The Magnificent Seven (2016) - Fuqua makes a noisy party trick out of the western

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A golden seven across a grey sky with the seven actors in heavy get-up at the bottom makes up this macho poster for Antoine Fuqua's The Magnificent Seven

Seven men gather to help the intimidated citizens of small frontier town Rose Creek fight and prevail over the evil tyrant industrialist Bartholomew Bogue.

 

The Magnificent Seven is written by Nic Pizzolatto (The Killing (2011, TV-series)) and Richard Wenk (Vamp (1986)) and directed by Pennsylvanian master filmmaker Antoine Fuqua (Bait (2000)). It is a remake of the same-titled 1960 hit western by John Sturges, which was in turn based on Seven Samurai (1954) by Akira Kurosawa.

Modernly cast with a diverse group of actors, Fuqua pulls the trigger in the West with mighty explosions, CGI, shoot-outs upon shoot-outs and cocky stars in thinly sketched parts. It rumbles and bumbles, - but why are we supposed to care?

The Magnificent Seven doesn't look or smell like the West we know from the genre's best pictures. It feels phony, unnecessary, long and dreary.

 

Related posts:

 

Antoine Fuqua: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

The Equalizer (2014) or, Mr. Swift Justice

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 90 mil. - 107 mil. $ (different reports)

Box office: 162.3 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.51 - 1.80 times its cost)

[The Magnificent Seven premiered 8 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 133 minutes. Several other stars and director John Lee Hancock had been rumored to head the remake before Fuqua was hired and assembled his cast. Shooting took place from May - August 2015 in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Louisiana. The film features the last score of great composer James Horner, who passed away in 2015 with his friend and collaborator finishing his work. The film opened #1 to a 34.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 3 weekends (#3-#4-#4) and grossed 93.4 mil. $ (57.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 7.9 mil. $ (4.9 %) and South Korea with 6.8 mil. $ (4.2 %). Fuqua returned with Ice (2016, TV-series), The Receipt: The Gift (2017, short) and theatrically with The Equalizer 2 (2018). Denzel Washington (The Siege (1998)) returned in Fences (2016); Chris Pratt (10 Years (2011)) in Passengers (2016). The Magnificent Seven is fresh at 64 % with a 6.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Magnificent Seven? 

Rango (2011) - Verbinski's amusing family western animation

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1 Time Film Excess Nominee:

Best Animation: Gore Verbinski (lost to Kung Fu Panda 2)

Gore Verbinski's Rango features striking character designs as is obvious from this poster for the film

QUICK REVIEW:

An acting chameleon drops out from his terrarium in the middle of the Mojave desert, where he finds the town Dirt. Here he acts like a hero and gets appointed sheriff. But the town has a pressing water problem.

Johnny Depp (From Hell (2001)) is good and funny voicing Rango and leading a fine voice actor cast: Ned Beatty (Life (1999)), Alfred Molina (Magnolia (1999)), Ray Winstone (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)) and Harry Dean Stanton (Wild at Heart (1990)) among others. Unfortunately, Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood (2004-06)) is sorely miscast as the 'Spirit of the West', an old kind of God-figure.
The beginning of Rango promises a uniquely psychedelic, grand animation; gradually, though, the film instead gets bend towards the absolutely recognizable, formulaic direction, which is a shame. The script is by John Logan (Hugo (2011)), based on a story by Logan, director Gore Verbinski (The Lone Ranger (2013)) and James Ward Byrkit (Coherence (2013)).
Rango makes you laugh, and the special animation style is enjoyable throughout.
Verbinski had previously worked with Depp in the three Pirates of the Caribbean movies (2003; 2006; 2007) and did so again in the mega-flop Lone Ranger. After that affair, Verbinski won't be back as a director again until next year with a much smaller film, titled at the moment, A Cure for Wellness.

Related post:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Watch the trailer for the movie here

Cost: 135 mil. $
Box office: 245.7 mil. $
= Big flop
[Rango was well-received by critics, (Roger Ebert awarded it 4 of 4 stars!), and it won the Best Animation Oscar. It opened #1 with a 38 mil. $ opening weekend in the US, where it became the first 2011 release to break 100 mil. $, grossing 123.4 mil. $ (50 % of the total gross). The film caused some ratings controversy, since several characters smoke in it, but it still retained its PG-rating. Though the film cannot be counted a commercial hit in theatrical terms, its distributor Paramount Pictures were so satisfied with it that they decided to start their own animation department after their deal with DreamWorks Animation elapsed in 2012.]

What do you think of Rango?

Chisum (1970) - Middle-of-the-road John Wayne action-western

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Painted poster with some of the excitement that's the heart of Andrew V. McLaglen's Chisum

QUICK REVIEW:

Two 'great' men are fighting over who is gonna rule in a small town; Chisum, who is just and good, or Murphy, who is greedy and bad.
The action-western is a rare thing, but here is one, where the label fits: Fire, murder, shootings, falls, fist fights, - and almost without stop.
John Wayne (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)) has the pretty boring title lead. Hank Worden (Red River (1948)) and Richard Jaeckel (3:10 to Yuma (1957)) are charismatic in side-roles, but the dialog and script for Chisum - by Andrew J. Fenady (Mayday at 40,000 Feet! (TV, 1976)) is generally too horrid to afford the film any lasting impressions.
It is directed by the London-born film-maker Andrew V. McLaglen (The Undefeated (1969)).
Here are some more posters for this mediocre based on - but far removed from - real events western:

Wayne winning his first Oscar for True Grit (1969) was used in the trailer for the much inferior western from the same year, Chisum here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 6 mil. $ (only US rentals)
= Uncertainty

What do you think of Chisum?
Best and worst John Wayne films in your opinion?