Martin McDonagh, among the best known Irish directors previously won an Oscar for the short movie Six shooter A Collection of 2005 Academy Award Nominated Short Films although he is perhaps best known for the acclaimed In Brugesalso starring Colin Farrell, a dark comedy with tragic overtones about two hitmen on the run.
I first heard of this movie last year when I saw the movie The Guard directed by his brother Michael John. A trademark of the McDonaghs is dark humor mixed with some irony and perhaps even some philosophy together with some absurdity. As I loved The Guard so much and it has the biggest domestic box office of any Irish movie ever made, I looked forward to this latest movie with more than a little anticipation.
If you're like me and like American directors who also write such as Tarantino with Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, or the Coen Brothers with No Country for Old Men, I think you will also like this.
Seven Psychopaths centers around an Irish screenwriter nemed Martin played by Colin Farrell planning to write a movie about seven psychopaths. Life begins to imitate art as a similar tableau to the one he writes about starts to unfold in real life.
Woody Harrelson plays Sam a local organised crime leader whose dog is kidnapped by Walken and Sam Rockwell's character who happen to be friends of Martin. Sam cares more about dogs than people. The real mixes with the imaginary in very intriguing ways, and kept the movie audience entertained. I particularly liked the scenes with the Vietnamese priest and the hooker, and the Quaker story. There is also a hit man with a white rabbit played by Tom Waits.
The revelatory performance in this movie comes from Sam Rockwell when he helps out Martin with the screenplay lending some psychotic absurdity to the scenes although everyone is excellent.
What I like is that McDonagh while clearly inspired by Tarantino and Coen imposes his unique style and does not kowtow to Hollywood conventions and delivers a movie that experiments with different styles of humor and yet manages to engross you so much in the moment that you do not attempt to guess the end. If you do you would probably guess wrong.
I love how he works the opening scene with two hitmen discussing preparing for a hit and how the scene turns out.
While I would not consider this better than say In Bruges there is a certain heaviness in the theme of In Bruges that is not present here and some people may prefer the more light heated nature of this movie which is a highly welcome and worthy addition to the McDonagh repertoire.
I hope the McDonagh brothers will work together as I think they could give the Coen brothers a run for their money.
I think you will love it and I hope this was helpful.
Some 3-4 years ago, director Martin McDonagh teamed up with Colin Farrell in an absurd but very funny crime comedy called "In Bruges". I loved that movie (and not just because it was filmed in the Belgian city of Bruges, where I spent my high school years). Now comes another crime comedy from the same team.
"Seven Psychopaths" (2012 release; 110 min.) brings the story of Marty (played by Farrell), a struggling writer who is working on a movie script called "Seven Psychopaths". His buddy Billy (played by Sam Rockwell) is volunteering to help in any way possible. At some point Billy steals a little dog, and only later do we learn that the dog's owner is Charlie (played by Woody Harrelson), a dangerous gangster who is out for revenge. Last, but certainly not least, there is Hans (played by Christopher Walken), a buddy of Billy's. There are a bunch of smaller characters in the movie. To be honest, I had a hard time keeping track of the multitude of characters, and the fact that part of the movie is a recreation of the script that Marty is writing. A script within the script, so to speak. After a while I simply let go of it all, and just watched the movie for what it is, regardless of the actual or percieved plot lines: another absurd (and I do mean that as a compliment) crime drama.
Couple of side comments: with apologies to Colin Farrell, but in my opinion Sam Rockwell steals the movie. His acting is sharp and he brings his character in a way that made me smile if not laugh out loud, just by seeing him. I also was surprised to see that this movie is not just playing at the art house here in Cincinnati (where I saw it), but also at a number of mainstream mulitplexes. The movie was not very well attended when I saw it this past weekend, and I can't imnagine that a dark and violent movie like this one, even with plenty of humor and comedy, will be a big hit, but I could be wrong of course. Bottom line is this: if you liked "In Bruges", which in style and approach is very similar to this one, you will love "Seven Psychopaths". If you found that "In Bruges" was not your cup of tea, save yourself the trouble and don't bother with this.
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Being a big fan of "In Bruges," getting excited for writer, director, and now producer Martin McDonagh's latest film "Seven Psychopaths" was like second nature. "In Bruges" is begging for a revisit, but it added a lot of humor to hitmen and crime situations that usually try to be gritty or as serious as humanly possible in films before it. "In Bruges" had this uniqueness to it and "Seven Psychopaths" is even more creative and hilarious in comparison.
A struggling screenwriter named Marty (Colin Farrell) has an idea for his next screenplay; a movie entitled "Seven Psychopaths." The problem is Marty is having difficulty coming up with the actual story or the psychopaths for that matter and his alcoholism often gets the better of him. His strange best friend Billy (Sam Rockwell), who kidnaps dogs with a religious man named Hans (Christopher Walken) and returns them to get the reward, has extreme interest in helping Marty write his story. What Marty doesn't count on is Billy putting an ad in the newspaper that opens the door for all sorts of crazy individuals to contact him and know where he lives. Marty's thrown into a world he's never dreamt of because of it.
If you've seen the poster for this, it portrays Olga Kurylenko and Abbie Cornish as two of the seven psychopaths. Ignore this. They maybe have eight minutes of screen time between the two of them and other than being the girlfriends of a few of the main characters are mostly completely irrelevant to everything else going on. The opening of the film is extraordinary; mostly because the appearance of "Boardwalk Empire" alumni Michael Stuhlbarg and Michael Pitt was completely unexpected. Their "shot through the eyeball" conversation immediately sets the messy and eccentric tone of the film.
The original aspect of "Seven Psychopaths" resides in its writing. Marty is writing a movie called "Seven Psychopaths" during a film you're watching with the same name. The entire sequence where Marty, Billy, and Hans go out into the middle of nowhere to write the movie is incredible. Not only is it massively entertaining, but it gives you a number of different scenarios of how the film could play out and how Marty will decide to end his version of the movie. It's as if it shatters the fourth wall and then just keeps running for several miles.
There's also this hilarious sense of logic throughout the entire comedy. Sam Rockwell is the funniest he's ever been. He acts a bit off, but everything that comes out of his mouth is just hysterical. His version of how Marty's movie should end is his shining moment, but he steals the show whenever he's on screen or opens his mouth. Nearly every conversation is just absurd though, but it's so absurd that it makes way too much sense. The phrase, "That's just crazy enough to work!" was meant for this film.
The rest of the cast isn't wasted either. It's interesting that Mickey Rourke was originally supposed to portray Charlie since Woody Harrelson fits the role so well. His obsession with his dog makes the Charlie character completely unpredictable. Christopher Walken is really superb. He makes Hans seem so much more interesting than he really is and his rambling is often the voice of reason or so dry that it's laugh out loud funny. Tom Waits as Zachariah is captivating because of his backstory and fascination with bunnies. His motives along with his after credit sequence are just written so unusually that it's amusing.
There really isn't anything else out there like "Seven Psychopaths." If that Marvel movie about "Deadpool" ever gets off the ground, you can imagine it to be a lot like this; people getting killed left and right, blood everywhere, ridiculously hilarious conversations in between and during, and the entire experience leaving a smile on your face. There's also quite a bit buried beneath the laughs and the killing; the question of whether the afterlife is real and peace being more important than war. This comedy has a very sentimental center that catches you a bit off-guard, especially when it comes to the emotional ending. "Seven Psychopaths" is an automatic contender for the funniest and most original comedy of the year.
Read Best Reviews of Seven Psychopaths (+UltraViolet Digital Copy) (2012) Here
Writer-director Martin McDonagh arrived on the scene with his brilliant "In Bruges" a few years ago. It was different and heralded a unique new sensibility on the cinematic scene. "Seven Psychopaths" is no less audacious but may teeter a little by the weight of it's quirkiness. The conceit here is Irish screenwriter, Marty(Colin Farell) is blocked in delivering a script to his employers. He has a title, "Seven Psychopaths", and a concept of a Buddhist psychopath but nothing has been transferred from pen to paper. Ironically a couple associates of his Billy (Sam Rockwell) and Hans(Christopher Walken) have kidnapped the beloved Shih Tzu of a psychotic thug, Charlie (Woody Harrelson). Marty finds himself waist deep in psychopaths while he bounces ideas about the subject with Billy and Hans. The film has an interesting structure but sometimes you think McDonagh may be biting off more than he can chew. You know you're not in Kansas anymore when Christopher Walken is the most normal guy in the room. That said the film leaves an impression on you that it may gain momentum on repeat viewings. As it stands I give the film an A for effort and a B for execution.
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This is director (and writer) Martin McDonagh's third film and first since the very good "In Bruges" from 2008. A pair of small time con men (Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken) specializes in stealing dogs, then returning them for the reward. Billy's (Rockwell) best friend Marty (Colin Farrell) is a wannabe screenwriter who only has the title for his movie (Seven Psychopaths) and a broad idea for a story. Marty's biggest problem seems to be that he's drunk all the time.
Billy offers to help him with the story but Marty is intent on doing it himself. Figuring he can give Marty some ideas, Billy runs an ad in a local trade paper, looking for reformed psychos to come in for an interview. Yeah, the film is full of craziness. This allows the always entertaining Tom Waits to show up as Zachariah, one of the seven psychos.
The films dognapping element becomes critical as Billy and Hans (Walken) kidnap a shih-tzu belonging to, yep, psycho crime lord Charlie (Woody Harrelson). There is nobody better than Walken when it comes to playing offbeat characters and he doesn't disappoint. While everybody makes contributions, this is Rockwell's movie. His character is interesting, funny and provocative. So is the movie. It is a bit complicated, so you have to pay attention. It is also extremely violent and the violence is pretty much just laughed away. Such is this wonderful dark comedy. It's absurd, messy, witty, smart and wildly entertaining. One of the best of the year.
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On the 25th anniversay of Elvis' passing, I thought I'd watch one of his films...this is perhaps his best, and in pairing him with Ann-Margret, he met his match. She sizzles in the musical numbers, and sometimes outshines the King when they're on-screen together.
