Seven Psychopaths, written and directed by Martin McDonagh

Seven Psychopaths, written and directed by Martin McDonagh

The cast is phenomenal in the outré Seven Psychopaths, and if only for that reason, this outlandish comedy- thriller would be worth watching, without taking into account the originality, fresh perspective, quirkiness, provocative and unusual material that is proposed here.

Even the actors that only have a couple of minutes, in the introduction, are more than heavyweights- Michael Pitt and Michael Stuhlbarg, the couple of characters that discuss a murder, only to be taken out by the one who would prove to be Psychopath Number One.

Sam Rockwell- the recent winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his exceptional performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri- plays Billy- the aforementioned Psychopath Number One, friend of Marty, the screenwriter portrayed by Colin Farrell.

Another friend of the above is Hans aka the always fascinating and out of this world Cristopher Walken, whose “business” is stealing dogs and then delivering them back to their owners, casing in the reward for finding them, after a feeble protest, a fake refusal of the money.

Hans and Billy make a serious mistake when they take the Shih Tzu called Dolly- was she? -- from the “Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know” mob boss Woody Harrelson in the role of Charlie- always a bliss, an ecstatic pleasure to see this artist, maybe stoned at the time- he says he is off marijuana now, but he was known as a frequent user in older days.

When Charlie finds that his beloved pet is missing, he pours his wrath down on the woman who had the dog in her care- Gabourey Sidibe, the phenomenon launched by Precious- and threatens to kill her, indeed, he even pulls the trigger…but his favorite gun has a habit of jamming…one of the very bizarre aspects of this comedy- drama.

One of the hatchet men of this mobster says that there is an individual in the neighborhood, who comes with missing animals and brings them back, taking money for his supposedly innocent effort and Charlie is mad that he had not been told earlier, aims the gun again at the poor woman and insists- she still has to get it, she lost my dog- but he shoots above her head for this is his idea of a joke.

The organized crime leader sends his team to find the thief and punish him, they catch him and it looks like this will be an easy revenge and Hans will be dead in short while, when the first psychopath enters the stage- again- and kills the two hit men.

Weaved into this story of the missing Shih Tzu are other narratives that have nothing to do with it, they are meant to be part of the screenplay written by Marty, who is interested in psychopaths, one of them being a Vietnamese who has a few versions to his tale, as imagined by the different contributors, in one take he sets fire to a convention, while in another he protests through the gruesome self-immolation.

Billy shares the girlfriend with…Charlie, perhaps it would be better said that Angela aka Olga Kurylenko is cheating on the “Mad, Bad and Dangerous Man” – who has nothing in common with Lord Byron, the one the famous quote is about, except perhaps a peculiar eccentricity- with the first Psychopath and there is a funny jest on being rather an extreme act to be not just with one, but two violent men.

Charlie wants to exact revenge- reminding one with his fury and lividity of Jules, from Pulp Fiction and his famous quote from the Bible -“And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord…”

In his blind search for vengeance, the mobster enters the hospital room where Myra, Hans’ wife is treated for cancer and after a weird discussion he kills the poor woman who had nothing to do with the missing pet- indeed, she is actually telling her husband that she hopes he will take another job and it becomes another joke when the government is mentioned, and a job working for the government would be no change from stealing- instead of dogs he would be taking other things…

Billy finds about his absurd murder while he is with Angela and he decides to do something senseless in his turn, shooting the poor lover in the stomach, just as part of the series of cruel, mindless, brutal series of Payback games.

A psychopath is someone who has no emotions, no feelings, but who is nonetheless able to perceive and speculate on the emotions of the others, often reaching positions of power- perhaps as high as the White House? - only the characters of this motion picture seem crazy, but it is hard to say if they are psychopaths or the diagnosis should be different.

Hans, Billy and Marty take the kidnapped dog into the desert, where the latter is outraged and overwhelmed by the actions of the former two, who indeed act in a mind boggling, insane manner.

Psychopath Number One calls Charlie, he tells him to drive in this desert like location, with no guns, and he wants a final confrontation- the shootout, a version of which he had described to his friends- to the desperation of the screenwriter.

The confrontation is both amusing and rather upsetting- as is the case for almost all the feature actually- for when the villain arrives, he is told to climb out of his car, turn around, show he has no guns and pull his jacket to make all this evident and then he is…shot down by the antagonist, raising the question...

Is this a fight between good and evil, as we generally expect, needing some hero to cheer for?

Or is it just bad against bad?

Well, the movie is called SEVEN Psychopaths for a reason…