The Magnificent Seven

Viewed – 28 September 2016 Cinema

Remakes will always be a tough sell, and we’ve had to endure some shite in the past. I noticed that the critical reception for this latest effort has been rather mixed. I never saw the original movie and probably never ill. So I’m probably in the best position to take this one in with a fairly open mind. Denzel Washington is a bounty hunter / marshal who comes to the aid of a recently widowed woman who’s town has been taken over by a ruthless businessman out to plunder the mines for any gold he can find. Washington agrees to help the woman seek revenge but first must rally a group of cowboys and what not to his aid. Along for the ride is a card hustler (Chris Pratt), a sharp shooter (Ethan Hawk) and an assassin (Byung-hun Lee).

Antoine (Training Day) Fuqua’s movie is immediately attractive and captures the setting and especially the feel of a western brilliantly. He has a keen eye for iconic shots and delivers in the action, where I’d go as far as to say this has some of the best action of the year for me, complete with excellently choreographed gunfights and traditional (not CGI) stunt work. The plot for what it is, is simple and only serves to bring together a likeable gang of gunslingers that I quickly grew to care about. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before but when it’s got stand-outs from Washington and Pratt as well and plenty of energy and a great score from James Horner – what’s there to grumble about?

If I was to nit-pick it would be to say the movie does revel in it’s clichés such as how it’s filmed, typical western movie imagery and well, several moments that occur are typical of the genre to the point of near-parody. Also characterisation, which with such an ensemble cast isn’t easy could have been a little better. I wanted more backstory to Denzel’s character which would have added weight to a later revelation, and well, we learn pretty much nothing about who Chris Pratt is other than handy with a gun and a deck of cards.

Yet this feels like a celebration not just of the movie it’s based on but westerns as a whole. So in that respect I can forgive it’s familiarity or lack of anything particularly new and just enjoy it for what it is – damn good entertainment.

Verdict: 4 /5

I feel I’ve been neglecting my readers of late and not posting as much as I should. What can I say, life get’s in the way and yes I have a life. But apart from that I really do like posting on this blog even if only a handful of people ever read it…those handful are important though! Anyway I digress. What I wanted was to give you the heads up about a few things I’ve been doing of late. There’s been an emphasis on gaming and well, I got myself some games I need to get around to finishing before the big slew of releases leading up the Christmas. There are too many good games coming out to actually manage to play them all let alone complete – but I have my beady eyes on a few.

For now though two games are on regular rotation, that being Uncharted 4: A Thieves End on PS4, arguably the best looking PS4 game and a rather polished adventure with that as expected Naughty Dog mastery of detail and game design. I won’t say for such a game it’s grabbed me as much as Rise of the Tomb Raider did, but then that game was more about survival and this game’s more a summer blockbuster. But I’m enjoying it. The other game I took a gamble with and downloaded is the much underrated Recore for XB1, like Uncharted an exclusive but nowhere near as well received, which is understandable – Uncharted is clearly a flagship title for PS4 and Sony whereas Recore was under-marketed and isn’t really meant to be a system seller as much as the forthcoming Gears of War 4 will be. However what it is is a rather classic throwback to platform shooter / exploration games like Metroid and I’m enjoying it a lot. I love exploration, puzzle solving and platforming and this does those three things brilliantly. The surrounding game, it’s story and it’s character design isn’t anything to write home about and it suffers from a few technical issues here and there … but it’s nowhere near as bad as the media will have you believe. I’d say If you like the sound of it, give it a chance.

I also have Mafia 3 pre-ordered on the XB1 and have asked for Watchdogs 2 on PS4 for my birthday (note for your diaries readers, it’s 14 November lol). I also would like to dive into the latest expansion that’s been released for Destiny namely ‘Rise of Iron’. I really like Destiny and it’s world and the upgrading of my character and weapons and exploring etc. keeps pulling me back far more than The Division seems it ever will. But to save money and give me a chance of completing those two games above, I’m holding off on taking the leap as of yet. I can also see even Dishonoured 2, a game I’m particularly excited for being put on the back burner until there are not so many games to play.

TV is taking up some of my time too and I’m trying to finish off current seasons of certain shows that I like, such as having just finished Daredevil season 2 (it was great, sometimes amazing, started a little slow but really delivered half way through. I think I still favour season 1 more though). Also nearing the end of the current season of Orange is The New Black which I feel has failed to really hit it’s stride this season apart from a strong opening and the return of a favourite character…I just wonder where it’s going. I’m also watching House of Cards season 2 … yes I’m waaay behind but love it. Its been pretty strong this season too. Also enjoying British police drama Luthor…I think I’m on series 3…but I lose track. Suitably violent and disturbing and well, Idris Elba is fantastic. I’ve also lined up two more Netflix Marvel shows to get into, Jessica Jones which I keep hearing good things about and the imminent Luke Cage which looks a lot of fun. I may focus on Jones first as the two shows seems to connect with one another by looks of it.

Now back on topic … for movies I have a few in the pipeline you’ll be seeing reviews of. I need to get around to watching Everybody Wants Some! Richard Linklater’s spiritual sequel to one of my all time favourite movies, Dazed & Confused. Also I’m hoping to see The Magnificent Seven with friends from work next week sometime. Did I also mention that I have a special edition of Donnie Darko coming? Look out for an in-depth review of that and how it stacks up on Blu-ray. Also there’s that final Studio Ghibli movie When Marnie Was There that‘s out soon so I can’t wait to get my paws on that.

I’ve not forgotten about my continuing series My Gaming History which will have a new post in the coming days so look out for that. But for now that’s what’s going on with me as far as a few of my hobbies, interests and this blog is concerned.

Craig.