THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (2016)

Genre: Western / Action

Running Length: 2:12

Cast: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Byung-hun Lee, Vincent D’Onofrio, Martin Sensmeier, Peter Sarsgaard, Hayley Bennett

Director: Antoine Fuqua 

Screenplay: Richard Wenk & Nic Pizzolatto, based on the screenplay for “The Seven Samurai” by Akira Kurosawa & Shinobu Hashimoto & Hideo Oguni 

This updated version of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN brings nothing new to the table except to literally update it for today's generation since the original is more than 50 years old (the 1960 version was also a re-imagination of Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai (1954)).

To be fair, the first act was a good set-up where we witness the chief villain (deliciously played by Sarsgaard) struts into a church of a small frontier town with his men and forces the villagers to sell their land for cheap. Of course, things went south and helpless peasants were brutally killed. As a result, one of the widowed decided to go against these aggressors by recruiting a fighting force. The plot is simple enough to follow but yet when the credits rolled, the entire experience just felt like an exercise in futility. 

The "seven" characters were underdeveloped and thus I didn't care much at all when the odds were stacked against them in the loud and chaotic final act. One interesting thing the filmmakers could have focused on is to invest a little bit more time to give a proper backstory to our heroes so that their purpose of assembling together is more believable. It felt like Suicide Squad ie. what's in it for a bunch of misfits to get together to save the world?   

Washington is fine as the ringleader. Come to think of it, Denzel has always been playing a "cowboy" in his action movies eg Equalizer, Man on Fire, The Book of Eli. Pratt is as charismatic as ever. There are hints of the iconic score from the 1960s version (dum, dum, de-dum, dum dum dum da-de-dum) but you will have to wait till the closing credits to enjoy its full glory. 

Overall, despite its slick production, the diverse cast and fun shoot 'em up scenes, this popcorn western is forgettable. Towards the second half, I had this nagging voice in me that I should have just watched the original version or even the Japanese one.  

Rating: 6/10

A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST (2014)

Genre: Comedy
Running Length: 1:52
Cast: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Liam Neeson, Giovanni Ribisi, Neil Patrick Harris, Sarah Silverman
Director: Seth MacFarlane

It's strange that lately I'm getting my Stephen Chow fix from Hollywood movies. The very brilliant The Grand Budapest Hotel was one of it and now, A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST. It's filled with nonsensical laugh-out-loud scenes, randomness and clever references/parody of pop culture. It also features a number of cameos (two of it are brilliant). That's where the similarities end. As I'm not familiar with Seth MacFarlane'a credentials (yes, I have not watched TED and Family Guy), so it was pretty refreshing to see him "whine" through some very cleverly written monologues about the western frontier and references to today's lifestyle and living. Not everything works though as some gags are pretty funny at the start but it drags on and becomes tiresome after a while. And the toilet-bodily fluids humour are juvenile and crass. Despite its raunchy and racial references and the sudden burst of graphic violence, the movie is grounded with an honest sweet romantic story between MacFarlane and Theron's character. Theron is wonderfully natural and she gives MacFarlane more humanity and likeability. Without her, I suspect I will start to loathe Seth MacFarlane (like half of the world's population); watching him here is like watching him host the Oscars/doing a monologue for a late night talk show. He seems way too impressed with himself. A special shout out to the technical aspects of the film as it looks and sounds like a classic western; the sun-burnished views of Arizona and the evocative score.

Rating: 7/10