An awesome cast (including Christopher Walken and Colin Farrell - and while I haven't particularly noticed him as being good before, Sam Rockwell was great in this too) and a plot that wouldn't look out of place in a Tarantino movie (one of the earlier, better ones), 'Seven Psychopaths' is an interesting mixture of a classic American mobby thriller and a British crime comedy.
It's an interesting blend of styles, and a very engaging plot. It moves in ways that few Hollywood films do (which is arguably because, other than the setting, it is effectively a British film, but oh well). Though the meaning of the title seems clear, and a basic Tarantino style premise appears to be set up in the first half hour, the film begins to branch out as the psychopathic condition itself is explored.
The central character is called Marty, and is an unemployed writer. The script he is trying to write is a shadow of the plot of the movie itself. So does he represent the real-life writers of 'Seven Psychopaths', and their struggles to create the plot, or does he represent the viewers? A bit of both, I think. He is the writers while he is asking his friends about his script. In these scenes Billy and Hans are different aspects of the audience, with Billy wanting to end it all in a final showdown with explosions and gun fights, and Hans wanting more intelligent female characters. These two embody stark contrasts in personalities, and each sits on Marty's shoulder like a little angel and devil. But which is which? Well, they're both psychopaths, and this is what lends the movie an intriguing surrealist twist. At other times, though, Marty is us, as he watches mighty actors clash and events unfold around him in a state of frightened disbelief.
Colin Farrell does an amazing job as Marty, and the director, Martin McDonagh (who also directed the brilliant 'In Bruges') handles him perfectly, letting him sit back and let the likes of Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Rockwell do their thing, while having him show his own style (which is so refreshing that I'm honestly surprised that he's in a movie set in Hollywood). Like 'In Bruges', the movie makes fun of the absurdity of guns, and violence in general. My favourite example of this was the scene where Hans is threatened by an armed mobster, who says "Put you're hands up!" to which he replies "no." "But... I've got a gun!" And Hans snorts slightly "I don't care." The whole cast do very well, with Walken creeping towards the edge of self parody before expertly saving himself with some quality acting.
It's filled with self-parody, and it definitely knows that it's a movie. There's the movie-within-a-movie aspect, but the subtle way that this is expressed negates any cliche that this could create. It's also both not afraid to kill off it's characters, and able to kill them off in meaningful ways before the climax of the movie, which I appreciate. The death of Myra I found particularly sad, at which point I realised that this film had somehow got me to care for it's characters - a rather rare trait these days.
The ending was exceptionally delicate, and while I imagine some to get annoyed about the slight trick that was played on them, I loved it. The first end, with the burnt flag, the view, and the upbeat music, was too perfect. That was the ending to The Movie, not the end of the story. We still had to see how Marty had grown, and we are the bunny man at the end. That last scene was really touching, and I'd go so far as to say that it was one of my favourite endings of any film.
Colin Farrell does an amazing job as Marty, and the director, Martin McDonagh (who also directed the brilliant 'In Bruges') handles him perfectly, letting him sit back and let the likes of Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Rockwell do their thing, while having him show his own style (which is so refreshing that I'm honestly surprised that he's in a movie set in Hollywood). Like 'In Bruges', the movie makes fun of the absurdity of guns, and violence in general. My favourite example of this was the scene where Hans is threatened by an armed mobster, who says "Put you're hands up!" to which he replies "no." "But... I've got a gun!" And Hans snorts slightly "I don't care." The whole cast do very well, with Walken creeping towards the edge of self parody before expertly saving himself with some quality acting.
It's filled with self-parody, and it definitely knows that it's a movie. There's the movie-within-a-movie aspect, but the subtle way that this is expressed negates any cliche that this could create. It's also both not afraid to kill off it's characters, and able to kill them off in meaningful ways before the climax of the movie, which I appreciate. The death of Myra I found particularly sad, at which point I realised that this film had somehow got me to care for it's characters - a rather rare trait these days.
The ending was exceptionally delicate, and while I imagine some to get annoyed about the slight trick that was played on them, I loved it. The first end, with the burnt flag, the view, and the upbeat music, was too perfect. That was the ending to The Movie, not the end of the story. We still had to see how Marty had grown, and we are the bunny man at the end. That last scene was really touching, and I'd go so far as to say that it was one of my favourite endings of any film.
I'm not going to say that you're stupid if you don't like this movie, but you definitely aren't not stupid if you didn't.
Seven Psychopaths: 89.9