The Magnificent Seven

Cast: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Haley Bennett, Vincent D'Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee, Peter Sarsgaard.

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Release Date: 2016

Running Time: 2hrs 12 minutes

Genre: Adventure/Western

Rating: PG-13

Synopsis:

In the old west, seven gunmen come together to help a poor village against savage thieves. 

Based on the classic story, Antoine Fuqua brings the fantastic western to the big screen! There's something very fascinating about watching a Western. I'm not entirely sure what it is, is it the time period, the way people used to live? If you ask me, there aren't enough Western's these days. Set in Rose Creek, 1879, the people of Rose Creek are desperatly trying to fight for their town, their land. Bartholomew Bogue (Sarsgaard) wants to take control over the land, selfishly wanting gold! The townspeople employ protection from seven outlaws, bounty hunters, gamblers and hired guns, the magnificent seven! We're introduced to the seven individually, Chisholm (Washington) a bounty hunter, Josh Faraday, a man who finds himself in all sorts of trouble (Pratt), Billy Rocks, a fantastic gunman (Lee), Goodnight Robichoeaux a cocky bounty hunter (Hawke), wherever he goes, Billy goes! Jack Horne (D'Onoforio) a gunman and Red Harvest an Indian.

None of the actors performances really stand out as being fantastic however they do all bring great characterisation to their roles. The most surprising character is actually Emma Cullen (Bennett) a local towns-person who wants revenge against Bogue. Bennett delivers a very realistic and genuine performance. Her character really stands out. Peter Sarsgaard is very good at playing the bad guy, his performance is great, he's selfish and arrogant and goes to great lengths to prove his dominance. The storyline is really good however it takes rather a long time to get going, although I really love the introduction of each character it drags on for bit too long. Most audiences may find themselves getting very bored within the first half hour of the film. It is a little bit disappointing that at almost an hour in, you only just start to see a little bit of action. It's a shame because the storyline is quite captivating. Sadly the scenes just drag out for far too long. It has all the right components, just all in the wrong order! Isn't this supposed to be a Western? I was expecting a lot more action, I must say! The action sequences just aren't there...when it does get going it's nor particularly exciting, even then there isn't a lot happening. The one part of the film where there is actually some action and it's almost as boring as the rest of the film.

Beautifully shot in Arizona and New Mexico, the cinematography is gorgeous! It's just a shame it's the strongest component of the movie. The lighting is perfect, the scenes are shot well and look incredible in each frame! The beauty of Arizona and New Mexico has certainly been captured brilliantly on screen! The production design is extremely impressive, it's rustic, it looks genuine, it feels lived in and it adds to the tone of the film perfectly! It's exactly how you'd picture a Western town to look, with the help of gorgeous cinematography it really looks stunning! There is a stunning dolly shot in the second chapter of the film following Bogue's men racing towards the town, the way in which the movie is shot is certainly not at fault. The costumes are great and look genuine, naturally it works well with the actors and the storyline. In all honesty not the late James Horner's best score, it works well with the storyline but other then that is quite plain and bland. It's an action movie, we want suspense and excitement, the majority of that comes from a well made score. This in fact is no disrespect to the late James Horner.

For a Western, I was genuinely very disappointed. I was expecting far more from the actors, and was certainly expecting far more action, it dragged in far too many places. The storyline is so exciting, as a member of the audience your desperate to know what happens next not sit around for an hour waiting for something to happen. It's a shame!

3/5 stars