The Magnificent Seven (2016)

I remember watching "Seven Samurai" by Akira Kurosawa in film studies. It is my favorite film from 1954. Before going to see "The Magnificent Seven", I took time to watch the original version from 1960 for the first time. Considering the influence of Sturges' film, this remake is long overdue. I think I like the remake a little more than the 1960 version because Antoine Fuqua's film appeals to my generation. The Spaghetti Western stereotypical moments feel genuine for the most part and the cast was excellent in their roles. Enough originality was created and Fuqua had personal motivation to help him in making a good movie.

When you create a remake of a remake, you have your work cut out for you. Fortunately, over fifty-five years have passed since the last incarnation. While steps were taken to make this 2016 film original enough, there were still references to the 1960 film. This can best be illustrated by the line from Bogue, "If God didn't want them to be slaughtered, he wouldn't have made them sheep." Calvera's original line is, "If God didn't want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep." Bogue's line isn't a direct quote but it conveys the same message. I also appreciated the reprise of the story about ten story building and the line, "So far, so good." Another slight change that was made was to set the film completely in the Western US as opposed to mostly in Mexico and have a businessman with a grip on the town. The introduction of the character of Billy is a near match to the introduction of his 1960 counterpart, Britt. The alteration of course is that Billy is Asian. Faraday is obviously referential of Vin, being a gambler and all. Goodnight is an amalgam of two characters from the previous film incarnation, Harry and Lee. Harry leaves the group as the climax approaches and Lee tries to find his courage throughout the film. Goodnight's name is symbolic of his character because it's "good night" to anyone at the other end of his weapon but this character at one point bids a cowardly farewell to his companions when they need him the most. I like the unique back story that Sam has with Goodnight, considering that Goodnight fought on the Confederate side of the Civil War. The climax of this movie has the level of excitement that today's audience require. I enjoyed the use of editing on the dawn of the battle. Some of the plot points towards the end of the climax were a nice choice. Once the bullets ceased, I knew that three out of the seven would survive the battle because the previous two incarnations of the story had three survivors. I guessed one of the surviving characters correctly but the other two were surprising choices. What really bothered me though is that the three leave right after the battle. I'm used to a concluding scene that shows the town getting back to normal after some time has passed since the battle, whereupon the three survivors then bid farewell to the townsfolk. Another part of the movie that bothered me was the final shots of the film with the four crosses because the shots look quite fake, almost as if they are completely CGI.

"The Magnificent Seven" might be hard for some to take completely seriously because of the classic Spaghetti Western scenarios it contains but the cast makes them tolerable in some instances and fun in others. One element that this version has going for it is that the Seven are very unique individuals. This was a goal of Fuqua and I support his decision. This allows the audience to keep straight who is who and spent more valuable time relating and empathizing. Tom Cruise, Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon all expressed at least some interest in being in this film and I for one would have welcomed any one of those names. It is hard to complain about Denzel Washington's presence though. This is his first western but he performs like it is his second. Considering Denzel's two career Oscar wins, it isn't surprising that he has this level of talent. He had good chemistry with Chris Pine in "Unstoppable" so I figured that Denzel and Chris Pratt would make an equally good on-screen duo. While there was chemistry, it was less than I was hoping for. Pratt had his "Guardians of the Galaxy" persona to take advantage of so at least the character he created for this movie was fun to watch. This is the third collaboration between Denzel, Ethan Hawke and director Antoine Fuqua. I didn't know this watching the movie but I could feel the strong chemistry between Denzel and Hawke. It was stronger than the chemistry between Denzel and Pratt and I think it should have been the other way around for the sake of the story. I wouldn't have picked Vincent D'Onofrio to play the tracker Jack Horne but he did so awesome in the role. His make-up and costume did wonders in achieving this. Pratt and D'Onofrio were in "Jurassic World" together but I like them better when their characters aren't pitted against one another. Also, they're in a much better movie this time. Haley Bennett was with Denzel in "The Equalizer" by the way and I hope I see more of Peter Sarsgaard in future movies. He played a convincing villain as Bogue. Considering the great Elmer Bernstein wrote an iconic musical score for the 1960 version, I desired at least a good score for this version and I got one. Some of it came from another famous musical composer, the late James Horner. This was a great film for him to go out on despite that not being intended. Horner was hired to compose the music before his sudden death and normally, he might not have gotten the chance because the score for a film is usually written after filming. Thankfully, Horner started to compose a little bit of the score before he died and before filming started. I sure wish I could know which parts of the score were his and which his friend Simon Franglen composed. I like the use of trumpets throughout the show. If I'm not mistaken, the percussion at some moments in the film rhythmically resembles the classic theme. I was happy to hear Bernstein's theme at the start of the end credits. It brings everything full circle.

Antoine Fuqua's grandmother worked on the 1960 version and wanted to do her proud. Throughout filming, he would keep this mind and it shows. "The Magnificent Seven" has already achieved one of the top openings for a western (not accounting for inflation). It is fun because it is original, referential of its source material and has a great ensemble cast. It may not be as good as the remake of "True Grit" but was a little better than the 1960 film. I will finish though by saying that nothing will top the definitive source by Akira Kurosawa.

4 Stars