Let me come out and say this right now before I continue to go forward with may not be a popular opinion – I don’t like the decision to take this into the States, and to make the bad guy an evil American capitalist. I missed the bandits, and I missed the random bad guy who is just stealing money and food as opposed to land. That being said, I understand the reason they did so – they were trying to modernize it, because there aren’t too many bandits running around now, and people understand greedy rich guys trying to own land.

That being out of the way, I think that this is a better movie than the original, something that pains me to say.

Denzel, once again, shows why he is the best kind of star. Every moment he is on screen he is somehow bigger than the moment. His show down at the end with Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) is terrifically drawn out and tense. I really liked this role. And damned if that man doesn’t look great in all black on a horse. I almost feel like this movie is stealing some thunder from the upcoming Dark Tower film starring Idris Elba.

The best part of the movie though is not the actors, surprising. It’s the way the action scenes are put together. Thought the geography of the final fight falls apart instantly, because you can almost never tell how people are getting from one point to the next, you can tell that director Antoine Fuqua has some experience as an action director. Every scene is violent and yet strangely terse, with only the final scene dragging out longer than is necessary. When allowed to focus on the incredible gun feats that these men perform, it’s an extremely entertaining show.

It doesn’t diminish much though from a movie that is pretty good and very entertaining. I’m giving the Magnificent Seven remake an “B+ “.

For more on this movie check out IMDB.

There’s not too many genres of movies that I don’t like (ok, spoiler, I can’t think of any off the top of my head I don’t like at all). However, those that have tuned in to my reading once, or maybe at least twice, can easily see that I have my favorites. I love science fiction movies, I adore horror, and movie musicals hold a special spot in my heart. But one of the genres that has almost died off in the past few decades is the Western. We’ve done a few on the site (Hell or High Water could be considered a Western due to its motifs, and of course we did the terrific Huckleberried Tombstone), but in the overall representation, we are a bit lacking.

Therefore, it is my pleasure to bring to you, Dear Reader, a Western and its remake: The Magnificent Seven.

It’s ironic that we continue to talk about how Hollywood is only remaking films and not putting out original stories. I know that I have whined about it several times, and praised movies and films for their original ideas. But it’s interesting to note that it’s not like this is a new practice. Essentially, this movie in 1960 was a remake of a movie called Seven Samurai  that came out in 1954. The only difference is that we obviously Americanized it, and made it a classic Western.

Like almost all good Westerns, the movie rests solely on the shoulders of its cast. Like maybe no other genre, Westerns rely on the heroes of the story to provide the variety of the dialogue, often because the villains are dying out too quickly to give you much. This one found two good ones in Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner (who was also in the original Westworld). You wouldn’t be able to tell it by watching the movie, but these two men fought constantly while on set, because Brynner felt as if McQueen was upstaging him. McQueen was constantly fidgeting in all his scenes, but there is a definite uptick when he shares the screen with Brynner. It’s a great dynamic, because both are charismatic, good-looking cowboys, but one is very stoic, while the other is more loose in behavior.

I think what really makes this movie is the vistas and the ride across the border, which essentially sets the tone for the whole film. It’s fun, despite the impending danger the men feel riding into such poor odds. The film is also not afraid to allow characters to die – which is something our current cinematic universes (at least in the comic book world) seem to forget.

The original Magnificent Seven  is a classic Western that is a study of camerawork, as well as something that will present you with a tune that will not get out of your head for quite some time. I’m going to give it a “B”.

For more on this movie check out IMDB.

I don’t have too many westerns in my current movie collection. It’s not that I don’t like them – frankly, I love them – but most of the classic ones are so outdated. As I stated in the Quick Hit, most of the classic westerns draw pretty definitive (and mostly racist) lines as to who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. In most places, that means cowboys are good and Indians (now Native Americans).

Hell or High Water addresses these old movies plenty of times. Once, a cowboy references the fact that it’s the twentieth century, and he’s still sending cows across the road, and it’s no surprise that his kids wouldn’t want to do it. One of the Texas Rangers is a Native American, and the other Ranger jokingly refers to his heritage in a racist way. However, what makes Hell or High Water unique (or at least a good comparison to the excellent No Country for Old Men) is the fact that the film doesn’t draw those definitive lines. Instead, it allows the viewer to make their own conclusions, which allows for quite a bit of grey area.