The Magnificent Seven

The Equalizer times seven. Fuqua doesn't show off that much, and so he only pulls a truly sovereign treat out of his sleeve once. The rest of it is standard action routine that's hidden far below his directorial standards, making the central seven whine even more in their uninterestingness, where about 1.5 charisma works in the flatness of the coffin planks. I've managed to miss out on the original for years, so I was expecting more of a B-action orgy in a Wild West setting than a major creative comparison, but the rescue of the White House chief worked more sovereignly. (09/22/2016)

From the very beginning I was against a remake, but in the end I took pity on it because Pizzolatto wrote the screenplay, although clearly some cuts have been made, some motifs are not developed at all and so it certainly isn’t one of the strengths of the entire project. Capitalism presented as a villain, gradual recruitment and even the diverse seven somehow work. But the massacre in the finale is this year’s action treat. The cast is pleasant, Pratt is really fine. It can’t compete with the original, but I understand the idea of giving the Magnificent Seven a modern overcoat. So far, so good. (09/27/2016)

It's not a bad film, I'll probably like it even more the second time around, because it's not about anything other than entertaining the viewer and not embarrassing itself, and that's a pretty sympathetic approach. Still, I'm sorry that there wasn't a more imaginative remake that would have put The Magnificent Seven in a different setting - it could have been a gangster movie, a story from the Second World War, a Cold War retro, sci-fi from another planet... Look what Pixar did with that tired plot in A Bug's Life. (02/16/2017)

I'm not for banning anything; creators should have freedom as long as they're not infringing on anyone's rights, but making remakes of films like The Magnificent Seven, especially a film that is itself a remake, is just odd. The new film absolutely lacks any atmosphere; I didn't get a sense of the Wild West or get closer to the characters at all. Points are only awarded for the shootouts, which, on the other hand, are absolutely fantastic. (01/16/2017)

A decent and restrained remake of an immortal classic for today's times, bigger, noisier and more ethnically colourful, i.e. politically correct in the way that is befitting and appropriate in every other great film today. Washington pulls it off by walking, looking, and occasionally tossing in a morsel of wisdom, Pratt pulls it off by making wisecracks, and D'Onofrio plays the bear. The rest are essentially extras, which is a shame in the case of Hawke. It should be noted that the execution is also interesting. It’s top-notch, of course, with a fairly weird mix of classic, almost absurd shootout scenes where the good guys shoot in all directions and the bad guys fall like flies, plus well-shot fights mostly with bows, knives, etc. If it was R-rated with more catchphrases, it would have been exactly what everyone wants these days. But Fuqua had too much respect for the original and in his delivery it is both good and bad. (09/22/2016)