Direction: Antoine Fuqua; Cast: Denzel
Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee, Manuel
Garcia Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Haley Bennett, Peter Sarsgaard; Screenplay: Niz
Pizzolatto, Richard Wenk Based on Seven Samurai by Akira Kurusawa; Editing:
John Refoua; Producer: Roger Bimbaum, Todd Black; Music: James Horner; Genre:
Action; Distributor: MGM Columbia Pictures; Location: Old West Running Time: 133 minutes;
Technical assessment: 3
Moral assessment: 2.5
CINEMA rating: V14
Magnificent
Seven
is a remake of John Sturges 1960 Western film and a take-off from Akria
Kurusawa’s legendary Seven Samurai. In this version, Emma Cullen (Bennett)
hires a mercenary named Chisholm (Washington) to defend her town from corrupt
baron, Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), who besieged and murdered a group
of local miners, including Emma’s husband. Chisholm recruits six more rogue
gunslingers with different skills and personalities. They befriend and train
the town locals as they prepare to fight Bogue’s men. A fight between the
Chisolm group and Bogue’s army ensues with heavy casualties from both side. In
the end, the town is saved, the fallen gunmen buried as heroes and the
surviving honored as legends.
The main strength of this film is the simple straightforward
storytelling that allows it to grow in its audience. It never tries to be smart
or complicated, avoids sudden twists and surprises and is comfortably familiar
and predictable in a good way. These elements make the narrative timeless but
then again we cannot entirely credit the creators of the 2016 Magnificent Seven because it is heavily
based on Kurusawa’s film. However, this version lacks the texture and passion
of its source material in terms of visual poetry, richness of themes and
contrasting tension. The only contribution this version compares is the diversity
of personalities in the casting. There are good solid performances and
delightful lines here and there but overall it is far from being great.
Taking the film as it is, two main themes surface. One, the real
honor is in coming and working together to empower the defenseless. Even with
diverse goals in the beginning, the seven rogues and the entire Rose Creek
community realize that the real strength is in the combined courage and integrity.
Humanity invites us to take a firm stand against the threats against life.
Further, when we truly open ourselves to others, we realize our shared humanity
and common values. Two, the film asks us to reexamine if winning a violent
battle at the price of lost lives is a real victory—more so if revenge is an
objective. This is a question which begs a moral astuteness. Revenge is not the
same as social justice. Vindictiveness does not bring restitution. When man can
finally outgrow the “eye for an eye” principle, only then can real humanity
prevail.
