Going into the cinema, I was quite intrigued to see what The Magnificent Seven remake had to offer. This modern take is a lot of fun, mainly due to the good rapport and visceral actioneering of the titular seven individuals, as they attempt to protect humble townsfolk from the mid-sized baddie in black.
The resulting film is not lacklustre, though very familiar. The cinematography and music (composed by the late James Horner) during the sweeping landscape shots is glorious, but frames during the interior scenes range from average to awkward, with some characters being oddly misrepresented by certain angles. In a nutshell, this film is a revenge-action-Western in the vein of The Revenant, just without the artsy metaphysics and wealth of snow.
It is a perfectly likeable movie that reconfirms Denzel Washington as one of the best film actors of the last 30 years. The man manages to be emotionally intelligent without ever needing to resort to cheap tricks, and maintains an effortless cool that would make Miles Davis sweat. Chris Pratt undergoes no transformation and is exactly the same character we all know and love, whilst Hayley Bennett out-J-Laws Jennifer Lawrence (viewing necessary). The film is supported by a very able cast, and thus provides a very pleasant 2 hours of viewing.
We acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, who are the Traditional Custodians of the land on which Woroni, Woroni Radio and Woroni TV are created, edited, published, printed and distributed. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. We acknowledge that the name Woroni was taken from the Wadi Wadi Nation without permission, and we are striving to do better for future reconciliation.