Review – The Magnificent Seven

Akira Kurisawa’s 1954 classic Seven Samuari has been remade and retold three times.  The first remake was in 1960 with The Magnificent Seven starring Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson.  The next came in 1999 from Pixar, amazingly, in the form of A Bug’s Life.  Now, we get a remake of a remake in Antoine Fuqua’s The Magnificent Seven, which is a wild and fun Western with one of my favorite scenes of 2016.

The story is the same: Seven “warriors” are recruited to help save a town from being taken over by savages.  In this version, the leader of these “warriors” is Chisolm (Denzel Washington), who then helps the town representative, Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett), recruit the other men.  These men all come together to take down the evil Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) and his army of men.

This is an all-star cast and they all show up to play.  Denzel Washington is usual Denzel Washington.  He’s charming, badass, and carries the movie.  He and Fuqua seem to have a good thing going, as they both seem to bring the best out in one another.  Chris Pratt is his usual hilarious self.  The under-appreciated Peter Sarsgaard actually gets a role he can do something with and is perfect as the menacing villain.  I loved Vincent D’onofrio as the “bear is human skin” Jack Horne.  The rest of the cast of Bennett, Ethan Hawke, Byung-hun Lee, and Martin Sensmeier are all serviceable in their roles.

The first half of the movie plays out like a classic Western, featuring large landscapes, gambling, shooting, quick dialog.  It was nice to see Fuqua did his homework and understood how to make a Western.  But, the second half especially that climax, really showed that this was a modern, new vision of the classic story.  The last 45 minutes of the film is an exciting, shoot ’em up climax that is one of the best and most entertaining scenes of 2016.

The Magnificent Seven isn’t anything mind-blowing, but God damn, is it not entertaining.  With it’s charming cast, explosive action, and attention to the detail of the Western genre, this is a wild and fun film and solid remake of a classic.

MY RATING – 3/4

Did you see The Magnificent Seven?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook and YouTube by searching Kevflix.