Martin McDonagh’s black comedy ‘Seven Psychopaths’ hit theaters Friday, October 14, 2012, and will compete with ‘Taken 2’, ‘Frankenweenie’, ‘Argo’, and ‘Sinister.’ It has a unique spot at the box office with its impressive cast and offbeat sense of humor. While ‘Psychopaths’ is certainly the delightful black sheep of the October movie spread, it may leave the audience feeling somewhat disappointed.

Spoilers ahead.

‘Seven Psychopaths’ takes place in Los Angeles and centers around a group of friends. The first is Marty (Colin Ferrell), a struggling alcoholic screenwriter. He is currently working on a screenplay entitled ‘Seven Psychopaths’ and needs to have it finished soon to give to his agent. However, Marty has a huge dose of Writer’s Block and cannot focus on the story for more than a few hours a day. Meanwhile, his friends Billy (Sam Rockwell) and Hans (Christopher Walken) run a dog kidnapping business. They find rich clients out walking their dogs, snatch them up, and then turn the dogs in after the owners post rewards for them. Billy does it for easy money while Hans does it to pay for treatment for his hospital-bound wife.

Billy unfortunately kidnaps Bonnie, the dog owned by an unstable mobster named Charlie (Woody Harrelson). Charlie sends his men out into the city and they quickly find Hans and Marty. Hans and Marty are rescued by the mysterious Jack of Diamonds serial killer and narrowly escape. Charlie tracks down Hans’ wife and kills her when she doesn’t give up the location of her husband or the dog. After Hans, Marty, and Billy find out that Charlie means business, it is a race to get out of town before he guns them down over his precious little shih tzu.

‘Seven Psychopaths’ has two points that make it a strong film: the cast and the writing. First, the cast is by far one of the most colorful and well picked in this year’s selection of movies. The standout performance goes to Walken, who nails every single line flawlessly. However, it is not just his comedic timing that sets him apart from the others. Hans’ storyline is the only one that is taken seriously at all times and is deeply tragic from start to finish. His backstory is chilling and impressive, giving the black comedy all the darkness it can handle. His persona is softened by the presence of his lovely wife, who easily steals the audience’s heart within five minutes of meeting her. The movie’s trailer would not lead one to believe that there would be an emotional connection with this wacky trio of friends, but it is a welcome sight in the middle of all the gore.

Harrelson is also in top form with his erratic, cruel role as Charlie, who is unbalanced in every sense of the word. His obsession with his dog Bonnie is hysterical, but his coldblooded nature sobers some of the laughs with absolute precision. There are many times in the film where one is trying to decide whether to chuckle or gasp in horror at something Charlie does. It is definitely one of Harrelson’s best roles in recent history and he nails the part.

The writing for the first and second acts is superb. The film openly mocks itself, examines its flaws, and parodies certain archetypes and clichés in action flicks. Marty is an excellent example of an upcoming writer trying to understand the process of writing and learning what works and what does not. Billy appears to represent the ignorant side of the writing world that thinks he knows what people want. Hans appears to represent the seasoned writers who take their time with themes and understand the sacrifices necessary to achieve them. It was a brilliant decision to have these three men interact and embody the warring parts that make up screenwriters and filmmakers.

However, the writing is also the movie’s biggest flaw. The third act is the weakest part of ‘Seven Psychopaths’ because things start to deteriorate. The dialogue is sloppy, unfocused, and sometimes unnecessary. There are several actions carried out by Marty and Hans that simply do not make sense in the context of the movie or in the context of their characters. They each show massive potential but neither of them fulfill it by the film’s end. Hans’ fate is especially disappointing since he is by far the best character of the bunch.

Additionally, there are a lot of predictable events in the film, despite its focus on chaotic comedy. Many events can be seen coming either due to an overabundance of foreshadowing, such as the identity of the Jack of Diamonds killer, or because of the nature of the black comedy genre. In majority of black comedies, most of the main characters die and ‘Seven Psychopaths’ is no different.

Overall, ‘Psychopaths’ has a likable tartness to it that fans of black comedies will enjoy, but ultimately, it does not live up to its potential. Still, if you like Quentin Tarantino-esque dialogue, egregious violence, or Christopher Walken, give it a shot.

Grade: 3.5/5

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Looking at Real Steel’s trailer is kind of like watching snip-its of the old show Battle Bots, if the robots were a 100 feet high and could box.  You could say it’s an expensive movie about Rock’em Sock’em Robots.

Richard Matheson, writer of the book I Am Legend had inspired the movie with his book named Steel.  The most recent trailer summarizes a story of a down on his luck, ex-boxer and father who tries to do right by his son.  The goal is to find a robot to fight in the ring.  The father and son find a small beat up one in a junkyard late at night. Of course, the robot can understand the kid and they both form a bond.

If I wanted to see a movie about a kid befriend a giant robot , I would watch Iron Giant.  It basically has the same story, a single minimum wage mother who tries to make ends meet for her son.  Her son finds a giant robot and makes friends with it.  So far, there is not a lot going for the movie except giant fighting robots.

There are a lot of reasons why this movie puts me off.  One: I already mentioned, is that it is the same as Iron Giant but it does not seem as heart- wrenching nor as sophisticated.  Two: the robots are remote controlled. So high stakes will be hard to create.  The only high stake in this movie is the father needing money to raise his son.

So why would an audience care about a 100-foot-tall robot who can understand a kid, without making it like Iron Giant, or even Bicentennial Man?   Of course, they will really have to develop the robot’s character in order for that to happen.  But looking at the first trailer, it just seems to only focus on robots fighting.  The only way for this movie to actually make us care, is to develop the characters in a way that we sympathize with them.

Another movie this is going to be like is Cinderella Man with Russell Crowe but with robots.  Cinderella Man is about a down on his luck boxer/father and puts himself back in the ring for his family.  Essentially, what Real Steel is going for.

I know I might be unfair to this movie.  I did not really give it a chance.  It fustrating when a $85 million budget is used to create this movie.  I mean it’s not the pinnacle of originality here.  Give that $80 million to a good cause or a better movie, because I do not see this movie making a profit.  Even if it does make a profit, the movie has been done long before this comes out in October.

One poitive thing about the production is that they have boxing legend Sugar Ray Robinson as an adviser for the fight scenes.  Sugar Ray is an amazing boxer, even proclaimed as the best boxer whom ever fought.  I have no doubt that he will do a good job helping the crew choreograph bold fight scenes.

An interesting fact about the production is that Danny Elfman composes the score.  With him behind the music, I think the score will be great for the film and be one of the better parts of the movie.  Danny Elfman, has scored films like: Good Will Hunting, Mars Attacks!, and Spider-Man.

Hugh Jackman takes the star role of the father in the film. His supporting cast is made up of many actors from the show Lost, such as Evangeline Lilly and Kevin Durand.  These are all pretty seasoned actors but I am more excited to see eleven-year-old Dakota Goyo act.  Goyo has such a natural talent for acting that it will be fun to see what he does in this movie as Hugh Jackman’s son.

Overall, this movie is not the most original film out there.  We will have to wait and see if the movie will turn out well.  It’s really up in the air.  With Sugar Ray behind the scenes putting some flare into the fighting, with Danny Elfman creating the score, and with Goyo acting I think it will be fun to watch but it does not really make me feel like I’m going spend my $10 on it when I could spend it on other better and more original movie.

I mean Transformers 3 just came out, how many fighting robot movies is Hollywood going to make?

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