A remake itself – based on Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954) – John Sturges’ classic 1960 Western gets an efficient update courtesy of Antoine Fuqua (Training Day). But how does Fuqua’s vision compare when going toe to toe with Sturges’? Time and tastes may have changed, but excellence doesn’t date quite so fast. And Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke and co have some big boots to fill.
As the leader of seven “good guns” hired to protect a Mexican village against bandits, 1960 star Yul Brynner is what gravitas would look like if you shaved its head and gave it a black hat. Washington, his 2016 counterpart, is fine, as are the rest of the gang, but you can’t help feeling they’re delineated by ethnic background (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo is Mexican, Byung-hun Lee is South Korean etc) as much as character. And how do you top a cast swollen with such mighty names as Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and Robert Vaughn, with James Coburn seventh on the bill? When it comes to scenery-spitting villainry, meanwhile, creepy Peter Sarsgard is no match for the legendary Eli Wallach (The Good The Bad And The Ugly). But then, who is?
Designed to stretch across a lazy Sunday afternoon, Sturges’ film was a genuine epic. By contrast, Fuqua’s seems content to pass a pleasant 2-for-1 Wednesday. But this speed comes at the expense of dramatic weight. Of course the battles are better staged today – stunts have had half a century to improve – but they count for less. Where Sturges’ Seven turned to violence as the very last resort, Fuqua’s are itching for action, with Washington motivated by vengeance as much as outmoded decency. In the 1960 film, after some climactic carnage, Brynner turns to McQueen and comments on the futility of fighting. “Only the farmers won,” he says, sadly. “We lost. We always lose.” The 2016 version, meanwhile, pans across a row of fresh graves, offering an epitaph to the effect of, “Gee, weren’t those guys magnificent?”
Well, no, not really. The 1960 film spawned three direct sequels and a 1998 TV show, while Brynner’s evil gunslinger in 1975’s Westworld (itself getting an HBO remake) plays on the image of his iconic crusading cowboy. One thing’s for sure, nobody’s going to remake this remake.
