An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind...
The Film
I remember sitting through In Bruges a few years ago and thinking, "I like this film a lot, but I can understand why my wife just hates it." We had similar reactions to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. I loved them so much, I had to watch them a few more times to memorize the lines. She, on the other hand, couldn't figure out what the hell they were saying. American audiences like Guy Ritchie's films, but they don't go over as well as Tarantino's fare, which reaches further down into the pop culture swamp. Martin McDonagh did a fine job with In Bruges (love listening to people try to pronounce the title), but he's stepped up his game another notch with Seven Psychopaths. It just feels more complete (if not totally crazy) and the characters feel more "Guy" than "Quentin."
Seven Psychopaths is the type of film that could have gone off the rails quite early and been a disaster, but the script and fine ensemble cast keep this locomotive fairly steady -- minus a few wobbles around some tight bends.
Colin Farrell has always been a decent actor. He's taken some crappy roles (Total Recall), but proved himself to the director with the duo's last venture. He's even better in this film as Marty, a struggling writer with a great title for a story (take a guess). He just needs some help with the material. Enter his crazy and crooked friend, Billy (Sam Rockwell), who is involved in a weird dog-snatching scheme with Hans (Christopher Walken). Billy makes an interesting suggestion to Marty about his story. However, it all crosses over into reality when they steal a dog that just happens to belong to a ruthless killer (Woody Harrelson), who's willing to join the ranks of Stalin and Pol Pot to get his beloved pooch back.
The film's dialogue is remarkably funny and scary at the same time (crazy people usually are) and it's hard not to marvel at the chemistry between the four lead actors. Walken is "Walken," but he's not as evil as he could be. Rockwell does the "is he serious or just totally insane" thing better than most. Remarkably, it is Farrell who holds the film together (in some rather good company), as he attempts to bring things under control. The film does a great job of blurring the lines between reality and fiction and it doesn't want to let go for even a second. The violence ventures into "Quentin" territory, but the writing is better and I'll take Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken over Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz any day of the week.
Feel like getting a little crazy with another view of this movie? Check out Lexi Feinberg's theatrical review of Seven Psychopaths.
The Picture
Seven Psychopaths looked pretty good when I watched it in a theater in NYC (it never actually played in our neighborhood), but the Blu-ray release is remarkably better. The black levels on this transfer border on reference-quality and the level of detail is just phenomenal. Flesh tones are not as natural as they could be, as the overall image leans to the warm side. Having seen the film three times, I am willing to offer that the director wanted it that way because it doesn't detract from the otherwise glorious image quality that has excellent color accuracy (clothing, desert, city details) and remarkable clarity. The image just pops on this release and may be the best looking Blu-ray from Sony -- an impressive feat, considering how incredible Looper looks on Blu-ray. A+
The Sound
While the surround channels don't get a huge workout from this DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 release, the overall mix is quite balanced and is clearly focused on the dialogue where it belongs. There is a nice ambience throughout the film (love anything that Carter Burwell does), and there are a few instances of gunfire that will rattle your nerves. However, this is not an effects-laden film designed to impress your friends. It's clean sounding and I rarely felt the need to turn the volume past conversation levels to feel engaged.
Extras
Final Thoughts
While not always on target, Seven Psychopaths is still a remarkably fresh and quirky film that will leave you laughing, but also scratching your head or nervously picking your nails. It steers clear of the Hollywood ending and offers far more than your typical Tarantino film filled with sane and genuinely scary people. The casting is first rate with great performances all around -- and how does one hate a movie with a Carter Burwell score? The Blu-ray transfer is utterly gorgeous to look at it; so perfect it should be used by Disney, so they don't screw up the next Star Wars release on home video. Highly recommended.
Product Details:
Where to Buy:
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Movie | |
| Extras |
