Now, the
name of this film does not give much away. I mean, it does and it doesn’t. As
you probably guessed, from the trailer and from the name, yes, it is basically
about seven psychopaths. Basically.
There is quite a hefty dose of violence mixed up in all of this. Come
on, we are dealing with psychos here. But it is also about something you might
not actually expect. Creativity. We all know that any sort of creativity –
writing more than most perhaps as it is such a solitary occupation when you get
down to the nitty-gritty of it – is a bit of a battle. But of course no man is
an island. And if you have not chosen your friends as wisely as you could have
done, they might well leak into your creative endeavours to create what we
might call an “explosive” mix… Especially in Hollywood the land of dreams…
Marty ( Colin Farrell) is a struggling screenwriter
trying to place together his “next hit” – a screenplay called “ Seven
Psychopaths”. Now, the title may be catchy but sadly it is about as far as
Marty has got. Billy (Sam Rockwell), an actor who is not all together very
stable himself, is Marty’s best friend and as such is dying to use his own
rather original approach to get Marty out of his predicament. There is,
however, a very slight problem. It involves actual psychopaths. And the head of
a gang (Woody Harrelsson) who is out to basically kill them all. There’s a Shih
Tzu in the mix. And of course, an almighty shootout at the end, worthy of the
name “Seven Psychopaths” – or so Billy hopes anyway. Well, one thing is for
sure. If he makes it out of this mess alive, Marty really is going to have one
heck of a story to tell.
As you will
be able to tell from the get go, there is not one iota of material that is
“serious” about Seven Psychopaths. True enough, there are some moments of
“genuine” emotion, but only to serve as a breather for the onslaught of absurd
comedy that reigns supreme throughout the show.
Now, the
onslaught of absurd comedy is not a bad thing. Nor is the profusion of violence
– as long as you don’t mind that sort of thing. The film is a bizarre one. I
suspect that a lot of people will see a lot in it that they like. But almost
definitely some things they don’t like. Stylistically the film is quite
“modern”. Multiple characters and merging storylines (the name of the script
should be a hint here), each slightly larger than life and the previous hero
come together to form the film. This means very slick and quick editing and a
lot of laughs / emotion based exclusively on violence. In fact, I have just
found the word I was looking for, it’s cartoonish. I’m specifically thinking of
Road Runner and Wiley E. Coyote, where more and more elaborate weapons come out
as the two immortal cartoon heroes “duke it out”. While this is all well and
good as entertainment and for some, you may well want a tad bit less pointless
bloodshed (by pointless I mean for comedic value only – or close enough for it
not to matter), fewer characters and slightly fewer “branches” on the
storyline. Or at least branches that are tied together a little more “tidily”.
I feel you. I kind of feel the same way. But on the other hand, I honestly
doubt this film was ever made for serious dissecting. It is loud, bawdy fun and
you should take it as such. Or not take it at all if you don’t have a stomach
for violence – but that’s another story all together…
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