Did you enjoy The Hateful Eight but wish it starred one less person? Then have I got a movie for you. The Magnificent Seven, Antoine Fuqua’s remake of John Sturges’ 1960 Western classic (which itself was based on Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai), follows Denzel Washington and his motley band of outlaws. The Greatest Actor of All Time Period plays Sam Chisolm, a bounty hunter — excuse me, “The Bounty Hunter” — who’s asked to protect the town of Rose Krick from the evil industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard). Washington is joined by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (“The Outlaw”), Ethan Hawke (“The Sharpshooter”), Byung-hun Lee (“The Assassin”), Martin Sensmeier (“The Warrior”), Vincent D’Onofrio (“The Tracker”), and Chris Pratt (“The Gambler”), who provides most of the comedic moments in the just-released trailer.
Pratt, even more than the perpetually badass Washington, is the key to The Magnificent Seven working. The film was co-written by Nic Pizzolatto, who, if True Detective season two taught us anything, delivers scripts that can drown in misery. But having Pratt there to deliver dialogue like, “Oh good, we got a Mexican” and “I’ve always wanted to blow something up,” makes everything better. Hopefully his horse rides alongside a raptor in at least one scene.
The Magnificent Seven comes out Sept. 23.
