‘Magnificent’ might be a stretch
In a remake of the 1960 Western of the same name, The Magnificent Seven centers on a group of mercenaries hired to bring down a powerful man who has taken control of a poor village. While we’re not too sure about the film itself, the ensemble cast that includes Chris Pratt, Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke and Lee Byung-hun looks promising. The Magnificent Seven opens in wide release Sept. 23.
NICOLE: I’m so excited. Chris Pratt matches the Wild West era in looks and voice … The movie isn’t as gory as I thought it would be, but I did like the gun slinging that took place in the trailer. It was very exciting.
CHRISTINA: I’m not so sure. Maybe the original version of this film was innovative, but honestly it just feels like this is something we’ve seen a bunch of times before — a group of ragtag anti-heroes team up and will, of course, inevitably be successful in their seemingly impossible mission. It looks kind of bland, but I mostly have faith that the actors will be able to help elevate it. Chris Pratt is pretty charismatic, and Ethan Hawke can do no wrong in my eyes. And Peter Sarsgaard is always an appropriately menacing bad guy.
PAIGE: This has been popping up at the peripherals of my internet browsing, but I never re ally paid attention to the cast until just this minute, when I realized Lee Byung-hun is in it. That man is determined to be a Hollywood action star. He is taking the obligatory badass silent Asian killer role and he’s beating it to death with pure awesomeness.
NICOLE: There must be a comment about how handsome Lee Byung-hun looks. When he stabs the guy, my heart just melts.
JAIMIE: If I were a more emotional person, I think I would shed some tears of happiness for him. The man has been in the industry for so long, and it’s nice to see him appear in a slew of films that go beyond South Korea … Even though he is kind of a shady person in real life.
PAIGE: I’m actually pretty cool with the fact that this is a diverse group of seven. We got a little bit of everything. I’m OK with this. It’s chill, but it’s there. That’s how diversity kinda is supposed to work. It’s not like only white people lived out in the Old West, anyway. I hope the minorities get to say stuff, though. Chris Pratt seems to be carrying this movie on his back up a mountain. Even Denzel seems a little spare on the charisma here. Nobody else really had any lines. So that is probably going to be a problem.
JAIMIE: Kudos especially to finding a true Native American actor to play a Comanche warrior instead of shoving someone into that role just ‘cause.
PAIGE: I think the tone is a little jovial for the generally grim outcome of its predecessors (which, are, of course, The Magnificent Seven and the OG Seven Samurai). The real message is all about the Pyrrhic victory and defeat even in victory. But I don’t get that vibe at all from this trailer. So either it’s not there or it’s going to be one heck of a mood swing for people who go to watch it.
