Stars: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke
Storyline
Director Antoine Fuqua brings his modern vision to a classic story in The Magnificent Seven. With the town of Rose Creek under the deadly control of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue, the desperate townspeople employ protection from seven outlaws, bounty hunters, gamblers and hired guns. As they prepare the town for the violent showdown that they know is coming, these seven mercenaries find themselves fighting for more than money.
Writers: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Haley Bennett, Peter Sarsgaard, Luke Grimes, Matt Bomer, Jonathan Joss, Cam Gigandet, Emil Beheshti, Mark Ashworth, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Cast: Denzel Washington -
Chisolm
Chris Pratt -
Josh Faraday
Ethan Hawke -
Goodnight Robicheaux
Vincent D'Onofrio -
Jack Horne
Byung-hun Lee -
Billy Rocks
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo -
Vasquez
Martin Sensmeier -
Red Harvest
Haley Bennett -
Emma Cullen
Peter Sarsgaard -
Bartholomew Bogue
Luke Grimes -
Teddy Q
Matt Bomer -
Matthew Cullen
Jonathan Joss -
Denali
Cam Gigandet -
McCann
Emil Beheshti -
Maxwell
Mark Ashworth -
Preacher
Trivia:
Some areas of Baton Rouge, where filming took place, had to be re-landscaped to resemble the 'Old West' See more »
Quotes:
User Review
Author:
Rating: 5/10
Antoine Fuqua's The Magnificent Seven is about as brazen as the cowboys
it portrays. It is loud, visceral and action packed but lacks the
necessary functions for it to be a truly great film. Despite Fuqua's
most confident directing and Denzel Washington's excellent performance,
the film ends up being as cluttered as the cast would suggest. When it
all comes down to it, it is a matter of an overload of star power.
While there have been films in the past that have had incredible casts
and flourished, this film makes it feel as though the film is only big
enough for one star. Chris Pratt is great as an alcoholic and
incredibly ballsy gunslinger, Faraday, but he lacks any gusto to really
command the screen as does most of the cast outside of Denzel
Washington (someone who I can't say enough good things about here). It
ends up feeling like these roles could have been played by anyone when
it should have felt like these actor's owned these roles so much so
that you can't imagine anyone else in it. Unfortunately that isn't the
case here. Quite frankly, the only performances worth noting are
Washington and Peter Sarsgaard, who gives a devilishly good performance
as a sadistic law man. In this respect, the film is very much a
disappointment for anyone expecting to see the next great ensemble film
of the year. More importantly, those of you who were excited to see the
re-teaming of the Training Day squad (Washington, Hawke and Fuqua) will
have to wait a bit longer for that because there is barely any
chemistry between Ethan Hawke's Goodnight Robicheaux and Washington's
Chisolm. The screenplay, written by True Detective's Nic Pizzolatto and
action aficionado, Richard Wenk is lackluster to say the least. As I
said, the character development with the characters is either not there
or so forced and unnatural that it takes you out of it. After the
abysmal season 2 of True Detective and this, I think is safe to say
that Pizzolatto is turning into the one hit wonder that everyone feared
that he would be. However, I will still hold off on officially saying
that about him because there are some ideas that were introduced in the
film that were really interesting which is why it is all the more
frustrating when they are cast aside and never touched upon again. The
screenplay is the big problem here. It is well paced but emotionally
hollow. It never really reaches anywhere near the heights of the
Kurosawa masterpiece or even the 1957 remake that that film spawned. In
this case, the script reads and sounds like a bad imitation. Despite
this, The Magnificent Seven does boasts some pretty exceptional action
set pieces much to Fuqua's credit. The film is explosive but it is
highly predictable. Those who are killed don't really resonate with the
viewer because quite honestly, we don't care about any of the
characters outside of Washington. They are mere footnotes to the larger
picture which is a monumental disappointment. Overall, I thought that
Antoine Fuqua's The Magnificent Seven boasted a great idea and never
truly capitalized on it. The film felt like it really could have been
something but we are left holding on to the idea of what could have
been.
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