Movie Reviews

Basically, this is a remake of a re-imagining. First there was Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 classic Seven Samurai, then there was John Sturges re-imagining in 1960 and now there is Antoine Fuqua’s remake of that western.

That means you should know the story by now. A big, bad douche terrorizes a small town, seven outlaws show up and save the day before riding off into the sunset. Well, at least that’s the gist of it. In Fuqua’s version, the town is called Rose Creek and the douche is a ruthless miner named Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), who – along with his army of gunslingers - is out to drive the settlers out of their own town. The desperate townspeople, led by Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett), get in touch with a gunslinger of their own, Sam Chisolm (Fuqu’s go-to actor Denzel Washington).

Chisolm rounds up a team of his own that consists of Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke and Vincent D'Onofrio among others. Along the way, this merry band of misfits crosses paths with a Comanche warrior (Martin Sensmeier) who also agrees to join them. They are like the Avengers minus the capes, out to rectify an injustice.

Fuqua does an amazing job directing the action (off which there is plenty, especially towards the end) and everything looks pretty friggin’ amazing. Like ‘I want to go there on my next holiday’ amazing. Well, maybe sans the dead bodies lining up in the streets. But most importantly, this is a rare case of a remake that is more than capable of standing on its own two feet.