Film of the Month

The Magnificent Seven

23/08/16

These days, Hollywood is full of groups, guilds, and gangs. From the suicidal to the supernatural, the hateful to the (a)vengeful, team efforts are busting-baddies, cleaning-cities, and, well, making box offices ring with the sound of a massive “cha-ching”. There’s only one sound coming over the hills this month, however, and it goes ‘dun, dun-dun-dun, dun, dun, dun-dun-dun…’ It’s the return of the Magnificent Seven.

A remake of a remake, the 2016 Mag7 is based on the 1960 western of the same name, about a farming village annually terrorised (read that carefully) by bandits. Having had enough of this, they hire seven men, each with unique skills, to help defend them. The reason that the original Magnificent Seven is such a classic is not just because it was beautifully shot, but also because it starred some of the coolest names of the day, including  Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson. So, how does the new film stack up? Well, wearing the sheriff’s badge in the director’s chair we have Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), but who’s playing the seven deadly Señors? Let’s do the countdown:

In at number seven, we have Martin Sennsmeir, who plays a deadly Native American warrior; at number six, we have Manuel Garcia-Rulfo’s Mexican outlaw; number five is Byung-Hun Lee, an assassin who specialises in knives; Vincent D’onofrio’s rugged and beardy tracker makes up number four; Ethan Hawke plays a sharpshooting son-of-a-gun at number three; adding some comedic relief at number two we have Chris Pratt’s cheeky gambler and sidekick to the posse’s number one  – Denzel “my man” Washington’s bounty hunting leader of the pack.

So, if you fancy a trip out west, then saddle up, partner, because the bullets, bandits, and big names all seem to be in the right place, and Fuqua looks like he’s got his wagons headed in the right direction. It’s got a lot to live up to, but if they handle the whole enemies-become-friends-become-cohesive-fighting-unit bit well, it should all come together nicely to make a modern classic even more modern and classic.