Seven Psychopaths
Starring: Colin Farrell. Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson
Director: Martin McDonagh
Rating: 4/5
Martin McDonagh really made a claim as an exciting director to what out for when he delivered In Bruges back in 2008.
But we have had to wait four long years for him to follow up In Bruges - and this week he finally does with Seven Psychopaths.
The movie sees him reunite with Colin Farrell and bring together one hell of an exciting cast.
Seven Psychopaths follows a struggling screenwriter (Farrell) who inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends (Walken and Rockwell) kidnap a gangster’s (Harrelson) beloved Shih Tzu.
Seven Psychopaths is a very funny and very dark movie that is hugely entertaining from start to finish.
The whole things is mess and absurd and yet McDonagh really does make it work as he manages, on the whole, to pull his many strands together.
Of course when you are juggling as many storyline as this you will more likely come a cropper and McDonagh does try to cram too many stories into one screenplay that, sadly, some of them are lost.
But because the central performances are so great you really can overlook these slight problems because on the whole this is a great movie.
Colin Farrell leads an all star cast as Marty, an alcoholic who is severe writers block.
It is another fantastic performance from Farrell with a character whose world is turned upside down by his friends.
However it is Christopher Walken who really does steal the show as he really knows how to do kooky characters so well.
He not only has some of the best dialogue but he delivers in such a way that he would make the phonebook sound witty and amusing.
Sam Rockwell delivers the other truly standout performance as Billy as he gives the movie its energy and it zing.
He is laugh loud funny as he is just so over the top - and yet he has a dark side that is the perfect balance to the humour.
Much like the ideas of some of the people in the movie the women on the cast list are poorly used and the talents of Abbie Cornish, Gabourey Sidibe and Olga Kurylenko are all desperately underused.
On the whole Seven Psychopaths is funny and witty movie that has great characters and some great storylines.
It mixes humour, tension and violence with ease and finds the right blend of all three.
Yes at time it does try to be a little too clever and by doing so trips itself up and bit but on the whole it is a great ride.
Seven Psychopaths is out now
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw