7 Psychos

Martin McDonagh hat mit seinen vorherigen Filmen große Erwartungen geweckt. 7 Psychos ist trotz der Starbesetzung und eines vielversprechenden Themas kein besonders gelungener Film. Zum Glück handelt es sich um keinen ausgesprochen schlechten Streifen. Man hat aber trotzdem das Gefühl, dass es nicht nötig gewesen ist, von den Coen-Brüdern und von Tarantino abzuschreiben. Der Film hat Schwung – u. a. dank des ausgezeichneten Soundtracks. Ab und zu kommt auch ein richtig guter Witz (meistens ist es schwarzer Humor)… Es ist schade, dass mir die Hauptfigur völlig überflüssig und die Art und Weise, wie sie Colin Farrell dargestellt hat, unendlich fade vorgekommen ist. Dreieinhalb Sterne runde ich wegen der Schauspieler (vor allem wegen Christopher Walken und Sam Rockwell) und wegen des Wüstenteils am Ende (einschließlich des Epilogs) auf, der wirklich toll gewesen ist.__PS: Die meisten Szenen, die mir in 7 Psychos gefehlt haben, gibt es auf der DVD als deletes scenes. Wenigstens etwas. (12.01.2014)

“Psychopaths sell like hotcakes,” Joe Gills said sixty years ago. It’s evident that Hollywood’s affection for psychopaths has only grown since then. Seven Psychopaths is an original postmodern pun (the only film I can think to compare it to is Kitano’s Sonatine) about which probably no one can offer better commentary than Martin McDonagh, who does so through the mouths of his characters. The film’s main value added, the ceaseless self-reflective revealing of the rules according to which films about psychopaths (i.e. a significant part of American cinema) function, raises doubts about how seriously the serious moments should be taken. Whereas In Bruges was gripping as both an existential drama and a brutal black-humour thriller, Seven Psychopaths doesn’t stick around long enough in either genre for the scenes to have a proper emotional effect. The transitions from serious etudes on the topic of “I kill people, but otherwise I’m also human” to gore farce are smooth and the actors play their roles in just the right way that you sympathise with them a little, laugh at them a bit and kind of want to kill them. However, these transitions are constant and sometimes are obviously added in only so that the film doesn’t just go with the flow and come across as ordinary. A drop of normality in this ocean of madness could serve well as evidence that the film’s creator means something seriously and as an emotional point of reference that elevates the film above the level of an evening’s entertainment. However, this is still first-rate entertainment of the with many levels and boasting one of the best (multi)genre screenplays since Inglourious Basterds. 80% (28.11.2012)

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. (01.12.2012)

Nobody writes dialogue and scripts as stupid as Martin McDonagh these days. This one is even more stupid, absurd (in the negative sense of the word) and clueless than In Bruges. I don’t know what this bloke’s playing at, but I reckon we’ll never be friends. If this is supposed to be some fresh, unorthodox direction in contemporary modern cinema, I, as a viewer, don't want to be part of it. Thank God for Tarantino... (18.01.2013)

Somehow I naively thought this would be a chillout movie. What I didn’t expect was that the originality would trump any consistency of the movie, and as a result, I had no idea what to think of it at all. Seven Psychopaths is a weird movie.  It’s full of great ideas, but it is hard to get into the story. Colin Farrell is the only relatively normal character in the world of Seven Psychopaths, and it felt as if he was somehow invisible in his role. It’s an irony that a man who is recovering from drinking then plays an old Irish alcoholic. I hope that this label won’t stick with him till his death. (25.04.2013)