About Magnificence
Post 26:
Yeah, I’ve taken a few days. Won’t be a commonality, I pledge. There’s been travel and the like and though I could chastise myself with mean intransigence, I’ll leave that for later.
Alright, today I mean to rush headlong into a review. My wish is never to simply criticize another person’s work, it’s not my style. That somebody tried something and pulled it off is usually enough, and let’s be honest, if folks weren’t trying, there’d ostensibly be nothing at all to talk about. So there’s that.
I just saw the Magnificent Seven. Have to say I was pretty pumped to see this one. My default position is Denzel Washington is the most watchable person on celluloid. Fair to say I’d watch him watching paint dry and be happy. Throw in the incredibly likeable Chris Pratt and you’ve got a winner, but…
It was good enough. There were things setup and for the most part they paid off—that’s basically what a good story should do. I just think it fell short. Authenticity, especially when you’re talking about a western, might be even more important, and here I feel it missed the mark. Denzel was great but they didn’t give him a lot to say. It’s a very simple story but they almost waited too long to let us in on his motivations. I’m all for being teased, but it went a little too far. I saw that the screenplay was at least partially written by the guy that did True Detective, a dude that hit big with the first season of said show and equally missed with the second season. His elevated prose is a double-edged sword; the esotericism that he tends toward can be great—it can also take you out of the story. That said, he’s an incredibly talented writer.
It was a big ask to make this story work. First, it’s a reboot of a reboot. A Japanese bloke made it for Japanese folks and then it was made for Hollywood and now again—the ensemble cast is tricky, it can get unwieldy trying to keep up with all the characters. One has to write it so you care about everyone, and like many things in life, when you try to do everything, sometimes you accomplish nothing.
To say that it did nothing would be unfair, though. There was a bad guy, good guys, a heroic female (really the center of the story) and plenty of shooting. Chris Pratt was a tad underwritten, but whatever, he has a magnetism that’s hard for a writer or director to live up to. At the end of the day the film had a whole heap to do and for the most part it got it done—it just felt a bit like paint by numbers. I would recommend seeing it, mostly for the acting and several truly funny moments, plus lots of dudes shooting other dudes. And of course, Denzel is the man. To end with something trite, I’d say Magnificent Seven was not magnificent, but it did have seven magnificent actors in a serviceable story. As I said, it’s a simple tale. Sometimes those are the toughest to tell. Then again, what do I know? My stories tend to be circuitous and rambling. Maybe putting the word magnificent in your title sets the bar high in the viewer’s consciousness.
So that’s what I think, for whatever it’s worth. See it. It might not change your life, but how many movies do that? Seven did, but let’s be honest, nobody figured on David Fincher being so magnificent back then. Now we know.
See you after.
