Review
'The Magnificent Seven' is a remake worth watching
September 28, 2016
Greedy, ruthless, slimy, industrialist Bartholomew Bogue and his hired guns take control of small town called Rose Creek looking to mine their gold. Desperate for help, the town seeks out some men who have the skill to drive out these men once and for all. They find a man named Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) who agrees to take on this impossible mission. His first recruit is a gunfighter named Josh Farraday (Chris Pratt). Together they round up five more talented fighters who form the Magnificent Seven.
This "Magnificent Seven" has been on my radar for quite some time now. I was excited when they heard they were making a remake of the classic western 1960’s "Magnificent Seven" (which is essentially a remake of the 1954 Japanese movie called "Seven Samurai") and became even more excited when I heard who they were casting. They gave us an all-star cast that includes Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio and more. Along with a talented cast, we have a director, Antoine Fuqua, who is a great talent and also has prior experience working with Washington ("Training Day" and "Equalizer," both excellent films).
Alright alright, enough introductions to the movie. You guys want to know if it is any good or not, right? The answer is a definite yes! Now this is one magnificent movie! I had an absolute blast with "Magnificent Seven!" The two hours blew right by because I was having so much fun with this movie. As I mentioned before with the talented cast, they all gave some terrific performances. Each character I felt has some depth to them or at least something really likable about them that makes you feel interested and root for them. Fuqua then uses each one of their talents to make the movie fun, funny and have some more serious tones to it from time to time. He also delivers some great action as well. Smaller actions scenes are thrown in here and also two big shootouts, all of which are really something fun to watch.
As I stated earlier, I thought this movie was “magnificent.” I said that for a number of different reasons. It was "punny" and fit the title, I really did have a great time with this film and lastly aspects of the movie are done really well. However some people I have talked to have had some issues with "Magnificent Seven." Their reasons are that it doesn’t really bring anything new to the western genre, that it was only really a cash grab opportunity by Hollywood and that it lacks depth to it. While I can see their points and even agree with some of them to a point, for me those aspects don't matter. I went into this movie wanting to be entertained for two hours and have a good time while doing so, and that’s exactly what I got! "The Magnificent Seven" doesn’t try and reimagine the Western genre, it doesn’t try and overcomplicate itself and it doesn’t try and do too much different than what the originals gave us. This movie does exactly what it was supposed to do, and that is to entertain you and give you a good action movie with some laughs and drama here and there. Yes this movie has some flaws here and there, but none of which ruin or bring down the film.
If you go into this movie wanting to have a good time, I almost guarantee that you will.