The Magnificent Seven | Rotten Tomatoes

You know, I hate to say that I'm unfamiliar with the original Magnificent Seven. I don't hate it for the reasons that you'd think, which that the Magnificent Seven is regarded as a top-notch western. No, the reason I hate to say that I'm unfamiliar with it is simple and that is because the original

You know, I hate to say that I'm unfamiliar with the original Magnificent Seven. I don't hate it for the reasons that you'd think, which that the Magnificent Seven is regarded as a top-notch western. No, the reason I hate to say that I'm unfamiliar with it is simple and that is because the original movie is a remake of what is regarded as one of the finest movies ever made, as well as Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, and that is, of course, Seven Samurai. Here's the thing about Seven Samurai, I have the Criterion Collection special edition DVD (which is something like four discs), on a shelf right now. In fact, if I look up to my left, I can see it at the bottom of the shelf, with several other DVDs on top of it. I, sadly, have not yet seen Seven Samurai and I've had this DVD for a while too. I know, I know, I'm a bad movie nerd. I'm thinking of, maybe, popping in the DVD tonight and trying to get through it because, as long as it is, I doubt I'll get through it in one sitting. I was thinking of watching The Chernobyl Diaries tonight, for one reason or another, I guess we'll see which movie I watch when I get to tomorrow's review. I mean, I'll know before you do, one way or another, I'm just trying to build the suspense for my loyal readers (ha!). Unless I put it to a Twitter poll that nobody will vote on, who knows? Regardless, if I had seen Seven Samurai I'd be, roughly, familiar with this and the original, so that's my bad and something that, if not tonight, I hope to rectify by the end of the year. That's neither here nor there, of course. For the longest time, though, I used to never really enjoy westerns that much. Not that I didn't enjoy them, just that the whole machismo, testosterone-driven affairs didn't really do much for me. Some people revere John Wayne as a western legend and, to be sure, he is, but he was a terrible actor who took this way too seriously. Not to mention a racist, but, naturally, being an awful human being has nothing to do with his performances on-screen. But, as I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate a good western more than I probably would have before. Not saying that this is my favorite film genre, because it's not even close, just that I'm more open to enjoy them than I would have before. And, honestly, there's genre out there that's more about the battles between good and evil than a good western. Now, of course, I'm certain there were a lot of old westerns that took a more realistic approach, where it's shades of grey and not black and white. But a lot of these movies took a black and white approach to the genre and its characters. And this movie, honestly, might be one of them. You know who the heroes are and you know who the villains are and never the twain shall meet. That's perfectly fine, even if it's a little antiquated. Having said all of that, what'd I think about this movie? If I'm being honest, I certainly thought that while this film had its flaws, by and large, it's quite an entertaining western. I suppose I should start out with the positives. Well, obviously, no review of this movie will be complete without mentioning the star-studded cast. Well, really, the only major stars here are Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke. Regardless, the casting for this movie is excellent all around and everyone plays their part tremendously well. On the other side of that, however, is the fact that there's actually very little character development done within the seven mercenaries hired by this town to get rid of this industrialist, Bartholomew Bogue (a great, villainous name), who's trying to force them out of their land with the help of his Blackstone agents, who kill several of the homesteaders to prove their point. Bogue is like Donald Trump, except Bogue's not as evil. Anyway, while the characters are likable and, at the very least, memorable, there's not really much work done with them to make you care for them in anything more than a superficial way. Goodnight Robicheaux has this PTSD (he was a confederate soldier) and he's had enough of the killing and the fighting. Chisolm had his mother raped/murdered and his sisters were murdered by Blackstone agents before they attempted to kill him. In terms of Chisolm, though, this is all revealed in the climax of the movie, as he's choking Bogue in the church. Emma wants to avenge her husband's death. I don't know if I'm forgetting anyone else's 'arc', but that's just the major stuff that comes to mind. I guess in terms of which arc I liked the best, it'd have to be Robicheaux's since it leads to the predictable moment of him coming to the rescue, predictably, at the last minute after originally having left before the battle began. But, once again, they don't really do much with any of these characters and the stories they might have had to tell. I understand that Chisolm was meant to be this calm and cool character, always composed, but I would have loved to know more about his backstory. What led him to where he is at the start of the movie. Because of that, in my opinion, the movie suffers. While the movie is certainly never dull, I feel like there's a big chunk of the movie, prior to the Battle for Rose Creek, where the movie just stands still. And I guess that's the nature of the beast, the calm before the storm if you will. But I just felt that if the movie had been cut down, it would have helped with the pacing. They spend a while trying to train the people of Rose Creek for battle and, honestly, it just never seemed to go anywhere. I get that they needed to do this, since you can't just have them, all of a sudden, be experts with firearms. And, even with the training, they're not great with the firearms to begin with. So, while I understand, I feel that a bit too much time is taken with this. Ultimately, everyone in Rose Creek not named Emma or Teddy Q don't really matter. Rose Creek and its people are nothing but a plot device, something for these seven to fight for. They're not REAL people. Though, to be fair, if the movie didn't really do much with its protagonists, I don't think anyone could have reasonably expected them to do much with the people of Rose Creek. They do a decent job at making it feel like a tight-knit community, but you still don't care about them that much. Again, they're just there to give these men something to fight for. But, in spite of all its flaws, the movie more than makes up for it with its gunfights and, particularly, the Battle for Rose Creek is quite excellent in its choreography, chaos and gunfights. It's not like it'll revolutionize how people put together action sequences in westerns, but it is a top-notch scene regardless. Pretty lengthy too. The whole thing, starting from the Bogue's men arrive in the outskirts of the town until Bogue's death, it goes close to 30 minutes and it's never once boring. Regardless of how many films have pulled off extended action sequences throughout the years, Marvel as an example has done this throughout the years with their MCU, it never fails to impress how these sequences are pulled off. And that's the case here as well and, for the most part, it's all practical, which makes this even more impressive. There is one scene where they use CG and it's not great. After everything is over, Emma, in a voiceover, remembers the seven fondly and thanks them for their noble sacrifice. Well, you get to see the wooden crosses for the graves of the four (of the seven) that died with Rose Creek in the background and it's like a cheap wallpaper for your laptop. It's not terrible, but it's not good. It just brings to mind the question as to what would we be the point of doing this with CG??? Is it really that expensive to do this, you know, practically??? It's not like Rose Creek was shot on a Hollywood set, it was shot on-location. So what would be the problem with doing this final shot on-location. It's a lame last shot, to be honest. But, regardless, it doesn't change much, it was just a strange choice to do that bit with CG. Anyway, as I mentioned, I have my issues with this movie in terms of its character development, but the strong casting, likable characters and the excellent action still add up to make this a good movie. It's probably not gonna be as widely remembered as the original nor as the movie that inspired it, but it's still a solid and enjoyable movie. Wouldn't say you need to go out of your way to see this, but if you've got Prime and want yourself a good western, this will do the trick.

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