After an undoubtedly underwhelming summer at the cinemas, The Magnificent Seven rides into theaters to allay the summer blues. Antoine Fuqua’s remake of the 1960 Western classic starring Yul Brynner (which was a remake of the 1954 Akira Kurosawa classic, Seven Samurai). Fuqua and screenwriters Nic Pizzolato and Richard Wenk do not attempt to do anything new with the story, but they still successfully manage to craft a highly entertaining and satisfying film that delivers laughs and thrills in equal measure.
Although there may be seven heroes, the two who steal the show are Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt. Washington plays a bounty hunter who assembles the team to defend the small town of Rose Creek from a robber baron looking to exploit the town’s resources, and Pratt plays a cocky gambler with a flair for deception. The villain, played by the wonderfully over-the-top Peter Sarsgaard, is fairly one-dimensional, but Sarsgaard is delightfully contemptible in every scene he is in and successfully earns the audience’s contempt. Fuqua smartly introduces the villain in the first scene before spending the next hour rounding up the heroes. Haley Bennett’s performance adds a strong emotional core to the film, and she personifies exactly what is at stake as the seven fight to protect the town.
The first half of the film drags for a bit, as Fuqua spends the time showing Pratt and Washington recruiting the rest of the seven. Outside of Pratt and Washington, Ethan Hawke is the only other character to receive any sort of development. Always the reliable veteran, Hawke delivers a surprisingly layered performance as a former sharpshooter dealing with guilt from his service in the Civil War. Accompanying Hawke is an almost unrecognizable Vincent D’Onofrio, whose performance is a mixed bag. His inexplicably high voice is grating at first, but he does not get enough screen time for it to derail the movie significantly, and his religious zealot shtick will get quite a few laughs from the audience.
In an era of CGI-packed blockbusters, it is refreshing to see Fuqua linger on a shot of the gorgeous Western skyline or horse riders crossing a desert. The production design is authentically Western, as the bareness and simplicity of the Rose Creek set lends a genuine feel to the proceedings. When the action does finally arrive, Fuqua directs with a visceral style that absolutely pushes the limits of the film’s PG-13 rating. Men are blown up, stabbed, and shot countless times, and each death feels real. The invincibility of the heroes is also something that Fuqua has fun with: the heroes go from pulling off ridiculous stunts to bloodied and beaten within five minutes.
As previously mentioned, Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt are the two who are the highlights of the film. Washington, who has experience with Fuqua (Training Day), is his usual charismatic self, and Pratt continues to channel his best Harrison Ford as a cocky, self-assured gambler. He gets some of the best moments in the film, and is easily the most memorable character. Pratt’s performance is effortless, and it seems as if he will continue to cement his status as this generation’s big action star.
The Magnificent Seven has no delusions about being anything more than an incredibly satisfying action film. Perhaps that is what makes it so refreshing to watch: the film knows exactly what it wants to be, and it accomplishes its goals. The Magnificent Seven may not remain in the pop culture lexicon as long as its predecessors have, but it makes for great fun after such a disappointing summer.
