Across the Great Plains, just over the ponderosa, rides seven heroes on a mission to revitalize a Hollywood classic. From director Antoine Fuqua ("The Equalizer", "Training Day") and Denzel Washington comes “The Magnificent Seven,” a modern western that attempts to capture the spirit of the romanticized western of which its older sister film originates from. Following in the inspiration of Akira Kurosawa's “Seven Samurai” (of which he is finally given a story credit here), the film follows the courage of a small town in hiring seven mercenaries to protect them from an evil mining baron. Led by notorious bounty hunter Chisolm, (Washington) the ensemble manages to rope in an entourage of talent including Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, and Vincent D'onofrio, to rival the original’s Yul Brenner and Steve McQueen.
Perhaps the biggest opposition this film will face is from diehard fans of the 1960 original, which is often considered to be the quintessential classic Hollywood western. As seen earlier this year with “Ben-Hur”, audiences can be harshly dismissive towards remakes of classic Hollywood films, discrediting them as soulless cash grabs. But the template of Kurosawa's original film has been reissued numerous times over decades of filmmaking, making the original “The Magnificent Seven” feel more like a novelty piece of filmmaking rather than a cinematic masterpiece as the original “Ben-Hur”. Therefore, Fuqua's remake feels less like sacrilege to filmmaking and more like a respectful homage, as it treats its source materials with the utmost respect and grandeur.
The key term when describing Fuqua's film is, “throwback," it is evident that his goal is to recapture the ambiance of a classic post-John Ford western while also throwing in a contemporary flare and spectacle. The film implements many western cliches – from town meetings in the church to men kicking back whiskey shots as if it were hydrating them – and for those who do not have nostalgia for that, it may come off as a bit grating. Yet, this does feel a bit welcoming as many recent westerns have tried to deconstruct the genre in either modernity or realism so much, that a throwback to a classic production feels gratifying.The clichés do carry over into the characters as well making them feel a bit shallow outside of just their appearance, but the same could be said about the 1960 film as well.
Overall, 2016’s Magnificent Seven knows exactly what it has to be; a throwback to a more simple depiction of the western genre but also updating it with modern production and social politics. It's a catering nostalgia fest, but effectively satisfying to those who thirst for it.
