'The Magnificent Seven' Is a Thoroughly Satisfying Western
Hollywood took an old property and made it new again.
— -- Rated -- PG-13
Starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke
Four out of five stars.
Sing it with me if you know it: “Dum, dum da-dum, da da da da da dum…”
Look, Hollywood took an old property and made it new again, and while we may scream and cry about Tinseltown’s lack of originality, at least here we get a furious, somewhat glorious, infectiously entertaining remake of a classic. And in fairness, the 1960 original "Magnificent Seven" was itself based on Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 classic "Seven Samurai," so this is a remake of a remake.
Star Denzel Washington teams up with Antoine Fuqua, the director who helped him score his Best Actor Oscar for 2001’s "Training Day." While Fuqua’s never before directed a Western, a lot of his best work plays out like a Western, thematically. This is a perfect fit.
Peter Sarsgaard, so good at being super creepy, plays Bartholomew Bogue, a sadistic and successful prospector who has enough money to hire a small army to help him do his evil bidding. When he wreaks havoc on a small town, the villagers, led by Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett), pool their money to fight back. Or hire someone to fight back for them.
That’s where Washington’s feared bounty hunter, Chisolm, comes in, whom we meet after he captures a wanted man who was posing as a bartender. It’s also when we meet Chris Pratt’s Josh Faraday, a charming, alcoholic con man of sorts who’s quick on the draw and even quicker with his slight-of-hand card tricks. Once Emma convinces Chisolm to help her fight Bogue, Chisolm rounds up a posse, starting with Faraday, then including his old Civil War buddy Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), a wanted Mexican gunslinger named Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Fulfo), and legendary mountain man Jack Home (Vincent D’Onofrio).
While the original "Magnificent Seven" played on offensive stereotypes, this version’s respectful, and basically colorblind. Chisolm and Robicheaux became friendly during the Civil War, though Robicheaux fought for the South and Chisholm is clearly black. The genesis of their relationship is never defined, nor does it need to be. Washington’s humanity, Fuqua’s direction, and Richard Wenk and Nic Pizzolatto’s writing transcends stereotypes and skin color in a way that's virtually non-existent in any film genre.
A word about Washington. Even when he played Dr. Chandler on the 1980s TV medical drama "St. Elsewhere," which I watched as a 10-year-old kid, he stood out, bringing a realness then that he’s since brought to every project, no matter what character he’s playing. Fame has probably changed him a bit but I’m willing to bet he’s still that same kid from Mt. Vernon, New York, who cut his teeth at the Boys & Girls Club. He hasn’t forgotten where he came from. As he told a friend of mine recently, he’s just a regular guy with an extraordinary job.
The genius here is putting Washington in a movie with talents like Pratt, Hawke and D’Onofrio.
The movie isn’t without its faults. It’s still an old-fashioned Western and while it overcomes silly stereotypes, it’s filled with gratuitous, nonsensical violence. Still, that’s what you’d expect.
"The Magnificent Seven" is a thoroughly satisfying, well-executed modern-day Western.