Review: The Magnificent Seven

Bartholomew Brogue is a weak man and, like all weak men, he rules with wealth and fear. Like the most dangerous of weak men, he's motivated by money. Today he would be termed a capitalist; back in 1879 when The Magnificent Seven is set, he's more appropriately known as a robber baron. His main aim, as far as the film is concerned, is the small mining town of Rose Creek and he has no compunction about ordering his minions to shed blood to convince the town's God-fearing, law-abiding and hard-working citizens to hand over their precious land for a mere fraction of its value.

Not that Brogue is above getting his own hands dirty. He is, after all, the one who shoots dead Matthew Cullen (Matt Bomer), who had the audacity to stand up to him. Three weeks, Brogue proclaims to the townsfolk before he and his men depart, they have three weeks to clear out or get their coffins ready. So when bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) rides into town to capture his latest target, Cullen's widow Emma (Haley Bennett) offers him all the money the town has to help protect them from Brogue. "So you seek revenge?" Chisolm asks. "I seek righteousness," she responds, "but I'll take revenge."

Chisolm sets out to assemble his motley crew of mercenaries. First up is Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt), a charming cardsharp; old buddy Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), the so-called "Angel of Death" haunted by his experiences during the Civil War; Robicheaux's knife-throwing partner, Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee); growling "Texican" Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo); and Comanche archer Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier). Last but most certainly not least is grizzly Jack Horne, played by a scene-stealing Vincent D'Onofrio. It may be worth remembering that D'Onofrio has twice played Orson Welles who, in his later years, was more mountain than man. As Horne, he certainly recalls Welles in bulk ("I believe that bear was wearing people's clothes," Faraday notes) and a boy going through puberty in vocal intonation. The sight and sound of him evokes delight, intimidation, and unpredictability. There's an amazing scene of Horne, in the midst of battle, shot through with arrows, arms outreached that is the film's most indelible image of sheer will battling against almost impossible odds.

Battling against almost impossible odds is the very backbone of The Magnificent Seven, which proves itself an extremely solid and entertaining affair. No small feat considering the source material: John Sturges' 1960 classic (starring Yul Brynner and featuring relative unknowns Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn), which itself was an American remake of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. Yet let's also be clear-eyed. The premise - a group of disparate characters, dubious in character but good-hearted at their core, learn to work together to save the day - is so sturdy as to be nearly foolproof. This isn't a knock on the remake, which introduces and establishes its characters with a swiftness and economy that was sorely lacking in The Suicide Squad, and which also deftly balances humour, drama and action.

The most obvious difference between this film and its 1960 forebear is the increased diversity of its titular septet. Not much is made of the fact that Chisolm is black, Vasquez Mexican and Red Harvest Indian which, depending on one's viewpoint, can strike as tokenism or simply a sign of our times that this ethnic spectrum needs no special mentioning. In many respects, Washington may be the only actor today who could have played Chisolm - who else possesses the combination of menace and authority that would convince the likes of Faraday, Robicheaux, Horne et al to join him on what is essentially a suicide mission? Chisolm may not be the showiest of roles, but it is a pivotal one as it's the one that essentially keeps the beat for the other characters. If he's off, then so are they and so is the movie.

The final showdown is as exciting as one could hope for, an orgiastic free-for-all of pistols, tomahawks, arrows, booby traps, dynamite, and a Gatling gun that spews out blizzards of bullets. Unlike many of today's star-studded films, there is actually a sense that not all of these men will survive this battle and that renders their efforts even more valiant. As engaging as The Magnificent Seven is, there is a moment when one realises that it never is genuinely rousing. That moment arrives at the end when the joyously thrilling opening strains (Dun! Dun de dun! Dun de dun-dun-dun!) of Elmer Bernstein's score for the 1960 film are heard. Then and only then does magnificence figure in this remake.

The Magnificent Seven

Directed by: Antoine Fuqua

Written by: Nic Pizzolatto, Richard Wenk; based on the screenplay by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Hideo Oguni

Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee, Martin Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Haley Bennett, Peter Sarsgaard, Luke Grimes, Sean Bridgers, Cam Gigandet, Matt Bomer