The Magnificent Seven Essay

The Magnificent Seven is directed by Antoine Fuqua, and stars Denzel Washington (Chisolm), Chris Pratt (Josh Faraday), Ethan Hawke (Goodnight Robicheaux), Lee Byung-Hun (Billy Rocks), Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (Vasquez), Vincent D’Onofrio (Jack Horne), Harley Bennett (Emma Cullen), Martin Sensmeier (Red Harvest), and Luke Grimes (Teddy). This is the second remake of The Seven Samurai from 1954, with the first The Magnificent Seven made in 1960. The movie opens in an old town next to a mining camp which is being terrorized by a wealthy man named Bartholomew Bogue. In the opening scene, the townspeople are gathered in a church, discussing if and how they will retaliate when Bogue and his men storm in. Bogue says that he now owns the land, and gives the townspeople no hope of getting it back. Just to send a message, Bogue’s men set the church on fire and kill any townsperson who tried to protest. The killings were Bogue’s fatal error and eventually led to his downfall. Some time later, the wife and a friend of one of the townspeople murdered went to a man named Chisolm and paid him to put a team together to kill Bogue. Because Bogue’s men killed his two sisters and raped his mother, Chisolm agrees to do the job and puts together a group of seven people, including himself, each very skillful with weapons. When the group first
arrived at the town, Bogue wasn’t there, but they were confronted by twenty-two of his men. They kill twenty of the men and drive the last two out of town with a message to Bogue, beginning their war. They know that they only have seven days to train the townspeople before Bogue and his men arrive, so they start right away with the people who stay to fight. They also start creating a plan. They want to lure Bogue and his men into town from the side to create a shooting gallery, with townspeople on each side of the intersection. They also have explosives set up by the entrances to the town in order to destroy Bogue’s first wave. The end goal is to funnel Bogue to the church. At first, their plan works very well. After it is clear that the townspeople are winning, Bogue and his remaining men who did not go into battle pull out their secret and most deadly weapon: a Gatling gun. This changes the tide for a bit, but even though four of the seven die, Chisolm still corners Bogue in the church and takes his revenge for his sisters, his mother, and everyone else that Bogue had hurt. This film is related to The Great Gatsby in that they share two major themes: Revenge and Money.
Revenge was a crucial element to the story. Chisolm took revenge on Bogue for his family. The woman took revenge for her husband’s murder, which is surprisingly similar to Wilson taking what he thought was revenge on Gatsby for his wife’s death. There were even a few smaller revenge plots, like when Jack Horne killed the two men who stole his rifle. As for the theme of money, Bogue only terrorized that town because it would make him money, and he used wealth to do so. He even bought off the sheriff, much like Gatsby’s relationship with the
commissioner. Overall, I thought this was a great movie. The cast did an excellent job portraying their characters. It was almost as if a few of the roles were made for their actors, like Josh Faraday for Chris Pratt. I definitely preferred this to the earlier The Magnificent Seven, but I cannot compare it to The Seven Samurai, having never seen it. I would recommend that you watch this film if have not already. Even though reading this has spoiled the plot, it is still enjoyable, funny, and engaging