The Magnificent Seven, Review by Siraj Syed: Rogue Bogue’s Epilogue

You might say that The Magnificent Seven is not as iconic a Western as some others in the genre, like Stagecoach, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Last Train from Gun Hill, Annie Get Your Gun, Billy the Kid, Shane, the Sergio Leone trilogy, The Alamo, True Grit, MacKenna’s Gold or Cat Ballou. But it is not very far either. For one, it has spawned several remakes, sequels and bootleg versions (including a few Hindi films). And for another, it has attracted a lot of publicity, for the wrong reason—the first Hollywood version being a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Japanese cult classic, Seven Samurai.

Having seven ‘outlaws’ as heroes, one non-romantic heroine and one all-powerful villain in a tale of good v/s evil, with violence peppered all along the way, is a lip-smacking proposition for any director. It also means a longer duration product (132 mins.), that needs careful writing and expert timing, and the 2016 version stumbles on both counts.

In the 1870s, shortly after the American Civil War, the town of Rose Creek is under the siege of tyrannical industrialist Bartholomew ‘Bart’ Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard). He plans to mine their town and collect all the booty, offering the inhabitants $20 each to leave. Matthew Cullen (Matt Bomer), who speaks out against his animal greed, is gunned down, and more killings are threatened. Bogue has a private army of mercenaries and the local Sheriff is his minion. Before leaving, Bogue’s men burn down the church, to make the residents feel that even God has abandoned them. They will return three weeks later, to clear the town out.

Emma Cullen (Hayley Bennett), Matt’s widow, and her friend Teddy Q (Luke Grimes) happen to be present when a contract lawman/bounty hunter called Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) kills a wanted outlaw, and some of his supporters. Impressed, they make him a proposition—ward off Bogue, in return for all their money. He agrees to lead their battle against Bogue, and enlists the help of six outlaws: a gambler, Josh Faraday, a sharpshooter, Goodnight Robicheaux (Cajun), a Red Indian scalp-hunter turned tracker, Jack Horne, an assassin Billy Rocks (with South-East Asian looks), a Mexican outlaw, Vasquez, and a Comanche warrior, Red Harvest, to protect and train them, while they prepare for the anticipated ‘no holds barred’ final confrontation. However, upon meeting the town's residents, the Seven find themselves fighting for much more than money.

No less than five writers are credited with the script—three from the 1954 Japanese version and two who have moulded the 64 years on version: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, Richard Wenk (the Mechanic, The Expendables, The Equalizer) and fiction short-story and novel writer Nicholas Austin (Nic) Pizzolatto, who makes his debut. Wenk and Pizzolatto depart from the premier Hollywood foray significantly, and it would be too far removed to compare it to the Kurosawa saga. There a few bright sparks, like the entry of black-attired Chisolm and the unleashing of the Gatling gun. Look around, and you will find parallels in Clint Eastwood/Lee Van Cleef as the ‘man with no name, and ‘the man in black’ (Sergio Leone’s spaghetti Westerns). To look for the rotating cylinder machine gun, look-up Django, a Franco Nero starrer directed by Sergio II--Corbucci, another spaghetti Western. Of course, the Gatling model was used in the American civil war, while Django is about a man who carries a machine gun hidden in a coffin!

Due credit must be given for the attempts to be different, the boldest decision being to have a black man as the hero. [Recalls director Fuqua, “When I was in the meeting with MGM, I never said, “We should make a black guy the lead.” I looked down the list, and there were some great actors on the list, and I said, “Honestly, I want to see Denzel on a horse.” For me, that’s an event. And MGM and Sony said, to their credit, “Absolutely. Can you get him to do it?”] Instead of a white man playing a Mexican bandit, they have a Swedish American playing a capitalist, who does not hesitate to break a priest’s arm, or burn down a church. Brief back-stories and some witty, some ridiculously funny characterisations hold the film together. Sadly, it all begins to fall apart towards the end. In a film that is heavily dependent upon the extended climax, this is a real tragedy.

Yet to get anywhere near the master league, Antoine Fuqua (Southpaw, The Equalizer, Olympus Has Fallen), who turns 50 this year does flatter, only to deceive. He relies heavily on his Equalizer buddies (Washington---also worked in Fuqua’s Training Day, Bennett, Wenk) to deliver another commercial hit, and the film even premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, a la The Equalizer. Yes, Fuqua is black, and this is his third pairing with Washington. A black protagonist in a Western, that too a soft-featured Denzel Washington, is a surprise packet. Wish the surprise had lasted beyond the first three scenes.

Adding on zero after zero in the body count serves little purpose, except paving the way for the twists in between, which are way too few. Horne’s inanities sound funny, though he is anything but a comedian in the film. However cold-blooded a villain he might be, Bogue can hardly remain unruffled as his entire army gets decimated. And the hidden gun? Old hat. Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) pulled one out on James Bond, and we all know what happened to him.

Denzel Washington (Cry Freedom, Training Day, and The Equalizer) still has the quiet charm about him. It is still not easy to accept him as a ruthless bounty hunter spraying bullets around. Chris Pratt (Her, Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World) has a meaty role, and impresses. Ethan Hawke (Dead Poets’ Society, Gatacca, Training Day), now 46, transforms into his screen persona with finesse. Vincent D'Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket, Jurassic World, Steal This Movie) is a revelation, the poorly written role notwithstanding. Byung-hun Lee (Terminator: Genisys, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Inside Men), a Korean actor, does not speak English until... Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (One for the Road, Cake, Term Life) speaks Spanish, until...Martin Sensmeier (Alaskan, Lilian’s Brood) speaks Comanche until...Stereo-typical parts, type-cast roles.

Haley Bennett (The Equalizer, Lost in the White City, Kristy) exudes vitality and her face is done-up to match the period and the mood. Luke Grimes (Fifty Shades of Grey, Shangri-La Suite, American Sniper) faces the grimy grey goings on as a support pillar for Bennett. Jonathan Joss (Almost Heroes, Christmas in the Clouds, True Grit) is reduced to playing “Mr. Denali”, Bogue’s second in command. He has almost no lines, and is remembered for being addressed by Bogue. Mark Ashworth (The Neon Dead, Bleed, Cell) as the Preacher is full of angst and rightfully horrified at the transgressions of the ungodly. Peter Sarsgaard (Blue Jasmine, Pawn Sacrifice, Black Mass) as the Rogue Bogue is menacing and sinister.

Music by Simon Franglen and James Horner is a blend of the predictable background score heard in films of this phylum, and relatively modern orchestration, which is incongruous with the period setting of the film. It is the final film of composer James Horner, who died the previous year, after composing a part of the score; his friend Simon Franglen completed the music. Cinematography by Mauro Fiore has the requisite pan and tracking shots, as well as the unusual angles. Film editing by John Refoua needed to be crisper and the cuts better worked out.

You read above that the length of the film is 132 minutes. Now guess what was the duration of The Equalizer? You’re right!      

Rating: ** ½

Trailer: https://youtu.be/q-RBA0xoaWU

*Released six years before director Antoine Fuqua was born, The Magnificent Seven was a 1960 American Western film, produced and directed by John Sturges. The picture is an Old West-style remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese-language film Seven Samurai. Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Horst Buchholz, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn (at 83, he is the only survivor), James Coburn, and Brad Dexter portray the title characters, a group of seven gunfighters hired to protect a small village in Mexico, from a group of marauding bandits, led by Eli Wallach. The film's memorable musical score was composed by Elmer Bernstein. Fuqua used to watch this film with his grandmother.

*Script credit was a subject of contention. Associate producer Lou Morheim commissioned Walter Bernstein, a blacklisted scriptwriter (remember the American witch-hunt of the late 40s to the mid-60s?) to produce the first draft, "faithfully" adapted from the original script, written by Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni and Akira Kurosawa. Later, when executive producer Walter Mirisch (who, at 94, is a co-producer of the current incarnation as well as the man whose company produced the sequel, return of the Seven, in 1966, the same year Fuqua was born) and Brynner took over the production, they brought on Walter Newman, whose version is largely what's on screen. When Newman was unavailable during the film's shooting in Mexico, William Roberts was hired. When Roberts asked the Writers Guild of America for a co-credit, Newman asked that his name be removed from the credits.