“Training Day” director Antoine
Fuqua’s bloodless, bullet-riddled remake of the classic western “The
Magnificent Seven” (1960) lacks both its prestigious predecessor’s ultra-cool
pugnacity under fire and its complex character development. Nevertheless,
while it doesn’t eclipse the first-class Yul Brynner & Steve McQueen
shoot’em up, neither does the new “Seven” embarrass itself as some remakes such
as “Ben-Hur.” Loaded for bear, with a triple-digit body count, and
rawhide performances by Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, and Ethan Hawke,
Fuqua’s “Magnificent Seven” (*** OUT OF ****) qualifies as an entertaining,
above-average, horse opera. Shunning a scene-for-scene rehash of the
original, “True Detective” scenarist Nic Pizzolatto and “Expendables 2” scribe
Richard Wenk have shifted the setting from Mexico to America, as well as
created fresh characters in no way related to anybody else in the three earlier
“Magnificent Seven” sequels. Interestingly, in changing the physical
setting, Fuqua’s film resembles the short-lived CBS-TV series “The Magnificent
Seven” (1998-2000) where the seven defended a frontier town against outsiders.
Similarly, in both the television show and Fuqua’s version, a woman is
responsible for recruiting the seven. For the record, director John
Sturges’ “The Magnificent Seven” was itself a remake of Japanese director Akira
Kurosawa’s landmark film. If retooling a samurai saga as a sagebrusher sounds
bizarre, consider this: Sergio Leone’s groundbreaking Spaghetti western “A
Fistful of Dollars” (1964) with Clint Eastwood was a remake of another Kurosawa
samurai slash’em-up “Yojimbo” (1961) again with Toshirô Mifune.
Furthermore, later in 1964, American director Martin Ritt adapted yet another
Kurosawa yarn “Rashomon” (1950) into the Paul Newman & William Shatner
western “The Outrage.” Incidentally, science fiction aficionados should know
that George Lucas has said that Kurosawa’s film “The Hidden Fortress” (1958),
served as inspiration for his own historic “Star Wars” franchise.
The original “Magnificent Seven”
took place in Mexico. Seven mercenaries who were down on their luck
accepted a gold eagle--$20--for six weeks to safeguard a destitute farming
village from the depredations of marauding banditos. Calvera and his
bandits would strike during harvest, but leave the farmers with adequate food
to survive until they returned to plunder anew. The “Magnificent Seven”
reboot relocates the action to a traditional American western town.
Malignant capitalist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard of “Black Mass”) plans
to buy up all the property in the town of Rose Creek to mine gold. As the
story unfolds, Bogue visits the townspeople at their church where they have
assembled to settle this intolerable predicament. The mustache-twirling
Bogue offers them $20 each for their land parcels. Furthermore, he
stipulates that they have three weeks either to accommodate him or suffer the
dire consequences. Were this miserly offer not insulting enough for the
settlers, Bogue draws first blood and shoots some of them in cold blood.
Bogue’s Native American sidekick derives special relish from burying his
hatchet in the back of a fleeing woman. Bogue blasts one dissenter,
Matthew Cullen (Matt Bomer of “The Nice Guys”), at point blank range without a
qualm. After grieving over her husband, Emma Cullen (Jennifer Lawrence
lookalike Hayley Bennett of “Hardcore Henry”) approaches bounty hunter Sam
Chisolm and implores him to help her fellow townspeople thwart Bogue’s
ambitions. “Sir,” she addresses Sam. “I have a proposition. We're decent people
being driven from our homes. Slaughtered in cold blood.” Decked out head to toe
in black on a black horse, Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington of “Unstoppable”)
queries Emma: “So you seek revenge?” The widow replies,” I seek righteousness.
But I'll take revenge.”
Sam recruits a nimble cardsharp,
Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt of “Guardians of the Galaxy”), who cannot seem to
avoid trouble or its consequences. Clearly, Pratt’s character is forged
in the mold of Steve McQueen’s character. These two spout a similar story about
a hombre who jumped off a hotel roof. As the gent plunged past each window,
spectators heard him say: “So far, so good.” Fuqua gets more mileage out
of this story than the John Sturges film imagined. Fuqua appropriates one
of original villain’s best lines for Bogue, who philosophically ponders the
fate of the townspeople. “If God had not wanted them sheared, he would have not
made them sheep.” This seven amounts to a rugged multicultural outfit: an
Asian gunslinger Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee of “Terminator Genisys”) wields
knife with deadly grace; a lethal Comanche archer (newcomer Martin Sensmeier)
never misses; a flinty Hispanic pistolero Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo of “Term
Life”) displays enviable marksmanship skills, a Grizzly Adams mountain man Jack
Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio of “Full Metal Jacket”) likes to work in close with a
hatchet, and a former Confederate sniper Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke of
“The Purge”) struggles to conceal the nerve that he has lost. Robicheaux
combines the characters of Lee and Harry Luck from the original film, while
Billy Rocks is the James Coburn character.
Some abhor remakes more than
sequels. I saw “The Magnificent Seven” during its initial theatrical
release in 1960, and I’ve seen it so many times since I can recite its many
quotable lines, savor the slap and draw six-gun scene, and hum the evocative
Elmer Bernstein title theme. Happily, as the end credits roll, Fuqua cues
Bernstein’s two-time Oscar nominated orchestral score. Leathery tough
“Magnificent Seven” fanatics will applaud this homage. Hollywood had been
pondering a remake of the Sturges’ western for almost decade. Initially,
the thought of such a remake filled me with dread. Anybody who suffered
through the abysmal remake of “Ben-Hur” (2016) knows the kind of blasphemy that
can occur when a remake goes sideways. The Charlton Heston version of
“Ben-Hur” has withstood the ravages of time and nothing Hollywood can conjure
up will surpass it. Fortunately, while it doesn’t contain as much clever,
incisive dialogue as its predecessor, “The Magnificent Seven” remake isn’t the
disaster I feared. Indeed, Fuqua’s ensemble shootout ranks as one of the
best westerns since the Coen Brothers’ “True Grit.” Denzel Washington, Chris
Pratt and Ethan Hawke stand out in a gifted cast. Peter Sarsgaard scores as a
repulsive villain, but he doesn’t boast the cutthroat humor that the original
“Magnificent Seven” villain Calvera (played by Eli Wallach) had.
Nonetheless, what Sarsgaard’s villain lacks in dimension, he compensates for
with murder. Altogether, despite some idiotic comic relief, the remake of
“The Magnificent Seven” is worth saddling up to see.
