THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (2016)
Hello, loyal fans! I
realize that it’s been a long time since I’ve posted a review for a new film. I
have just been busy with college, marching band, and revamping my page. Oh,
yeah. Side note: I am changing the name of my blog from Elijah’s Film Corner to 433
Films. Not only will I be posting movie reviews, but I will also be posting
some film score concepts for short films, updates about new writing/film
projects, and a whole slew of other materials.
With that said, let’s get
started with my review of the new Magnificent
Seven. This is a film that I’ve known about for a couple of years or so.
And seeing the cast and crew behind it instantly hooked me. So, after waiting
for a couple of years, was it worth it? Short answer: absolutely! Long answer?
Well, read on to find out.
Story: this film has the
same basic plot as the original John Sturges film and the Kurosawa film Seven Samurai. During the 1870s, the
little town of Rose Creek is being terrorized by a group of evil miners led by
industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), who murders a group of rebellious
locals and warns the townspeople that he will return in three weeks. Not
wanting to see the town face utter destruction, Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett),
whose husband was one of the murdered locals, sets out to hire some protectors.
She happens upon warrant officer Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington), who takes the
job after learning of Bogue’s involvement. Chisolm then assembles his army,
which includes gambler Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt), outlaw Vasquez (Manuel
Garcia-Rulfo), Cajun ex-military sniper Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke) and his
associate Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), tracker and mountain man Jack Horne
(Vincent D’Onofrio), and Comanche warrior Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier). It’s up
to these seven skilled men to teach the town to defend themselves before Bogue
and his crew can come back to wreak havoc.
So, yeah, a pretty
straightforward story. And there are not a lot of changes from the original
film. But, that doesn’t matter because all the actors are invested in it 100%.
Denzel Washington is pretty much playing himself in this movie. But hey, it’s
Denzel, so we know that we’re gonna love it. Chris Pratt was pretty much born
to play a cowboy, and he acquits himself well as the mischievous pretty boy of
the group. Ethan Hawke portrays Robicheaux as a PTSD stricken veteran and that
works out pretty well, Lee portrays Rocks with the appropriate level of
mysterious, and Martin Sensmeier does an admirable job as Red Harvest, this
being his first major film role. Out of all these guys, however, Vincent D’Onofrio’s
performance as Jack Horne is the most unique. Horne spends the majority of the
movie talking in this high, childlike voice and sounding as if he’s not
entirely there. Despite his insanity, however, he still has the skill to
brutally take care of anyone who gets in his way. And D’Onofrio plays him with
wild abandon; it’s really fun to watch. Haley Bennett turns out to be a pretty
engaging presence and is convincing as a tough girl. Almost to the point where
I wish she were one of the seven.
This film comes to us
courtesy of Antoine Fuqua, director of Training
Day, The Equalizer, and Southpaw. And from that filmography, it’s
easy to extrapolate that Fuqua specializes in making macho tough-guy movies…the
good kind. And make no mistake: The
Magnificent Seven is a guy movie through and through. But again, it’s the
good kind. The action is amazing, particularly the final battle between Bogue’s
miners and the Seven along with the Rose Creek townspeople (which has gotten me
more excited than any other action scene this year, if I’m being honest). And
the cinematography is great, with very little shaky cam to be found. So we can
actually see the action. Yay! Also, the look of this movie is great. The
cinematography and grainy color scheme give the film a look not unlike the old
Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns. And that’s the interesting thing about this
film: it has the look of Leone and the feel of John Ford.
Something else to note
about this film is the music. This was apparently James Horner’s last score before
he tragically passed away last year. Apparently, Horner had already begun to
work on the score before his passing and wanted to keep it a surprise for Fuqua
(with whom he collaborated on Southpaw).
After Horner’s passing, the rest of the score was completed by his friend Simon
Franglen, who has worked with him before as his producer and music arranger.
And the result is a great swansong for a major talent. Of course we hear the
classic Elmer Bernstein theme from the original, but we also hear a score that
definitely has Horner’s fingerprints on it, i.e. a choir and a four note
pattern that seems to be a recurring motif in a lot of Horner’s scores. It’s a
pretty dang good score.
However, no film is
without a flaw. This film had two specific flaws. First, the villain. Not that
I was irked that he wasn’t all that deep or complex, but I would have liked it
if Bogue were more present throughout the movie. Sarsgaard does a great job
with the scenes that he’s in, but he wasn’t in the movie enough for me
personally to care what happened to him or not. The second problem is that
there are some particular plot threads that don’t seem to go anywhere. For
example, during a small chill-out scene, Jack Horne tells everybody that he
used to have a family, but he never says anything else about it afterwards. I
guess we’re supposed to infer that something happened to them and this is why
he’s a little off. But, we’re not really given that much information about it
after the fact. Also, the relationship between Emma Cullen and Faraday seems a
little vague. I don’t know if it was supposed to be some kind of a romance or
just a very strong friendship because it wasn’t developed very far.
But those are my biggest
two problems with the movie. Other than that, The Magnificent Seven is definitely a winner, both for Fuqua and
the cast! It’s not a masterpiece and won’t really change your life, but I don’t
think every movie should be held to that standard. Sometimes, a movie can just
make somebody feel better about their life because of a great sense of
adventure and memorable characters. And this film did that to the utmost.
Bottom line: see it. You’ll
have a great time!
And those are my thoughts on The Magnificent Seven! Stay tuned for more at 433 Films!
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