The Magnificent Seven

Filmmaker Antoine Fuqua's remake of John Sturges's 1960 Western The Magnificent Seven (which in turn was based on Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese classic Seven Samurai) saddles up seven gunslingers who are hired by spunky, vengeful widow Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) to save a ransacked mining town from Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), a rich, rapacious industrialist. Set in 1879, as the frontier outpost of Rose Creek is being besieged, the film's central hero is bounty-hunter Sam Chisholm (Denzel Washington), who recruits Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt), a roguish, hard-drinking Irish gambler; Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), a twitchy Confederate sharp-shooter; Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), a Korean knife-expert; Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), a Mexican outlaw; Jack Horne (Vincent D'Onofrio), a cantankerous tracker; and Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier), a renegade Comanche warrior. Unevenly scripted, The Magnificent Seven is full of archetypal characters but lacks nuanced exposition, leaving too much on the otherwise capable shoulders of Washington as the team prepares the terrified townsfolk for Bogue's inevitable invasion with an army of mercenaries. Offering plenty of chaotic, shoot-‘em-up action, but not much more, this is an optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include production segments on “The Seven” (9 min.), “Rogue Bogue” (6 min.), “Directing the Seven” (5 min.), and “Magnificent Music” (4 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a “Vengeance Mode” audio commentary feature with behind-the-scenes footage and cast and crew interviews, deleted scenes (8 min.), “making-of” segments on “Gunslingers” (5 min.) and “The Taking of Rose Creek” (5 min.), and a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an unremarkable remake.] (S. Granger)