The Magnificent Seven

Seven Samurai is a classic film that has been reimagined in many different ways, as a western (The Magnificent Seven) and a space opera (Battle Beyond the Stars). Many movies, specifically westerns take elements from this movie, but never has it been so blatantly remade. Rather than follow the path of it's namesake, this new Magnificent Seven is a straight remake of Seven Samurai, even going so far to use a watered down version of the classic's screenplay.

The town of Rose Creek is being harassed by Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), a businessman who intends on buying the whole town in order to mine it of all the gold it has. Desperate to save her town, Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) leaves to look for protection. She comes across bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) who agrees to help but admits that they need more people. They gather a team that includes Faraday (Chris Pratt), a drunken Irishman hustler without the accent, Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), a former Confederate sharpshooter, his companion Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), a Chinese immigrant who is a knife expert, Jack Horne (Vincent D'Onofrio), a mountain man, Vasquez (Manuel García-Rulfo), a Mexican outlaw, and Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier), a young Comanche warrior who has been exiled from his tribe. Together this band returns to the town to square off against the forces assembled by Bogue.

Because this movie leans so heavily on Seven Samurai it's really hard to reconcile that this movie is trying to be it's own thing. I know it sounds wanky to say that, but if you've seen that movie, you'll understand the parallels. Things like the introduction of characters (especially Billy Rocks' introduction which is lifted straight from Seven Samurai) or the training of the villagers are just so close to the original film. This seemed bizarre to me because the only connection it has to the original Magnificent Seven is the name and setting. Even though it's trying to be Seven Samurai, it manages to miss the mark by trying to be different. Straight away the movie starts with villainy to make sure that they know Bogue is the bad guy, but there's no gentle build up to it. And instead of having a town meeting to decide go for help, the character of Emma Cullen takes it upon herself to go look for help. Peter Sarsgaard's Bogue is one moustache twirl away from being the kind to tie a woman to the railroad and really does look like a discount Paul Giamatti. When it comes to the big battle at the end of the film, the stakes are dramatically lowered because the whole town takes part in it. This takes away from the whole underdog story. The movie also has a few historical problems. First off, the old west was nowhere near as clean as this. I don't mean that everything is super shiny and new, but it is far from the grittiness that we've come to expect from modern westerns like Deadwood, True Grit and Django Unchained. These days you have no excuse to muddy up you actors. Another minor failing I thought the film had was the lack of discussion around Chisolm obviously being a former slave. This movie takes place in the South in 1879. The Civil War would have been too recent an event to ignore and the film even says that Chisolm had been lynched at some point.

The Magnificent Seven isn't just a steaming mess though. It does have some good elements. The action is exactly the kind of thing you want to go see with this kind of movie, lots of old timey bullets, explosions and tomahawks. The chemistry between Chris Pratt and Manuel García-Rulfo is off the charts and just a joy to watch. Fun fact: when you can't put swear words in a movie, have the Mexican guy call everyone cabron (fucker in Spanish). Vincent D'Onofrio's choice of a squeaky whisper is hilarious and almost made me laugh every time he said something. Although I found it hard to believe that Ethan Hawke's former Confederate soldier would be friendly with Chisolm, the addition of his PTSD from the Civil War was a nice touch. The ending was a nice touch because it was more in keeping with it's source material than a conventional Hollywood ending.

This movie has quite a few ups and downs so it's quite hard to say whether or not I liked it. Within the first five minutes I thought I had written it off as a horrible movie, but it wasn't horrible. Instead it just hung in a strange limbo between good and bad. While the bad parts don't detract from the movie itself, they do serve as a distraction.

Terminator Genisys

As an avid fan of Terminator 1-3, and somebody who personally didn't really mind Salvation (which is saying something), I have been of course eagerly awaiting the release of the latest instalment in the kickass time-travelling cybernetic organism series Terminator Genisys, no matter how poorly it has been first received by critics. It's now Alan Taylor's (Thor: The Dark World) shot at the franchise and it begins full-circle, with a different take on the events of the first film.

In 2029, the human Resistance, led by John Connor (Jason Clarke) seek to destroy Skynet's super-weapon, a time machine that will allow them to effectively win the war. By the time they arrive, Skynet has already sent the T-800 back to 1984 to attack Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke). John sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to protect her, but as the machine begins its process, Kyle sees John get attacked by another of the Resistance fighters (Matt Smith) and simultaneously receives memories from an alternative version of his twelve year-old self.

The T-800 arrives back in 1984 and confronts a group of punks for their clothes, just as he did in the original movie The Terminator, however Sarah Connor and a reprogrammed T-800 known as Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger) - and affectionately referred to as "Pop" by Sarah - turn up and destroy the T-800, altering the original timeline. Similarly as Kyle arrives, the two turn up to rescue him from an attacking T-1000 (Lee Byung-hun). After consulting Kyle's flashbacks from his alternative self, Kyle and Sarah travel to 2017 whilst Guardian waits 33 years for their arrival as they attempt to prevent the new Judgement Day from happening...again.

Dealing with the often-confusing concepts of time travel can really screw with the audience' heads, and is one of the core constructs of the Terminator franchise that has remained largely unexplored. Yes, the leads are almost always trying to change the future and prevent events from happening, but in Genisys the characters are negotiating an altered timeline and are shifting through time. No, this isn't a crossover with Back to the Future - despite the lovable reference to the 80s style Nike shoes from the first Terminator - but is a change in focus that attempts to breathe new life into the series, whilst remaining true to its roots. For the most part, it achieves this. It's a relatively easy to follow plot that promises new adventures with the same old Terminator vibe. The classic 'arrival' sequence from The Terminator is mimicked beautifully here even without a digitally de-aged Bill Paxton, and I must say, the CG/prosthetic effects utilised to bring young Arnie back are much better than the attempt in Salvation. It's genuinely like watching an alternate version of the first film. 

There are constant references for fans to enjoy from the first films, and not just the obvious one-liners and beautifully cheesy attempted smiles. The T-1000 is back! Hoorah! The clichés are embraced - If you like predicting character's lines, you'll love this - and whilst it follows the core formula of many of the previous films, even down to the classic terminator v terminator finale, there's enough substance for it to be both intriguing and endlessly enjoyable. Moving away from Salvation, they choose not to introduce numerous new and uselessly specific terminators and stick with the tried and true classics, other than the compulsory badass new model. The one thing I can't work out is why they have T-800 models - effectively their soldiers - driving trucks? That might be a gap in my fan knowledge base but with all the computerised UAVs and whatnot that they have, surely the machines are capable of putting in a small microchip to drive their vehicles! 

The one area that the film is somewhat let down in is casting. I don't quite understand Hollywood's obsession with hiring British and Australian actors and making them put on poor American accents. Out of the actors for Sarah Connor, John Connor, Kyle Reese, the T-800 (Guardian), T-1000 and the T-5000, the only American citizen is Arnold Schwarzenegger?? There's also a question of likenesses. The plot harks back to the original films, and Jason Clarke and Jai Courtney are passable as Michael Edwards and Michael Bien respectively, but Emilia Clarke is much more of the Sarah Connor Chronicles era. Also, Matt Smith's role could have easily allowed for a British persona instead of his terrible American accent. J. K. Simmons's character, who is essentially the fall guy that everybody passes off as a nut job, was actually very likeable I found, despite his small screen time, which just goes to prove that he really deserved that Oscar!

Terminator Genisys revamps the Terminator franchise and embraces the past films that everybody loves. The action is visceral and only occasionally over the top. It sets up for the customary sequel of modern Hollywood high concept films, and for once, I'm genuinely excited. The bad reviews? I guess haters gonna hate, but this is ultimately a movie for the fans.