These seven are plain magnificent

Tinashe Kusema The Big & Small Screen
AN African-American bounty hunter, a Mexican outlaw, an Asian assassin, a Caucasian gun-slinging gambler, and an exiled Comanche warrior enter a bar and order Scotch on the rocks. The bartender gives them a quick glance and says; “We don’t serve your kind in here . . .”
This is not the start of a lame Western joke. This is “The Magnificent Seven”, a remake of the 1960s classic of the same name.
A joke probably did not cross Antoine Fuqua’s mind as he set about the remake; but a diverse cast must have been top of his wish list.
“The Magnificent Seven” follows the trials of Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington), an African-American bounty hunter, and his merry band of outcasts who embark on suicide mission to rescue a small town when a corrupt industrialist, Bartholomew Bogue, threatens to run it over.
This merry band comprises Mexican outlaw Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), tracker/mountain man Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio), his former war buddy Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), knife-throwing Asian sidekick Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), explosive gambler Joshua Faraday (Chris Pratt), and exiled Comanche warrior Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier). Peter Sarsgaard is the rogue industrialist Bogue, who sets upon himself to use his unlimited resources and heartless mercenaries to dry up the town of Rose Creek of its gold resources.
Now, I should say take whatever I say with a pinch of salt: I have always had a fondness for Westerns.
But hey, “The Magnificent Seven” has Denzel Washington, and who doesn’t love the guy? Add man-of-the-moment Chris Pratt, Washington’s co-star from the 2001 cult classic “Training Day”, and Ethan Hawke, and the film simply screams gold.
What do you need a marketing department for, when you have got these three guys on the cover?
The film lives up to its billing. The setting is spot on, the music — while clichéd — is what have come to expect from Westerns. When used right, sometimes clichés work.
Speaking of clichés, the plot is rather way too simple. And the fact that there is no interaction between the film’s main antagonist and protagonist up until the final act really works against the script. This does not take away much from the movie, as its biggest drawcards are the cast, their performances and how Fuqua balances all these egos.
Washington, Pratt and Sarsgaard really embody their roles. As Bogue, Sarsgaard really does not have much to say but those facial expressions are pure perfection. (I am rarely moved by villain performances, unless your name is Heath Ledger or Tom Hiddleston.)
Special mention to Garcia-Rulfo, Lee, Hawke and the rest of “The Magnificent Seven” crew who used their screen time to perfection. Too much use of the word “perfection”? Ok, let us just say, the crew used their screen time well.
The biggest surprise, for me anyway, was Emma Cullen who stars as Haley Bennett, the woman who hires Chisolm and his crew. She shows a unique balance between “strength” and “vulnerability”. She moved me.
And it is good to see an African-American leading the cast in a Western.