The Magnificent Seven (2016)

I had a good time attending and watching this large scale western that derives from John Sturges’s 1960 version, which originated from Akira Kurosawa’s epic samurai movie “Seven Samurai” (1954). A lot of branches here. But each one of these films stand on their own. Antoine Fuqua’s version is dark, funny, and very personal, something he does very well in his films. Fuqua directed the cast extremely well to get entertaining and thoughtful performances. Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, and Chris Pratt are a powerhouse together and balance each other with the comic relief (Pratt), seriousness (Washington), and vulnerability (Hawke) all acting as one. Very good mix of characters and a unique score by the late James Horner, which left me surprised towards the positive.

One gripe I have with this film is it’s character development with the lead villain, Bartholomew Bouge, played by Peter Sarsgaard. The movie starts with Bogue intimidating and threatening the townspeople because he wants to mine gold in the area. Now that’s something a bad guy in any western would do, but what motivates his hatred towards people? The story dives into his persona, more than any villain in the three related films, so I wanted more details about why he kills people for no reason. Eli Wallach in the 1960 version plays the villain Calvera who shoots a villager coming at him with a machete, and in “Samurai” the bandit chieftain played by Shenpei Takagi never gets an introduction. Bouge is the one who the movie dives into, but falls flat on his engine. Gold seems to be good enough here, but I find Wallach to provide us the most layered villain. I just wanted more reason to the madness.

My favorite part of this movie is the third act, and boy does it end with a bang! Over 60 bad guys on horses ride into the town and the townspeople and the Seven fight back in one of the largest shootouts in any western I have ever seen. I was engulfed in the fighting, and I thought I was watching a war film. The heroes and villains alike get dirty in this kind of fighting, which involve rifles, revolvers, knives, dynamite, bows and arrows, and a Gatling gun. That’s not a spoiler because they showed it in the trailer. If you’re going to watch this movie and expect a lot of shooting and violence, you won’t be disappointed.

Denzel Washington in “The Magnificent Seven”

 

 

Deepwater Horizon (2016)

Peter Berg takes us on a wild and fiery ride aboard “Deepwater Horizon” along with Mark Walhberg, Kurt Russell, and John Malkovich in the thick of it. Smoke, a lot of smoke and fire rushes everything in this action film on top of the oil rig with gravity as the villain. No words can fully describe what I saw on the big screen. I’m on a business trip right now, and I thought it would be worth my time to go out, walk down the block and see the true story film. Boy was I in for a treat. And this makes me not want to go into the oil rig business.

Walhberg knocks it out of the park with his performance as Mike Williams as an everyday guy doing every day things who gets caught up with survival when the pressure becomes too much for him. Literally! All of the other cast members put their tears, sweat, and blood into their roles, which convinces me that they’re minutes away from dying. The makeup was incredible. I really thought those cuts and blood on everyone’s faces was real. My nerves cringed when the characters on the screen got hurt. They all get hurt. It looks so real when all the makeup, acting, and effects harmonize. Berg outdid himself.

This is a good film with us (the audience) relating and rooting for the crew to get off. It is a little slow in the first half hour, but it was to get us to know the crew, so I can understand that. Once we get introduced to everyone on the rig, the suck happens, and I saw the best come out of everybody. They try to save each other and showed how human they are. They wanted to survive. Just get off and survive!

Mark Walhberg in “Deepwater Horizon”