I've been somewhat eagerly awaiting the opening of Seven Psychopaths and this was the weekend. The latest from the director of the strange flick In Brughes, Martin McDonagh, SP is even stranger. It might not be your movie if you like a clear plot line and if you have a weak stomach (blood, guts, popping heads, chainsaw murders, slit throats, sawing people in half, etc), but as dark, dark comedies go, it's interesting to say the least.
Colin Farrell is an alcoholic writer, working on a screenplay called Seven Psychopaths, who unwittingly comes in contact with seven gnarly soulless killers. His best friend is part of a small group of guys who kidnap dogs and cashes in on reward notices. Most of the victims are distressed dog owners, but one, played by Woody Harrelson, happens to be a gang hit man with only one sentiment in his life, his dog…definitely the wrong guy to hit up for reward money. Suffice to say, things only get worse and more complicated.
The cast is excellent. Farrell is quite good at being a clueless, drunk writer as is Sam Rockwell as his friend who just keeps making things get worse for him. In another strange well played role, Tom Waits delivers his usual gravel voiced, enigmatic dialog. If he didn't write his own lines, McDonagh must have studied Waits. Christopher Walken, one of the psychopaths of course, is his usual creepy self
I've always wondered about Woody Harrellson. A pacifist, buddhist, vegan, Woody is really great at playing scary, hostile killers who are always on the edge of violence. I find it fascinating that his father Charles, was a convicted mafia hit man not unlike the character Woody portrays in the movie.
The plot is not easy to follow, and at the end, you can draw several conclusions about what really happened, but if you're in the mood for a strange, violent movie and you'd like something even stranger than In Brughes, this might be the evening's entertainment for you. People with weak stomachs might either refrain or bring a barf bag.
