6 minutes of Your Time: The Magnificent Seven
- McKayla Walker
- Oct 18, 2016
- 4 min read
A movie review of The Magnificent Seven that you can read in six minutes or less.
[SPOILER FREE]
View the trailer here:
6 Minutes of Your Time goes like this: I'll review the movie from both a typical movie-goer perspective, a person who just goes to see the movie at surface value and be entertained. Then, I'll review the movie from a deeper, more critical perspective for the more cynical and analytic of us who watch movies. And, obviously, it will be done in six minutes, because we all have other stuff to do.
1-2 Minute: A Quick Look
First off, this movie starts off with you getting to stare at Matt Bomer for a solid five minutes, so that's a complete plus. Next, you get Denzel Washington, a ton of hilarious scenes with Chris Pratt (no surprise there), and some phenomenal fight scenes to be the icing on this cake. The dialogue and character development was fantastic, and I didn't leave the theater with a single question unanswered at the end of the movie.
The plot: a horrible man has just killed a bunch of townspeople, and so a woman and her "friend" go looking for help in your typical western town. Denzel Washington say's he'll help and he gathers six other men to help these poor townspeople take back their town.
This movie is awesome because they have a very racially diverse cast not just for the sake of being racially diverse, as many movies do, but to be more historically accurate. During the Wild West, the people who would be in it, as well as white people, would be people of Asian, African-America, Mexican, and American-Indian heritage. This movie was empowering to watch for women as well as this widow does everything she can to save her town, even shooting during a massive war to do her part. And she does AWESOME at it!
One of the best characters in the movie, besides Chris Pratt's awesome Josh Faraday, was Jack Horne, the old mountain man and tracker that everyone just wanted to give a big hug. Well, when he wasn't killing people- that man is a ferocious bear. He was the loving grandpa of the group, and a total scene stealer. Honestly, I was rooting for his character the whole movie.
The fight scenes were extremely well done, and accurate representations of real war situations. IF someone is shot one time, they aren't going to be dead like most movies portray. The violence was tastefully done, and I loved that there wasn't gory violence just for the sake of it.
Lastly, most movies these days feel the need to have excessive swearing and pretty graphic love scenes. I'm not a fan of either, and you're not going to find either in this film. Besides the violence within it, and there is a lot, this is a movie easily everyone in the family could watch comfortably.
3 Minute: Worth Seeing?
You will laugh. A lot. You will possibly cry. I did. But when this movie is over, you will definitely want to see it again.
Worth seeing? I came in with little to no expectations and I have been recommending this movie to every person every day since I saw it. The acting is fantastic, the characters you love, and there aren't annoying trying-to-be-artistic camera shots that some directors love to do.
If you love action, surprises, the little guy trumping the big guy, laughter, and having a wonderful 2 hours and 13 minutes, then YES this movie is 189% worth your time.
4-5 Minute: A Deeper Look
Looking deeper into this movie, the cinematography was amazingly executed. The film had a more sepia lighting to it to fit the Wild West vibe, and since I hate grey-scale coloration in movies that is so common in films today, I found this perfectly fitting for the movie. All of the artistic components (the editing, music, etc.) really made this movie as strong visually as it should be from the incredible script. Often times, the music and sound effects can overpower the dialogue, and these were very well balanced.
The cast was well balanced, with a few stars shining brighter than others, but not a single one delivering a lackluster performance. Any actor is a slave to the script given, and these seven men were lucky to have a wonderful script and director to work with. Chris Pratt did perfectly playing a womanizing but dangerous gambler. As always, he had excellent comedic timing and played off the other characters very well. Denzel Washington had yet another amazing performance in this film, and tears are easily shed over his character's big heart and life-story.
Hawke's performance as Goodnight was an interesting one. He struggles with PTSD from his time as a Confederate soldier, and seeing the camaraderie between him and Billy Rocks, a strong assassin played by actor Byung-Hee Lee, makes you want to go home and give your best friend a hug. All the characters in this film have wonderfully terrific backstories and excellent deliveries by their actors, making a strong cast to further support the quality of this movie.
Antonie Fuqua, who is also the director of both Southpaw, and Olympus Had Fallen, did a absolutely fantastic job with this film. This is a remake of a 1960 film which had been whitewashed, and as previously mentioned, this film is much more diverse. When asked why this was done, he said,""There were a lot of black cowboys, a lot of Native Americans; Asians working on the railroads. The truth of the West is more modern than the movies have been." (Nate Jones)
6 Minute: Worth Seeing?
This movie has everything, at face value and looking deeper at it. The actors perform well, the cinematics are well done, and the director and screenwriter delivered perfectly. Altogether, we are left with a film that has everything a movie goer or a cynical critic could want! There is action, betrayal, justice, heart wrenching scenes mingling with heart-warming scenes; good-looking men and women, laughter, historical accuracy, and a storyline that comes together like puzzle pieces.
Worth seeing? Again, and again, and again, because you can't get tired of this one. And that's all I have to say about that.
Culture Cult Grade: A
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