Western wonder

Johnson Thomas

A remake of the 1960 Western by the same name, which in itself was a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, albeit in Western garb, The Magnificent Seven gets the mechanics of the genre western right but there’s nothing really inventive or different of this exercise other than a different cast and a much more furious tone!

The original Japanese screen-writers have all been given a story credit with the screenplay written by Richard Wenk (The Equalizer) and Nic Pizzolato (True Detective). As in the original, seven renegade gunslingers are hired by grieving widow Emma Cullen (Hayley Bennett) to defend a small mining town Rose Creek from a vicious land-grabber Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Saarsgaard). The names of the seven have been changed in this version, but their roles in the face-off are similar. Peace officer, Sharp-shooter Chisolm (Denzel Washington) puts together the motley group of hired assassins that include Josh Farraday (Chris Pratt), Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke) Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio), Billy Rocks (Byung-Hun Lee), Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier).

The interplay between the seven and the final face-off between the never ending Bogue’s army and the handful of farmers and their protectors is scintillatingly entertaining. The screenplay allows for enough of a character study of each of the seven daredevil heroes and their defence of the weak is amply justified. Fuqua manages to keep things interesting as he steadily moves forward towards the final act. 

Emma’s involvement is a new twist to the story and gives the typical genre mix-up a fresh influx of emotive engagement. Farraday is by far the most interesting character in the film, more so because the tricks up his sleeve are a beguiling enticement in itself. This is regular traditional fare that is well endowed to lure the fans of western movies.