Directed by:
Antoine FuquaCinematography:
Mauro FioreCast:
Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Byeong-heon Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Haley Bennett, Peter Sarsgaard (more)VOD (2)
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With the town of Rose Creek under the deadly control of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), the desperate townspeople employ protection from seven outlaws, bounty hunters, gamblers and hired guns – Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington), Josh Farraday (Chris Pratt), Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), Jack Horne (Vincent D'Onofrio), Billy Rocks (Byung-Hun Lee), Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier). As they prepare the town for the violent showdown that they know is coming, these seven mercenaries find themselves fighting for more than money. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM))
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Reviews (11)
I have to admit, the 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven worked for me. I ended up giving it four stars, and honestly, I’m going to skip over the usual gripes I have with modern Hollywood and just say this was a solid blockbuster. Sure, the lineup of the seven is a pretty on-the-nose mix of white, Black, Asian, and everything in between, and yes, the political correctness is off the charts—but let’s not dwell on that. What the director nailed was the action and the atmosphere. It’s a simple, no-fuss, entertaining ride, and I had a lot of fun with it. It doesn’t feel like a lazy cash-grab remake, but more like a tribute to the original legends, and the cast definitely delivered. They worked so well together, making it a joy to watch—except for the villain, who felt like a bit of a one-dimensional idiot. But if you know the original, you’ll know he gets his just desserts in the end, and trust me, it’s worth sticking around for. All in all, a fun buddy-action flick, which Hollywood doesn’t churn out like it used to. Definitely a nice surprise.
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The Equalizer times seven. Fuqua doesn't show off that much, and so he only pulls a truly sovereign treat out of his sleeve once. The rest of it is standard action routine that's hidden far below his directorial standards, making the central seven whine even more in their uninterestingness, where about 1.5 charisma works in the flatness of the coffin planks. I've managed to miss out on the original for years, so I was expecting more of a B-action orgy in a Wild West setting than a major creative comparison, but the rescue of the White House chief worked more sovereignly.
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A decent and restrained remake of an immortal classic for today's times, bigger, noisier and more ethnically colourful, i.e. politically correct in the way that is befitting and appropriate in every other great film today. Washington pulls it off by walking, looking, and occasionally tossing in a morsel of wisdom, Pratt pulls it off by making wisecracks, and D'Onofrio plays the bear. The rest are essentially extras, which is a shame in the case of Hawke. It should be noted that the execution is also interesting. It’s top-notch, of course, with a fairly weird mix of classic, almost absurd shootout scenes where the good guys shoot in all directions and the bad guys fall like flies, plus well-shot fights mostly with bows, knives, etc. If it was R-rated with more catchphrases, it would have been exactly what everyone wants these days. But Fuqua had too much respect for the original and in his delivery it is both good and bad.
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The title makes the film a disservice than anything else. For example, many viewers would have taken it better to call it "Fast and Brisk", and without the inevitable (whether greater or lesser) disappointment that the duo of absolute classic movies of the silver screen, which have survived and will survive for decades, is remade in the form of an disposal relaxing movie that will soon be forgotten. On the other hand, there is the not inconsiderable fact that although it is a western second-rate one-time watch, it is a surprisingly fun and properly driven Western second-rate one-time watch, which is not afraid to use the screen to the fullest. In other words, it is consumable and unnecessary, but not bad. And in purely genre moments (graded tension before the first big shootout, etc.) it will keep you entertained. That´s for sure.
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Condemning it because of nostalgia or resistance to correctness is, of course, stupid. The film has problems elsewhere. The cast is strong, but Fuqua doesn't get much out of it, especially in the first half, just a demonstration of photogenic faces and poses. Things come to light in the final battle, and until then, sometimes a one-liner here and there sparkles, which Nic Pizzolatto knows how to write. The last third is a pleasant old-school battle with a good pace and quite pleasantly chosen deaths in the group. The problem of The Magnificent Seven is precisely that they are somehow indecisively straddled between a classic western and a buddy action film with a more modern style. When in the end there is a "Technicolor" palette with tombs and the notorious melody of Elmer Bernstein, it feels completely false. The golden age of the western is gone and this group rather swiftly passed it by. Which, given its composition, is actually too little. Sympathetic ***
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Gallery (67)
Photo © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
![The Magnificent Seven - Photos - Byeong-heon Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Ethan Hawke, Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Vincent D'Onofrio, Martin Sensmeier](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/161/152/161152864_a0dc52.jpg)
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