Seven Psychopaths

This is no second In Bruges, but the rest is something I didn’t expect. McDonagh has swapped a smart black-humour tale of human nature and honour for a postcultural uncensored romp a bit in the vein of Pulp Fiction, expanded it with a few racy story detours, and included some memorable characters who can really ruin your life if you mess with them. But Seven Psychopaths has a couple of things in common with In Bruges. First of all, it's the absolutely great cast, including the traditionally unstable Farrell, the peculiar Sam Rockwell, who was probably unintentionally the biggest star of the film, the psychopathic gangster Woody Harrelson, who’s capable of anything for his little dog, and my favourite, Christopher Walken, who once again shows that he doesn't belong to the old guard yet. And then, of course, is McDonagh's brilliant direction, which gives each shot a fresh touch and somehow mysteriously manages to bring a certain amount of humanity to a purely absurd narrative, and to make the viewer feel invested in the fate of the heroes. The last star escaped because of the ending, where the actions of some of the characters were too cinematic and incomprehensible (this was also true In Bruges, but presented in an unforgettable and cinematically imaginative way). Though it's true that the moment Rockwell recounted the dream final shootout by the fire, I had no doubt about the full rating. In any case, McDonagh scores strongly again and given that he is still relatively young, we certainly have more to look forward to from him in the future. 4.5* (19/01/2013)

In Bruges was more magical, more atmospheric and more cohesive, but I have a weak spot of weird meta stuff like this. Brutality, black humour, a psychopath at every turn and constant self reflection through the character of the screenwriter, Marty (an excellent Farrell, compensating for this year’s pointless Total Recall), and his script of Seven Psychopaths. Yeah, the film’s protagonist is writing the script of the film where he’s acting. That says everything. On the one hand, it’s a bit like covering your own ass (anything can happen and everything can be explained). On the other, it’s a chance to unleash the screenwriters and have fun writing and filming something original. Which to a greater extent they did successfully. McDonagh is awesome. (02/12/2012)

Martin McDonagh has taken a huge beating with his previous films, and Seven Psychopaths was not all that successful despite its stellar cast and promising subject matter. Fortunately, it didn't turn out to be a bad film, but I still think that it could have been made a little differently than by ripping off the Coens and Tarantino. The film moves along thanks to a great soundtrack, and from time to time we get a really good (mostly black) joke... It's just a shame that I found the main character to be completely unnecessary and the way Colin Farrell played him to be very dull. I'm rounding up three and a half stars for the actors (Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell in particular) and for the whole final part in the desert (including the epilogue), which was really great.__P.S. Most of the scenes I missed in Seven Psychopaths are on the DVD among the scenes that were cut... Well, at least that's something. (12/01/2014)

Ow! Pity half the budget was crippled by the dermatology clinic taking care of the director/screenwriter's foreskin, which was in a really underwhelming state when the script was finished, and thus the characters have to be transported to the desert for the rest of the film, where they practically just talk to each other like in some French film. I love filmmakers who try to convince me all the time that they're better than everyone else, and giving McDonagh American money to make another movie might start some kind of war. Meta-meta-meta-methadone. (15/07/2013)

I enjoyed this immensely. This mosaic of stories all linked by the theme of screenwriting and... erm, murders, has all the ingredients necessary. Every psychopath has something special about them and you’ll love absolutely all of them. The stories layer up, link together and all the time you have no idea what will happen over the next ten minutes. Sam Rockwell acts his heart out, Christopher Walken is simply awesome and Colin Farrell is pleasantly passive as the possible incarnation of the director. To shake his writer’s block, Martin McDonagh has written a story about writer’s block and he was even allowed to retain the terrible title. The dream sequences (even though they usually appear in movies for faggots) are more than just well-filmed. Otherwise, I bet that nobody is able to “retell" this movie, you simply have to see it. Shake. (09/12/2012)