Movie Review—The Magnificent Seven

by Peter J. O'Connell                                                                                                                                      

The Magnificent Seven. Released: Sept. 23, 2016. Runtime: 133 mins. MPAA Rating: PG-13 for extended and intense sequences of Western violence, and for historical smoking, some language and suggestive material.

The summer of 2016 saw movie screens filled by an array of sequels, prequels, remakes and reboots to/of earlier hit films and TV series. Some of these second-generation works were big hits; some were big flops. The week that summer transitioned to fall saw the reappearance of the classic (OK, semi-classic) Western The Magnificent Seven, in a reimagining directed by Antoine Fuqua. Actually, John Sturges' The Magnificent Seven in 1960 was itself a reimagining of the 1954 Japanese classic (definitely a classic) Seven Samurai, directed and co-written by Akira Kurosawa. 

The current TMS has the basic set-up of the 1954 and 1960 films. A band of more-or-less desperadoes is brought together to defend a village against attack by badder guys. In the current film, it's 1879; the village is Rose Creek; and Rose Creek is menaced by Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), an evil industrialist—boo! hiss!--and his hired thugs. Making the villain explicitly an exponent of capitalism is apparently a nod to today's social attitudes (at least as Hollywood sees them). (The attackers of the village in 1960's TSM were simply bandits.) 

For defense of Rose Creek against Bogue's threatened attack, widow Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) seeks the aid of Sam Chisholm (Denzel Washington), a lawman who has come to a nearby town to execute a warrant—and, in the course of doing so, executes, in another sense, several nogoodniks. Chisholm turns down Cullen until he learns that it is Bartholomew Bogue who is the threat. Then Chisholm rounds up six varied tough guys as his cohort of defenders. 

Whereas in 1960 “the seven” were all white males, in 2016 the diversity imperative is operative. In addition, to African-American Denzel Washington as Chisholm, there are: Korean Byung-hun Lee  as Billy Rocks, a knife-wielding assassin; Martin Sensmeier as Red Harvest, a Comanche warrior who prefers a bow-and-arrow to a gun; Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Vasquez, a Mexican outlaw; and three white males—Ethan Hawke as Goodnight Robicheaux, a Confederate vet with PTSD; Vincent D'Onofrio as topnotch tracker Jack Horne; and Chris Pratt as gambler Josh Faraday. In addition, Haley Bennett's character, Emma Cullen, learns marksmanship and becomes, in effect, an eighth member of Chisholm's crew. 

When Bogue's forces attack the village, the action is fast and furious, even involving a Gatling gun and dynamite. Eventually, Chisholm and Bogue go mano-a-mano. It turns out that there was actually something grimly personal from the past between them. The outcome of the fight is resolved in an unexpected way.

This “updated” Western is interesting and exciting throughout but not as “magnificent” as the 1960 version. Denzel Washington, as the leader of “the seven,” is perhaps—or perhaps not—as compelling as Yul Brynner was. Chris Pratt is adequate, but no Steve McQueen. Vincent D'Onofrio, however, steals scenes with the same skill that he displayed in his debut in 1987 in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket and in all those seasons on TV's Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Peter Sarsgaard tries hard to be the kind of villain that audiences “love to hate,” but he doesn't seem physically right for his part.

And the current TMS lacks the truly magnificent kind of score that Elmer Bernstein composed for the 1960 version. 

“Footnotes” to the film: (1) The 1960 TMS starred: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Horst Bucholz, James Coburn, Brad Dexter and Robert Vaughn. (2) Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke both appeared in Antoine Fuqua's Training Day (2001). Washington received an Oscar for his role in it as a corrupt and brutal L.A. cop. In TMS Washington's character several times cites his credentials, including “peace officer in Los Angeles.” (3) Director Antoine Fuqua has said that he always has loved classic Westerns. Some of the scenes in TSM will remind classics fans of Duel in the Sun (1946), High Noon (1952) and Shane (1953) as well as the 1960 TMS. (4) The fact that dramatic actor Denzel Washington has apparently now joined dramatic actor Liam Neeson as a popular action hero who is over 60 has been mentioned by a number of movie reviewers.