director
Jaymes Samuel doesn’t quite have the storytelling chops to pull this off and
the picture lags in the middle third. There’s a good 20-30 minutes that
probably should have been cut. Still, the outstanding cast is given multiple
opportunities to shine and the whole thing just feels fresh and fun with a
great ending. It isn’t an award contender, but I am eager to see what Samuel does
next.
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