Review of The Magnificent Seven (2016) by Flipje — 16 Jul 2021

A watchable remake with plenty of goodies and baddies. The good guys are good with some notable flaws and the bad guys are just awful human beings you look forward to seeing getting shot and killed later.

Chris Pratt does his regular Chris Pratting while Denzel Washington, Vincent D'Onofrio and Ethan Hawke bring some grounded performances to their outlaw/gunslinger/hired hand roles. Peter Sarsgaard's Bogue is the evil baddie menacing the small town of Rose Creek and responsible for killing Emma Cullen's (Bennet) husband.

She hires the seven, brings them back to the town, and they and the remaining townsfolk get ready for the big and bloodied high noon. Washington is the anchor of this film, and you learn later why he was willing to take on Mrs.

Cullen's hired work. As for the rest of the six, there is little in the way of backstory. We get some 'reasons' for why they are doing what they are doing though as turns it out, with no real emotional pay-offs or great arcs being fulfilled at film's end - well, Washington's Chisholm and Bennett's Emma Cullen's characters are given completed stories - the characters are basically memorable.

In fact, some deaths, while sad, never land into poignant territory. When Hawk's Goodight Robicheaux and D'Onofrio's Jack Horne shake off their mortal coil, the audience is left with nothing in the way of pathos.

They are two more fallen bodies on the scuffed and dusty earth of Rose Creek. Granted, you have seven fellows here to focus on but the script could have been a bit more economical in what to share to the audience and what to sacrifice.

This is a film where few relationships are made. Seven hired guns who do a job and some die and some live. The end.