Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, and Antoine Fuqua have reunited once again for the new western, The Magnificent Seven.
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The leader the Magnificent Seven is Denzel Washington. As always, Washington is supremely charismatic in this popcorn flick, with solid direction by Fuqua. The most noticeable updates in Fuqua’s version are the ethnically diverse cast, a strong female character and slick action sequences that mark a modern touch. About The Movie: Technically speaking, Antoine Fuqua’s remake of the 1960’s classic is brilliant and in fact, much better than the previous one.
The idea of Magnificent Seven to mimic Seven Samurais was great, until they released the movie.
In a pre-credits opener, we see just what a baddie he is, tormenting children, shooting up a church and mowing down innocent citizens, but it’s just not enough to justify the endless violence that the seven return, especially since the townspeople are endangered and killed in the melee themselves. For some people, it may be irritating and redundant, but there’s fun to be had. Then there’s Josh Farraday (Chris Pratt), a likeable gambler who enjoys blowing stuff up, Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), sharpshooter extraordinaire and expert tracker Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio). They provide the comedic relief to complement the action. “So to have that opportunity to portray a character that could be that for this generation is the most exciting part”. And while there isn’t much dialogue, there’s plenty of action. The race and color of Chisolm and Martin Sensmeier’s Comanche (Red Harvest) fail to raise a single eyebrow amongst the locals. The joker of the group, played by non-other than Chris Pratt, who seems to bring his own specific type of humour to every role he is cast in. In this version of the movie, the bad guys are led by an evil industrialist named Bartholomew Bogue. His presence is definitely felt even if he’s not being seen, but that’s about it. I know he’s doing a lot of films now that will probably take him deeper. The character development is ignored and the scenes that should have shown us the bonding of the Seven feels underwritten and dragging. From the beginning of the film, they’re the ones who are focused on the most and it isn’t very surprising since Washington and Pratt are the stars of the film. The end result is a film where the characters are a bit one-note, but the overall visuals and the pulse-pounding action make it into a crowd-pleasing victor.
We’ve been talking about this throughout, but the number one reason to watch this film is the action.
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The Magnificent Seven ends up being a bit too predictable to reach its full potential, but the fun the cast clearly had making it allows the movie to be an enjoyable ride while it lasts. Only here, the heavy is a mining magnate determined to oust them from the town, creating no option but to flee or fight. After the two men on opposite sides of the law team up, they join forces with five other guys that not many people would want to mess with.
