SPOILER-FREE MOVIE REVIEW
Hey there guys, sorry for the massive delay! I've been awfully busy with school and stuff so I didn't manage to write anything for a while. In the time since then, I've seen The Magnificent Seven (which I'll be reviewing here) as well as Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children, so do expect that review to be up soon.
There's also plenty of new movies out in theatres like Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Inferno, and Keeping Up with the Joneses which I've been quite interested in, so hopefully I'll be able to find the time to watch them.
Now, without further ado, let's talk about The Magnificent Seven.
This film is a remake of the 1960 classic - and as far as remakes go, we haven't seen what you'd say, an impressive remake so far, have we? (<AHEM> GHOSTBUSTERS <AHEM>)
For me, remakes only work when there is:
a) adequate demand for the subject material
b) a genuine attempt to reintroduce the material for a new generation of fans and not just making the movie for monetary gain
c) demand for the genre
For The Magnificent Seven, I felt that it ticked all those boxes.
For one, I'd say that parts a) and c) are intertwined in that there is a legitimate lack of Western-genre films in the movies these days. Think about it - what's the most recent Western that's been released? The answer is Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight last year. Yes folks, LAST YEAR.
I feel that that's not good enough. Sure, the American/Spaghetti Western has had its time in the past, but I feel that the sense of nostalgia one gets from watching a Western justifies my view that there should be more Westerns made.
Hence, there definitely was demand for an all guns-blazing Western, whereas there was absolutely no need for a remake of a sci-fi ghost movie (<AHEM> GHOSTBUSTERS <AHEM>).
Another plus point is that the original "Mag 7" film was made nearly six decades ago, hence reintroducing the film to a new generation of fans would definitely be well-advised. As for Ghostbusters, that was made in the 80's - a time period people still REMEMBER and reminisce at.
And finally for point b), I really felt that The Magnificent Seven was made not just to squeeze out profits from the franchise's name. To be fair, the Mag 7 isn't really a franchise, so this point may not be entirely relevant to this remake. Either way, it was a very authentic attempt at reintroducing these old characters and themes to a new generation.
On to the plot, and I guess you could say that it was sort of "been there, done that". It's not a groundbreaking plot by any means - in fact, I'd even say it's kind of predictable at times given how this kind of revenge-style plot is so characteristic of the Western film genre.
However, it did work for what the film was trying to convey, and that was a movie which was meant to bring us moviegoers on a trip down memory lane into a genre which has given us so many thrills over the years. If you look at it from that perspective then the all-too-familiar plot doesn't really matter.
The ensemble cast was pretty good, with standouts including the likes of the magnificent (no pun intended) Denzel Washington who really does the role of "badass old man" very well, and Chris Pratt who continues to impress me with every role he gets. He's a good actor with good leading man qualities and a solid screen presence.
The rest of the cast worked pretty well together, although some of them felt as if they were included just to make up the numbers. Well, I mean, they couldn't call it The Magnificent Four, could they?
Notice how I've not said anything about the film's main antagonist - and that's because I forgot about him. That's how forgettable his villain was. Sorry Peter Sarsgaard but (yawn).
Perhaps if they had cast a more physically intimidating actor, he may have brought more life to the character.
Another thing I didn't quite like (sadly) was the score by the late James Horner who wrote the music as a surprise for director Antoine Fuqua before he sadly passed on.
I felt that although it was by all means a decent score, it didn't capture much of the essence nor feel of the original score by Elmer Bernstein. The theme alone is such an iconic piece of film music and yet the tune only pops up once in the entire film, not to mention at the very end during the end credits.
Yes, I get that perhaps they were trying to reinvent the movie and make it as original as possible, but come on, the theme is too iconic to leave out. A modern rendition of it following the classic arrangement would have been nice, unlike a cover of an iconic song which is downright offensive, distasteful and all-round ghastly (<AHEM> GHOSTBUSTERS <AHEM> FALL OUT BOY <AHEM>).
The film also kind of felt quite forgettable to some degree. By that, I mean that there wasn't much that stood out, partly due to the fact that we've seen many of it before - from the gun-toting to the Mexican standoffs to the extreme close-ups of eyes to build tension, it's all rather familiar.
In addition, the film also felt overly-long due to the over-dramatisation of some scenes which really didn't require as much screen time nor attention as it received.
On to more positives, and I really liked the direction by Antoine Fuqua - a director I like quite much. I mean come on, the man made Southpaw, the most underrated movie I have ever seen. That film was a masterpiece.
I felt that this film was kind of his love letter to the Western genre, and I liked what he did with it very much. He captured the essence of the Wild West and yet applied an appropriate modern touch to it, and the two combined very nicely.
The film was also shot very well, with a lovely colour palette that wasn't too warm and yellowish like many Westerns I've seen. One shot that stood out to me in particular was when the enemy popped up with a gatling gun and everything just slowed down. Now, that was some epic shit!
All in all, The Magnificent Seven was a pretty decent remake of a Hollywood classic, and one that was well-warranted and not unnecessary.
The action was excellent and the huge sense of nostalgia you get from watching it really makes the experience worthwhile. It was a fun time without being outstanding or groundbreaking.
I'd say go check it out before it finishes its run in the cinemas once Doctor Strange is out to support the Western genre and hopefully would make a statement to the producers that there is in fact demand for the Western genre. Hopefully that'll make them consider breathing new life into the genre.
6.5/10.
There's also plenty of new movies out in theatres like Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Inferno, and Keeping Up with the Joneses which I've been quite interested in, so hopefully I'll be able to find the time to watch them.
Now, without further ado, let's talk about The Magnificent Seven.
This film is a remake of the 1960 classic - and as far as remakes go, we haven't seen what you'd say, an impressive remake so far, have we? (<AHEM> GHOSTBUSTERS <AHEM>)
For me, remakes only work when there is:
a) adequate demand for the subject material
b) a genuine attempt to reintroduce the material for a new generation of fans and not just making the movie for monetary gain
c) demand for the genre
For The Magnificent Seven, I felt that it ticked all those boxes.
For one, I'd say that parts a) and c) are intertwined in that there is a legitimate lack of Western-genre films in the movies these days. Think about it - what's the most recent Western that's been released? The answer is Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight last year. Yes folks, LAST YEAR.
I feel that that's not good enough. Sure, the American/Spaghetti Western has had its time in the past, but I feel that the sense of nostalgia one gets from watching a Western justifies my view that there should be more Westerns made.
Hence, there definitely was demand for an all guns-blazing Western, whereas there was absolutely no need for a remake of a sci-fi ghost movie (<AHEM> GHOSTBUSTERS <AHEM>).
Another plus point is that the original "Mag 7" film was made nearly six decades ago, hence reintroducing the film to a new generation of fans would definitely be well-advised. As for Ghostbusters, that was made in the 80's - a time period people still REMEMBER and reminisce at.
And finally for point b), I really felt that The Magnificent Seven was made not just to squeeze out profits from the franchise's name. To be fair, the Mag 7 isn't really a franchise, so this point may not be entirely relevant to this remake. Either way, it was a very authentic attempt at reintroducing these old characters and themes to a new generation.
On to the plot, and I guess you could say that it was sort of "been there, done that". It's not a groundbreaking plot by any means - in fact, I'd even say it's kind of predictable at times given how this kind of revenge-style plot is so characteristic of the Western film genre.
However, it did work for what the film was trying to convey, and that was a movie which was meant to bring us moviegoers on a trip down memory lane into a genre which has given us so many thrills over the years. If you look at it from that perspective then the all-too-familiar plot doesn't really matter.
The ensemble cast was pretty good, with standouts including the likes of the magnificent (no pun intended) Denzel Washington who really does the role of "badass old man" very well, and Chris Pratt who continues to impress me with every role he gets. He's a good actor with good leading man qualities and a solid screen presence.
The rest of the cast worked pretty well together, although some of them felt as if they were included just to make up the numbers. Well, I mean, they couldn't call it The Magnificent Four, could they?
Notice how I've not said anything about the film's main antagonist - and that's because I forgot about him. That's how forgettable his villain was. Sorry Peter Sarsgaard but (yawn).
Perhaps if they had cast a more physically intimidating actor, he may have brought more life to the character.
Another thing I didn't quite like (sadly) was the score by the late James Horner who wrote the music as a surprise for director Antoine Fuqua before he sadly passed on.
I felt that although it was by all means a decent score, it didn't capture much of the essence nor feel of the original score by Elmer Bernstein. The theme alone is such an iconic piece of film music and yet the tune only pops up once in the entire film, not to mention at the very end during the end credits.
Yes, I get that perhaps they were trying to reinvent the movie and make it as original as possible, but come on, the theme is too iconic to leave out. A modern rendition of it following the classic arrangement would have been nice, unlike a cover of an iconic song which is downright offensive, distasteful and all-round ghastly (<AHEM> GHOSTBUSTERS <AHEM> FALL OUT BOY <AHEM>).
The film also kind of felt quite forgettable to some degree. By that, I mean that there wasn't much that stood out, partly due to the fact that we've seen many of it before - from the gun-toting to the Mexican standoffs to the extreme close-ups of eyes to build tension, it's all rather familiar.
In addition, the film also felt overly-long due to the over-dramatisation of some scenes which really didn't require as much screen time nor attention as it received.
On to more positives, and I really liked the direction by Antoine Fuqua - a director I like quite much. I mean come on, the man made Southpaw, the most underrated movie I have ever seen. That film was a masterpiece.
I felt that this film was kind of his love letter to the Western genre, and I liked what he did with it very much. He captured the essence of the Wild West and yet applied an appropriate modern touch to it, and the two combined very nicely.
The film was also shot very well, with a lovely colour palette that wasn't too warm and yellowish like many Westerns I've seen. One shot that stood out to me in particular was when the enemy popped up with a gatling gun and everything just slowed down. Now, that was some epic shit!
All in all, The Magnificent Seven was a pretty decent remake of a Hollywood classic, and one that was well-warranted and not unnecessary.
The action was excellent and the huge sense of nostalgia you get from watching it really makes the experience worthwhile. It was a fun time without being outstanding or groundbreaking.
I'd say go check it out before it finishes its run in the cinemas once Doctor Strange is out to support the Western genre and hopefully would make a statement to the producers that there is in fact demand for the Western genre. Hopefully that'll make them consider breathing new life into the genre.
6.5/10.
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