There is almost a shoot-out at the OK Corral.
The Magnificent Seven (Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Haley Bennett, Peter Sarsgaard) – If you long for a good old fashioned Western, the remake of The Magnificent Seven is for you. This is no Quentin Tarantino Western even though there is plenty of violence. This is your basic Western where you know who the good guys and the bad guys are; guys shoot with multiple guns from behind their backs and under their armpits; and the cowboys gather in the saloon that doubles as a whorehouse.
The evil guy, Batholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), is joyously ruthless and unrepentant. The best of the good guys, Chisholm (Denzel Washington), is brave, daring, tall, handsome, and cool.
This movie is a reunion for Training Day (2001) Director Antoine Fuqua, Best Actor Denzel Washington, and Best Supporting Actor nominee Ethan Hawke. Both actors have aged well and make believable heroes.
It is always dangerous to re-make a great movie. The original Western (1960) starred Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn and Eli Wallach among others. This cast would make the legends proud.
The story is familiar. Bogue owns the local goldmine, kills indiscriminately, and burns down the local church to prove who’s in charge to the disgruntled locals. Chisholm, an authorized bounty hunter, rides into town, observes the carnage, and promises to help a local widow (Haley Bennett) avenge her husband’s death and free the locals to enjoy their little town. To help him, he recruits a diverse set of characters, including his old friend, Goodnight Robicheaux (Hawke), a Camanche warrior, Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier), a local tough guy (Chris Pratt) and more.
This is pure fun with lots of guns, a plethora of bullets, and a damsel who can shoot. What’s not to like … unless you hate Westerns.