Magnificent Seven back with a bang
The Magnificent Seven, with Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ethan Hawke, Peter Sarsgaard and Haley Bennett. Directed by Antoine Fuqua. 3/5
THIS remake of the Yul Brynner classic features seven desperadoes of diversity: black bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington), cardsharp Joshua Faraday (Chris Pratt), Asian knife expert Billy Rocks (Byung-Hun Lee), mountain man Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio), Confederate veteran and sharpshooter Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), Comanche loner Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier) and good-natured Mexican outlaw Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo).
The villain of the movie is another stock character, the greedy gold-mining magnate Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) who oppresses the good and God-fearing people of Rose Creek with his land-grabbing and murder. Bogue has an army of henchmen to do his bidding and has the sheriff in his pocket. But his corruption, which parallels the corruption in society today, is to be short-lived.
The movie opens in the town church where the people have gathered to discuss their problems. In walks Bogue with two heavily armed, tobaccochewing henchmen. Bogue makes them an offer – either sell their land to him cheaply or suffer the consequences. A young man who speaks out is shot and Bogue orders his men to set fire to the church.
The victim’s wife, Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) rides to the next town to get help and after witnessing the gun-slinging prowess of bounty hunter Sam Chisolm, appeals to him to help her townsfolk.
Chisolm agrees when he hears the name Bogue. We later learn the back story.
In a classic line from the movie, Chisolm asks Cullen, “So you seek revenge?” She replies: “I seek righteousness, but I’ll take revenge.”
Knowing they face an army of baddies, Chisolm recruits seven misfits with the skills needed, starting with the gambler and ladies’ man Faraday, who has his own spot of bother with men who felt cheated. Among the recruits, Robicheaux is a friend from Chisolm’s past, and others, like Jack Horne, are legendary manhunters.
While Bogue is away on business the misfit seven turn out the sheriff and set about fortifying the town in preparation for the battle to come. Each man has his own reasons for joining this cause, but their desperate bid against a superior force is what makes them magnificent in the end.
The movie is a remake of the 1960 western starring Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn, which in turn was based on a Japanese movie,
(1954). There are some good lines and some good old-fashioned ethics. The moral of the story is that even today individuality trumps conformity.