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Director: Antonie Fuqua

Writers: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto

Runtime: 2h 13min

Main Cast:

• Denzel Washington as Chisolm
• Chris Pratt as Josh Faraday
• Ethan Hawke as Goodnight Robicheaux
• Vincent D'Onofrio as Jack Horne
• Byung-hun Lee as Billy Rocks
• Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Vasquez
• Peter Sargaard as Bartholomew Bogue

Review: by Erika & Sam

Erika and Sam both had a chance to see The Magnificent Seven a remake of a remake of an adaptation.  It's only fitting that we'd have dueling reviews for this classic western tale.

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Erika’s Review

The town of Rose Creek gets taken over by the greedy industrialist, Bartholomew Bogue. Desperate to save their town and people, Emma Cullen and other citizens seek outside help from bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (played by Denzel Washington). Realizing he can’t do it alone, Chisolm recruits a group of talented gunslingers to back him up as they go head to head with Bogue and his minions.

I didn’t see the original, though it is on my to-do list and I am familiar with its theme song. While familiar with the existence of the movie, the only “Magnificent Seven” I really know is the 2006 Olympic Gold Medal winning USA gymnastics team. But based on the trailers for this one, it looked promising enough. And no, I don’t think a good trailer always guarantees a good film.

The Good:

I don’t know what Denzel Washington is doing, but he is aging very well. Whatever he’s doing, I think he needs to keep it up! He looks great on screen and is very believable in is role. I’ve seen other older actors try to pull it off and sometimes a stunt double is a little too obvious (*cough cough* Harrison Ford in the latest Indiana Jones film *cough cough*).

I enjoyed the action scenes a lot. Sometimes it’s refreshing to see something that goes back to the basics little more. This is one of those instances where to have a decent action flick no supernatural abilities, super powers, or obvious CGI fests are needed. I do admit that I enjoy those as well, but variety is the spice of life.

I thought the cast picks were good. I enjoyed all of the characters and thought they each brought something to the table. I also got the vibe that this cast probably had a lot of fun on set and got along well. That’s not hard to imagine because these guys aren’t constantly in western films.

The Bad:

While I liked the characters, it felt a bit crowded at times. And with an already 2 hour and change runtime it straddles the line between being “average” or “long”. Originally I was expecting it to be closer to 2 and a half hours long since it has such a big cast. The shorter run time hurt it from a pacing standpoint and a character development standpoint.

Also, I wasn’t too fond of the villain. Quite often we encounter villains we either love to hate or love to love. He was neither and he felt too one-dimensional.

Sam’s Review

A not so magnificent ride at that lasted a tad too long

What I Liked:

Obviously, the major draw for this film was the star-studded cast and the actors themselves did a great job in bringing the characters to life (even if those characters weren’t very compelling- a bit more on that later). The actors should be commended for their performances because I am certain that not many people could pull off making this script even half as entertaining as these men did.

Additionally, I rather enjoyed the action. However, I feel I must disclaim that this is a very VERY violent movie – especially in its final act. There was so much chaos, bloodshed, and destruction that I actually did not realize it was rated PG-13 until I began writing this review. Now to me this isn’t that big a deal as it is included in what I like, but I felt I must state it for people who weren’t expecting such a level of violence- The final scene actually seemed like something that may have been in David Ayer’s “Fury.”

What I Disliked:

Where to start? Firstly, this movie was a tad too long. Some of the fight scenes dragged on a bit-which is something coming from me since I am an action junkie- also, there were several moments of dialogue that attempted to be deep and meaningful but really just felt out of place and took up even more time.

Next is the characters. I mentioned that the cast was absolutely fantastic but the writing for the characters was lacking. The story of seven heroes coming together to save a village/town is not a new one so I knew the general direction the story would go, but he got to the point where I could predict what the individual characters would do and that is not very good. Quick example, in the Marvel movie universe, I am generally aware of how an origin story will plot along. However, most of the enjoyment comes from taking the ride along with those characters and having fun with them along the way while learning about their personalities. In magnificent seven that piece was missing because there wasn’t much personality written into these characters. If I had to give a word to describe the seven warriors it wouldn’t be good, it wouldn’t be bad, it would be…meh. If I had to choose a character I believe it was most enjoyable it would be Vincent D’Onofrio’s character Jack Horne just because his eccentric tendencies provided laughter.

Lastly, I have to say again the word predictability is very applicable to this film. The big bad guy was so generic and from the first moment he’s introduced to his final scene he did nothing unexpected or unique to define himself as a memorable movie villain. The plot trotted long just as you’d expect with no twists or turns that just leaves you wanting.

 

Images Courtesy of IMDB