Few remakes have such an impressive pedigree as 2016's "The Magnificent Seven" (PG-13, 2:12). It's a remake of the 1960 film of the same name, which was a remake of Japan's "Seven Samurai" from 1954. The Japanese film was an original work of legendary director Akira Kurosawa, who co-wrote, directed and edited it. Critics consistently rank "Seven Samurai" as one of the greatest movies ever made. Just six years after that film, the original "The Magnificent Seven" became a classic in its own right, translating the action from feudal Japan to 19th century Mexico. That one starred Hollywood legends like Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn and James Coburn. The 2016 remake comes from acclaimed director Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day", "Brooklyn's Finest", "Southpaw") and stars Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Vincent D'Onofrio and Ethan Hawke. It also contains the last film score composed by James Horner (an Oscar-winner for "Titanic"), who died in a 2015 plane crash.
The 21st century version of "The Magnificent Seven" maintains the western motif, but moves the action north of the border. The tiny California town of Rose Creek is being terrorized by mining mogul Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), who is just as likely to offer a pittance to buy out local farmers as he is to simply take their land – and kill anyone who so much as looks at him sideways. One of the townspeople by the name of Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) offers all of the town's money to a bounty hunter called Sam Chisholm (Washington) to fight Bogue. The money gets Chisholm's attention, but he is also moved by compassion for the victims of Bogue's greed and violence – and has a very personal reason for agreeing to help. For this job, Chisholm gathers six more men: local gambler Josh Faraday (Pratt), skilled tracker Jack Horne (D'Onofrio), feared sharpshooter Goodnight Robicheaux (Hawke), lethal knife-fighter Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), Mexican outlaw Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and Comanche warrior Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier). As a group, their skills are magnif VERY impressive.
Before the inevitable showdown with Bogue himself, the Seven have a number of obstacles to overcome. First, these very different men have to learn to get along – or, at least, trust each other. Then, they have to get past the mistrust and fear of the locals – who are far from united about how to deal with their situation. There's also the issue of the defense of the town requiring more than seven men (as mag skilled as they might be), so these hired guns set out to train the townsfolk to fight – or, at least, try to. Of course, when Bogue hears about all this, he's going to counter with a small army of his own, which is going to require resourcefulness and strategy on the part of the defenders of Rose Creek.
"The Magnificent Seven" is a worthy successor to its 1960 namesake, but not quite what I'd call well, you know. The ethnically and racially diverse cast (with actors actually matching the backgrounds of their characters) brings an interesting dynamic to the story (and better reflects the diversity of the Old West). Fuqua's direction and the screenplay adaptation by Nic Pizzolatto and Richard Wenk give us plenty of character development (maybe even a little too much) and the performances are all great – especially from the little-known Bennett. The characters and the plot are appropriately compelling, but some of the plot points strain credulity and the story still feels a bit stale. Fuqua tries to amp up the action with a high body count, showing us very little blood, but treating the dispatching of so many people (both bad guys and good guys), with a casualness that some Movie Fans will find disconcerting. This is quality cinematic entertainment, but runs longer and is more violent than necessary. Rather than "magnificent", I'd call it "very good" and give it a "B".
The 21st century version of "The Magnificent Seven" maintains the western motif, but moves the action north of the border. The tiny California town of Rose Creek is being terrorized by mining mogul Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), who is just as likely to offer a pittance to buy out local farmers as he is to simply take their land – and kill anyone who so much as looks at him sideways. One of the townspeople by the name of Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) offers all of the town's money to a bounty hunter called Sam Chisholm (Washington) to fight Bogue. The money gets Chisholm's attention, but he is also moved by compassion for the victims of Bogue's greed and violence – and has a very personal reason for agreeing to help. For this job, Chisholm gathers six more men: local gambler Josh Faraday (Pratt), skilled tracker Jack Horne (D'Onofrio), feared sharpshooter Goodnight Robicheaux (Hawke), lethal knife-fighter Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), Mexican outlaw Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and Comanche warrior Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier). As a group, their skills are magnif VERY impressive.
Before the inevitable showdown with Bogue himself, the Seven have a number of obstacles to overcome. First, these very different men have to learn to get along – or, at least, trust each other. Then, they have to get past the mistrust and fear of the locals – who are far from united about how to deal with their situation. There's also the issue of the defense of the town requiring more than seven men (as mag skilled as they might be), so these hired guns set out to train the townsfolk to fight – or, at least, try to. Of course, when Bogue hears about all this, he's going to counter with a small army of his own, which is going to require resourcefulness and strategy on the part of the defenders of Rose Creek.
"The Magnificent Seven" is a worthy successor to its 1960 namesake, but not quite what I'd call well, you know. The ethnically and racially diverse cast (with actors actually matching the backgrounds of their characters) brings an interesting dynamic to the story (and better reflects the diversity of the Old West). Fuqua's direction and the screenplay adaptation by Nic Pizzolatto and Richard Wenk give us plenty of character development (maybe even a little too much) and the performances are all great – especially from the little-known Bennett. The characters and the plot are appropriately compelling, but some of the plot points strain credulity and the story still feels a bit stale. Fuqua tries to amp up the action with a high body count, showing us very little blood, but treating the dispatching of so many people (both bad guys and good guys), with a casualness that some Movie Fans will find disconcerting. This is quality cinematic entertainment, but runs longer and is more violent than necessary. Rather than "magnificent", I'd call it "very good" and give it a "B".