The Magnificent Seven

With the school year having settled in and the blockbuster movie rush having died down a touch until November comes, I would have thought that I was going to have to wait long for an upcoming film to capture my attention. I'm glad to say that I was wrong after today. After finishing up work this week and hearing the buzz about The Magnificent Seven, I decided to treat myself to another Western movie to conclude my week in high fashion. I know it is a remake of a 1960 film, which in turn is a remake of Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa. At this point I haven't seen the 1960 original film and I went to see this as it is. As a fan of western action movies like Django Unchained, I was pretty excited by both the action in the trailer and the casting choices shown. Coming out of the theater, I'm glad it did not disappoint and had an enjoyable time.

Plot: The story follows a town ravaged by this corrupt industrialist and they enlist the aid of a bounty hunter, played by Denzel Washington, to help them fight back. He travels around the area rounding up other skilled gunslingers to join in on the mission. From there it's a predictable story that leads to the climatic showdown against the villain and his army of gunslingers. It doesn't break any new ground or get emotionally deep. It's a straightforward plot that's been used by many movies and tv shows (even an episode of the Star Wars Clone Wars series used the plot in one of its seasons as an homage to The Seven Samurai). Even the the plot is predictable in that regard, it doesn't mean that you can't still enjoy it. The film has character interactions to carry it as well as nice doses of humor and great balance of action with story development. It can occasionally get into harsh circumstances for a western film but overall the story works well!

Characters: One of the main things that makes this western action movie worth watching are the characters themselves. The casting of this movie is well done in delivering what they wanted to deliver. With a lot of good talent on board, some of them have a bit more screen time than others but what they do with it shows them at their best. Chris Pratt is a westernized version of Star Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy and brings his comedic chops to the plate as well as his gunslinging power. Denzel Washington prove why he still is a powerhouse years into his acting career as the leader of the group acting as the glue that keeps them unified. Vincent D'Onofrio is another acting great that should be noticed after this, especially to fans of the Netflix original series Marvel's Daredevil who know him as the villainous Wilson Fisk. His performance here shouldn't be underestimated and adds another proof of his acting prowess under his belt. Ethan Hawke, Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier also did well as their own characters each had a signature stand out moment throughout the action fiasco. As for Peter Sarsgaard as the villain, his performance in the intro alone convinces more than enough to hate him so much. He brought out the creepy greedy gruff personality that makes you root against him whenever he appears on screen. In addition to that, this movie did something I thought wouldn't happen to one of the main actors character for a long while into their career, which impressed me that The Magnificent Seven actually had the guts to go through with it.

Action: To those of you who played Red Dead Redemption, imagine that kind of gunslinging in this movie. It's pretty well spread out but the biggest spectacle takes place at the climatic showdown. It's slick and to the point with bullets flying everywhere, quickdraw showdowns, some sharp close combat, and occasional explosions. The situation builds up to a confrontation, it delivers! It doesn't go into bloody gore action like Django Unchained but overall the action does get intense.

Overall Consensus: The Magnificent Seven helps the Western genre gain more momentum through an entertaining action movie that knows what it wants to do with its gritty action, great casting, and simple but predictable story. ⭑⭑⭑⭑

Reasons to watch it: You are in the mood for a good action western movie. You want to see any of the aforementioned actors like Chris Pratt or Denzel Washington. You want to see another movie directed by Antoine Fuqua. You enjoy seeing intense gunslinging action. You want to see the movie as itself without wanting to judge it against the original. You aren't interested in action movies that gets emotional.

Reasons to avoid it: You aren't in the mood for western movies. You might judge this too harshly against the original. You want to see an action movie that gets emotional. You don't like gunslinging action.