It is a confident film-maker who remakes the 1960’s seminal film The Magnificent Seven. No amount of confidence or star cast is going to make the film good if you don’t get it right.
With some beautiful cinemtography and fabulous scenery as credit in the ‘bank’ as it was Antoine Fuqua frontloads the film with his go-to actors from his previous films in the shape of Denzel Washington (Training Day, The Equalizer) and Ethan Hawke (Training Day) and an actor whose star is high in the firmament Chris Star. Unfortunately on the whole the film fails to live up to the premise.
The opening set-ups are entertaining if a little laboured, in particular the hand-holding and giant sign-posting that lets us know that Peter Sarsgaard’s character ‘Sir Jasper Naughty-Bonce’ is evil, like totally evil dude, was bordering on pantomime. I understand that if you looking for a realistic portrayal of the West in the late 1800s then don’t watch this film. This is definitely pop-corn, brain on hold, fare. Nevertheless, I do feel that my intelligence does not need to be insulted in quite the way it was from time-to-time.
As entertaining as those opening scenes were the ending scenes were as disappointing. I get the feeling that the Marvel Universe style denouement is infecting action films of all types. This film had explosions, as many baddies and goodies being, shot, stabbed, blown to bits and generally murdered as the average small war. After the end credits rolled the people of Rose Creek need no longer worry about n’er-do-wells as the local population of them had been totally eradicated, along with ninety-percent of the town folk.
Denzil Washington and Chris Pratt are always good value for money and the rest of the cast acquit themselves well in general. Peter Sarsgaard and Vincent D’Onofrio veer into pantomime territory on several occasions, particularly as D’Onofrio seems to be playing some sort of Brian Blessed hybrid. The need for every diverse type of population to represented in the ‘seven’ does not get me frothing at the mouth and red-faced as some reviewers and I can understand the modernising of the story but I’m not sure it was necessary in my view.
The Magnificent Seven was really The Average Seven and although the relentless drive for entertaining the multiplex masses has probably forced the hand of the director and producers I’m sure without such a big broad brush and some muted colours there was a good modern remake of The Magnificent Seven in there. Instead, this was slathered with the bright explosions of the ‘Why’s he doing that?’ crowd.
Antoine Fuqua can make good films and tell good stories, The Magnificent 7 was a good film and a great story. It should have worked but in reality it didn’t. It’s a shame.
Review by DeletedBlockedParent2018-07-01T13:18:04Z
It is a confident film-maker who remakes the 1960’s seminal film The Magnificent Seven. No amount of confidence or star cast is going to make the film good if you don’t get it right.
With some beautiful cinemtography and fabulous scenery as credit in the ‘bank’ as it was Antoine Fuqua frontloads the film with his go-to actors from his previous films in the shape of Denzel Washington (Training Day, The Equalizer) and Ethan Hawke (Training Day) and an actor whose star is high in the firmament Chris Star. Unfortunately on the whole the film fails to live up to the premise.
The opening set-ups are entertaining if a little laboured, in particular the hand-holding and giant sign-posting that lets us know that Peter Sarsgaard’s character ‘Sir Jasper Naughty-Bonce’ is evil, like totally evil dude, was bordering on pantomime. I understand that if you looking for a realistic portrayal of the West in the late 1800s then don’t watch this film. This is definitely pop-corn, brain on hold, fare. Nevertheless, I do feel that my intelligence does not need to be insulted in quite the way it was from time-to-time.
As entertaining as those opening scenes were the ending scenes were as disappointing. I get the feeling that the Marvel Universe style denouement is infecting action films of all types. This film had explosions, as many baddies and goodies being, shot, stabbed, blown to bits and generally murdered as the average small war. After the end credits rolled the people of Rose Creek need no longer worry about n’er-do-wells as the local population of them had been totally eradicated, along with ninety-percent of the town folk.
Denzil Washington and Chris Pratt are always good value for money and the rest of the cast acquit themselves well in general. Peter Sarsgaard and Vincent D’Onofrio veer into pantomime territory on several occasions, particularly as D’Onofrio seems to be playing some sort of Brian Blessed hybrid. The need for every diverse type of population to represented in the ‘seven’ does not get me frothing at the mouth and red-faced as some reviewers and I can understand the modernising of the story but I’m not sure it was necessary in my view.
The Magnificent Seven was really The Average Seven and although the relentless drive for entertaining the multiplex masses has probably forced the hand of the director and producers I’m sure without such a big broad brush and some muted colours there was a good modern remake of The Magnificent Seven in there. Instead, this was slathered with the bright explosions of the ‘Why’s he doing that?’ crowd.
Antoine Fuqua can make good films and tell good stories, The Magnificent 7 was a good film and a great story. It should have worked but in reality it didn’t. It’s a shame.