“The Magnificent Seven” is fun but doesn’t blaze any new trails.
Gorgeous remake revives the classic Western but doesn’t blaze any new trails
If one had a checklist of the qualities that make a good Western film, “The Magnificent Seven” would fill every box.
Gorgeous scenery, a resolute hero, a town needing saving, an industrialist bad guy, sidekicks of all types, a beautiful woman being oppressed, gunfights that defy the laws of physics, ominous one-liners, conflicted do-gooders … yep, all there. This remake of the 1960 John Sturges film, which itself was based on Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 classic “Seven Samurai,” follows the blueprint perfectly. And why not? Blueprints exist for a good reason — they work.
Thus, director Antoine Fuqua’s new version of “The Magnificent Seven” does exactly what it means to, which is revive this classic Western movie for a new generation. It doesn’t even try to break any new ground. It’s like the movie version of comfort food.
You know what it will taste like, but you will still enjoy it. Sometimes we just need heroes to do a good thing for the underdog. It just feels good.
That’s not to say it’s a great movie. There’s not a lot of character development. We don’t really get to understand why most of these seven heroes are willing to risk their lives against unbelievable odds for a small town whose people they’ve never met. The idea of heroism is simplified to the point of near mindlessness.
Then again, there’s Denzel Washington who is, of course, perfect as a heroic cowboy. Watching him lead a ragtag band of heroes for the sake of the innocent is just too good to pass up, silly or not.
Wealthy and brutal land baron Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) has the town of Rose Creek under his thumb, as his men run a massive mining operation nearby. When things get ugly between Bogue’s men and the townsfolk, newly widowed Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) seeks help from lawman Sam Chisholm (Washington). Chisholm enlists tough guys 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) to help him take out the bad guys. Ostensibly, they sign up for the payday. But later their motivation becomes more than that, but that’s the part of this film that never becomes clear.
That’s because there’s not a lot of depth to these characters. Most are Western clichés played out over and over again. Pratt, of course, does comedy relief well, and D’Onofrio surprisingly steals scenes as an overweight and seemingly screwed-up personality with a squeaky voice and a mysterious past (he’s one of the characters I really wanted to know more about). And Hawke is very convincing as a former Civil War sniper who clearly has PTSD issues.
Then there are the gunfights, which fall just short of parody. Then again, Fuqua was aiming to make a big Western, which requires that his heroes achieve the impossible The climactic battle is entertaining and over-the-top, but takes up so much screen time I couldn’t help but wonder if it robs the film of a chance to tell us more about these heroes who are risking their lives for strangers. With such a great cast, a film should try harder to get viewers to bond with its characters.
Still, even a formulaic Western is entertaining when it’s done well, and “Magnificent Seven” passes that test. It’s worth a trip to the theater. Just know that you’ve probably seen it before.