(From our guest critic, The Movie Knight): The people of Rose Creek in 1879 are simple farmers who were not ready for the likes of ruthless Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard). He not only wants to take their land for his own greedy needs, but along with his band of mercenaries, willing to kill a few townsfolk to get their point across!
Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) a widow of one of those killed by Bart (and for some reason is almost always showing her cleavage) goes on a quest to find help to fight off those scoundrels. She finds Chisolm (Denzel Washington), a duly sworn warrant officer. He’s also a fast draw and even a better shot. He, in turn, recruits Josh Faraday (Chris Pine). Before you know it, they have gathered a unique group of seven killers to take on Bart and his army.
It may be unfair to compare Sarsgaard’s Bart to Eli Wallah’s Calvera, who was the main antagonist in the original 1960 film. But truth is…Sarsgaard is grossly miscast. The deeds he performs certainly makes him a “bad guy,” but he doesn’t carry the presence along with him. Take the gun out of his hands and your little sister can probably beat him up. An old rule in Hollywood is your movie is only as good as your bad guy and this case our bad guy is not that good.
Antoine Fuque is the director and he reunites his Training Day cast with Washington and Ethan Hawke. The two haven’t lost a beat together after 15 years. The entire cast is great (or magnificent if you prefer). The gun fighting scenes are well done too and has entertainment value. Fuque, making his first western, puts in some cliché shots in it like having all the cast walk by a setting sun on horseback and his choice of Bennett showing more skin than the actual hooker characters in the movie is questionable. There is humor in the movie too, which is saving grace.
Westerns are tricky these days, more so when it is a remake of a classic. This turned out to be an uneven affair. Two Tiaras