It’s a good film but never great and what holds it all together is the rare and powerful image of Denzel Washington, elevating everything around him.
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I remember, the one amusing thing is that [Denzel] was not being clear about where he wanted to shoot me.
Directed by Fuqua and written by Nic Pizzolatto and Richard Wenk, the movie attempts to recreate the classic Magnificent Seven story for modern audiences. “That you gotta leave that to other folks”. The title rogues are played by Oscar-winner Denzel Washington, Oscar-nominee Ethan Hawke, Chris Pratt, Vincent D’Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Martin Sensmeier. The banter between the men is the source of most of the lighter moments, though that’s as much or more acting than it is the script. Chris Pratt, naturally, has a gift for banter, though Washington nails a few key line deliveries. Hawke’s intensity keeps Goodnight watchable, but Pratt’s patented shenanigans are less entertaining than usual, and while Washington only has to walk in front of the camera lens to project strength and charisma, his Sam Chisolm is on the stiff side, not almost as engrossing as the taciturn heroes he essayed in, say, The Book of Eli or his last picture, 2014’s The Equalizer (also directed by Fuqua and written by Wenk). Without spoiling which characters, even the heroes have some unexpectedly way over-the-top deaths that heighten the stakes even if you really aren’t feeling any emotion for them. Ignore the hot air blowing in from the Toronto Film Festival, where The Magnificent Sevenpremiered, that suggests Antoine Fuqua’s remake starring Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke and an ethnically diverse cast, isn’t up to snuff…. Sometimes taking in the sights is just as much entertaining as watching some guy getting shot and flying back through a glass window out of a shop.
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Even with all of the negatives laid out here, I also can not say that there is anything outright bad about The Magnificent Seven. “Teaming with Fuqua for a third time, after “Training Day” and “The Equalizer, ‘ he plays, essentially, the part occupied by Yul Brynner in Sturges” movie and Takashi Shimura in Kurosawa’s original – a daunting prospect, but no problem when you possess Washington’s experience, authority and cache of cool”. It’s just a shame the overall film isn’t better. No one is going to remember this movie, but it’s hard not to walk away even mildly entertained by the experience. “Is it hard?” asks the gambler Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt).
