There may be some personal bias at work here, but I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the recent renaissance of Western movies. Critical and commercial successes such as The Hateful Eight and The Revenant have helped remind audiences what the classic Hollywood Western can still deliver. This particular entry brings together box-office heavyweight Denzel Washington with a strong ensemble that includes Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, and others. I’ll say upfront that I have not seen the original 1960 film, so I have no direct point of comparison. The trailer and the cast alone, however, were enough to give me hope that this could stand on its own as a solid, entertaining Western.
The story is set in the 1870s. A ruthless industrialist named Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) has taken control of the small mining town of Rose Creek for its gold. He forces the townspeople to work under brutal conditions and responds to any resistance with lethal force—going so far as to burn down the local church as a warning. Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett), whose husband is among those killed, refuses to accept the town’s fate. She seeks out bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington), who accepts the job in part because it offers him a chance at personal vengeance against Bogue. Chisolm then assembles a team of specialists: gambler and gunslinger Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt), haunted sharpshooter Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), knife expert Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), tracker and mountain man Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio), Comanche warrior Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier), and outlaw Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo). Together they prepare the townspeople for a literal life-or-death stand against Bogue’s private army.
Antoine Fuqua, best known for Training Day, reunites with Denzel Washington and also works again with Ethan Hawke. The acting is by far the film’s strongest asset. Each of the seven is given a distinct skill set and enough personality to feel like a necessary part of the group rather than a generic archetype. Chisolm is the steady, formidable leader; Faraday brings charm and sleight-of-hand flair; Robicheaux and Rocks provide deadly precision with firearms and blades; Horne is the seasoned tracker; Red Harvest is lethal with a bow; and Vasquez adds his own brand of outlaw energy. Despite the large ensemble, the film finds time to give most of them meaningful moments without grinding the story to a halt for lengthy backstories. The performers play off one another with easy chemistry, which keeps the movie engaging even in stretches where the script is more functional than inspired.
The production design and locations work well. Much of the film was shot in Louisiana with additional scenic work in New Mexico, yet the world feels convincingly of its period without the self-conscious effort some Westerns display. The action is cleanly choreographed and satisfying to watch. There are two major set pieces: an earlier sequence in which the seven clear Bogue’s men out of Rose Creek, and a much larger third-act battle that plays more like a small war than a traditional shootout. The defenders train the townspeople, set traps, and make clever use of explosives. These sequences deliver the high-octane payoff the genre promises.
I initially struggled to find significant faults. The most fair criticisms tend to come from viewers familiar with the 1960 original. The motivations for several of the seven are thinner than they could be. Chisolm has a clear personal stake; the others largely appear to be in it for the money, yet the film never makes the financial reward feel substantial enough to justify the near-suicidal odds. Red Harvest’s reasons for joining are particularly underdeveloped. Ethan Hawke’s character sometimes feels as though the role was shaped for a different kind of actor. The villain, Bogue, is also underused—he is written as pure malevolence to compensate for limited screen time, which makes him effective in the moment but not especially memorable. These smaller writing issues keep the film from reaching true greatness, but they do not prevent it from being very good.
Fans of the original may be the toughest audience, yet that does not mean this version lacks the ability to stand on its own. The Magnificent Seven is a rousing, crowd-pleasing action Western that delivers exactly what many viewers want from the genre. It is charming when it needs to be, brutal when the story demands it, and consistently entertaining. There are several sequences and character moments I prefer not to spoil because discovering them is part of the fun. In a period when Westerns have been finding new life, this one earns its place as a solid, high-energy entry that should satisfy most audiences and may even send some back to the 1960 classic.
4/5
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