If you love a good western, you can’t go wrong with The Magnificent Seven. It may not be a remake we needed, but it’s a remake we’re happy to deserve.
As far as remakes go, this one isn’t bad at all. This rag tag collection of household names and brand new talent have come together to make one hell of an enjoyable western. Complete with saloon shootout, a showdown in the streets, and enough firepower to arm a small militia, you get almost everything you could want in a classic western in Antoine Fuqua’s The Magnificent Seven.
Strengths
Cast
Whether you’re looking at the household names that starred in this movie, including Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Ethan Hawke (amongst others), or the more unfamiliar faces, including Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, and Haley Bennett, this cast is pretty phenomenal.
Not only do they manage to make us care about them despite limited time to get into each individual character’s story, they excel with the physical demands that each of these roles requires, and make all that wild west gunfighting look easy.
There truly isn’t a weak link in this cast, as everyone from Bartholomew Bogue to his cronies bring the best performances out of each other.
Humor
When you don’t know the characters very well, and the action is the highlight, you need something to keep this kind of film glued together. In the case of Antoine Fuqua’s update of The Magnificent Seven, the humor does this job in spades. It’s easy to feel connected to a story when each of its characters can put you at ease.
Action
The action in this movie is clearly meant to be the focal point. There’s a lot of build up to the final battle, but once you get to it, it’s well worth it. Each of The Magnificent Seven live up to their name and give their all to defending the people of Rose Creek.
Each and every member of this band of misfits gets a moment in the sun throughout the final battle. It becomes increasingly clear what each man contributes to the team, and why exactly Mr. Chisolm chose them for his team.
If you are coming to this movie looking forward to some good, old-fashioned western tradition, you will not be disappointed. The Magnificent Seven hits all the high points with gusto and presents a fun, adventurous, and expectedly violent trip to the movies.
Weaknesses
Lack of depth
While this film hits on almost all cylinders, the one thing that we wish we could have seen more of from Mr. Chisolm and company was character development. We learn very little about 90 percent of the characters in this movie. By the end, one or two of the dozen or so characters in this film are fully developed, but the rest are simply whimsical, rough-edged miscreants that work well together to entertain an audience.
This movie could have gone above and beyond if we only had a chance to learn more about what motivates these men to fight these fights and live their lives as they do.
Ultimately
If you’re in the mood for the simplistic world of the wild west, The Magnificent Seven is exactly the kind of retreat you’ve been waiting for. We don’t get a lot of westerns these days, even with impressive directors like Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers reviving stories told decades ago, so when one of decent quality comes along, you definitely don’t want to miss out.
The Magnificent Seven is an entertaining two hours at the theater, and is thoroughly enjoyable as long as you come with moderate expectations and a penchant for epic fight scenes. You’ll be picking favorite characters within minutes of meeting them and anxiously wondering if they will make it through the final battle awaiting them.
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