The Magnificent Seven (12A.)
Directed by Antoine Fuqua.
Starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lee Byung-Hun, Haley Bennett and Peter Sarsgaard. 133 mins
The remake of the Magnificent Seven is a western made in the new old fashioned way. Although the western was pronounced dead at least three decades ago, they keep popping up from time to time, but not like this. Fuqua's take is not revisionist or deconstructionist or elegiac or horror hybrid or contemporary spaghetti or Tarantinoesque, it is a cowboy film as cowboy films used to be: a big mainstream entertainment. In those terms it succeeds better than most of the summer's blockbuster offerings.
The story of seven outlaws gathering together to rescue a town of poor decent people from evil exploiters is a tried and trusted one that seems to work in any context be it samurai or space pilots, so the film has sense enough to stick to the basic plot, but do it in the way that such a plot would be done today. The action is more intense and violent (some editing looks to have been needed to keep this as a 12A) and the dialogue is not always strictly period. But it is true to the spirit of the original in that it is a star vehicle and the stars are its main pleasures.
Of course, old timers will tell you that them there modern movie stars aren't a patch on the proper movie stars of classic era Hollywood. I'm not sure I agree: Washington moves across the screen with as much assurance as anyone in the history of the flicks and though there is still a nagging feeling that Pratt has been promoted beyond his abilities, he's fine here. The original was a launch pad for Steve McQueen, but I don't think anyone's going to break out here. Korean Lee Byung-hun is effective as one of the seven, but even in a genre where being taciturn is a virtue, his limited command of English is a hindrance.
If there is a weakness it is with Sarsgaard, who plays the villain like a maleolent Doc Holliday, pale, sweaty and never seen without a tissue to attend to his cough.
The score keeps teasing that it's going to burst into Elmer Bernstein's rousing theme for the original version, but frustratingly keeps holding off. Maybe they thought the film wasn't quite worthy of it, but this new seven walk tall enough to be a fair approximation of magnificent.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua.
Starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lee Byung-Hun, Haley Bennett and Peter Sarsgaard. 133 mins
The remake of the Magnificent Seven is a western made in the new old fashioned way. Although the western was pronounced dead at least three decades ago, they keep popping up from time to time, but not like this. Fuqua's take is not revisionist or deconstructionist or elegiac or horror hybrid or contemporary spaghetti or Tarantinoesque, it is a cowboy film as cowboy films used to be: a big mainstream entertainment. In those terms it succeeds better than most of the summer's blockbuster offerings.
The story of seven outlaws gathering together to rescue a town of poor decent people from evil exploiters is a tried and trusted one that seems to work in any context be it samurai or space pilots, so the film has sense enough to stick to the basic plot, but do it in the way that such a plot would be done today. The action is more intense and violent (some editing looks to have been needed to keep this as a 12A) and the dialogue is not always strictly period. But it is true to the spirit of the original in that it is a star vehicle and the stars are its main pleasures.
Of course, old timers will tell you that them there modern movie stars aren't a patch on the proper movie stars of classic era Hollywood. I'm not sure I agree: Washington moves across the screen with as much assurance as anyone in the history of the flicks and though there is still a nagging feeling that Pratt has been promoted beyond his abilities, he's fine here. The original was a launch pad for Steve McQueen, but I don't think anyone's going to break out here. Korean Lee Byung-hun is effective as one of the seven, but even in a genre where being taciturn is a virtue, his limited command of English is a hindrance.
If there is a weakness it is with Sarsgaard, who plays the villain like a maleolent Doc Holliday, pale, sweaty and never seen without a tissue to attend to his cough.
The score keeps teasing that it's going to burst into Elmer Bernstein's rousing theme for the original version, but frustratingly keeps holding off. Maybe they thought the film wasn't quite worthy of it, but this new seven walk tall enough to be a fair approximation of magnificent.
