Sony Pictures and MGM have released the firstThe Magnificent Seventrailer online. Directed byAntoine Fuqua(The Equalizer), the film revolves around seven outlaws who band together to protect a small town from a violent industrialist, and on first glance, it looks generally like what you would expect a Fuqua Western to look like. “I seek righteousness, but I’ll take revenge,” saysHaley Bennett’s widow, who hires the titular gang, and that itself could be the tagline to nearly any of Fuqua’s recent work in the wake of the still-excellentTraining Day.
Backed by a raucous cover of “The House of the Rising Sun,” the trailer lays out the familiar fight between the good old-fashioned farmers and townsfolk who just want a simple life, and the horrible, immoral industrialists, represented byPeter Sarsgaard’s character, who want their land and submission to (assumably) secure even more profit on top of their wealth. It’s pretty simplistic and shallow, but people don’t often go to these movies for the plot, but rather the big action set-pieces and the sight of major stars exchanging jibes, jokes, and vaguely insightful ideas about what life, love, work, and death. In this respect, the new trailer hits all the major marks, withDenzel WashingtonandChris Pratttaking the lead in the titular gang and seemingly shooting…everything.
There’s a chance that Fuqua’s film will even be more enjoyable on a strictly entertaining level than the originalJohn Sturgespicture, but the likelihood of it coming within spitting distance of its original incarnation,Akira Kurosawa’s sublimeSeven Samurai, is frankly out of the question. But, hey, not many movies in any year reach the heights of Kurosawa’s opus, so that’s not necessarily a knock against Fuqua and his hugely talented cast and crew, who seem to be having more than enough fun in the frame to have the feeling transmit to an audience that’s looking for a decent two-hours of shoot-em-up storytelling.
Check outThe Magnificent Seventrailer below. The film also starsEthan Hawke,Vincent D’Onofrio,Byung-Hun Lee,Manuel Garcia-Rulfo,Martin Sensmeier, andPeter Sarsgaard.The Magnificent Sevenopens in theaters on September 23rd.
Here’s the official synopsis forThe Magnificent Seven:
With the town of Rose Creek under the deadly control of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), the desperate townspeople employ protection from seven outlaws, bounty hunters, gamblers and hired guns – Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington), Josh Farraday (Chris Pratt), Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio), Billy Rocks (Byung-Hun Lee), Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier). As they prepare the town for the violent showdown that they know is coming, these seven mercenaries find themselves fighting for more than money.
