Double Review: Hell or High Water and The Magnificent Seven
Remember back in my last post when I said I had hit a bit of an “end of summer slump” and was hoping to be able to get back into the usual swing of things? Well, that sure didn’t fail to happen. I honestly feel really guilty for not writing anything for exactly a month. So, in order to make up for that, allow me to recommend two very different but very enjoyable westerns I saw in between my last post: Hell or High Water, and The Magnificent Seven. (I also feel I should mention I saw War Dogs in between this time too, but that wouldn’t fit the theme; so, short version=War Dogs is okay.) Westerns seem to be experiencing something of a mini-comeback this decade, and it’s nice to have them around again, if only to observe the similarities and differences between the era of the Western and the rise of the Super-hero/Comic-Book movie genre. So, let’s take a look at these two!
Hell or High Water
Hell or High Water is a contemporary Western starring Chris Pine, Ben Foster, and Jeff Bridges, and is written by Taylor Sheridan (who wrote last years Sicario and who I’ll be keeping an eye on from now on). I say it’s a Western because even though you can easily categorize it as just a straight-up drama or heist-film, it’s so deeply entrenched in the tropes of a classic Western it’s hard not to notice. It’s also probably my personal favorite movie of 2016 so far, and more than worth talking about in detail even though it’s almost been a month since I’ve seen it.
I don’t really wanna spoil too much of what makes Hell or High Water such a good movie, but it’s really not that hard to put together. Hell or High Water is a very small, low-budget, compact movie, and, like other movies of this type, will live or die on some very basic things: the writing, the performances, and the direction. That’s really all there is to it.
Hell or High Water hits all three marks and it hits dead-center. All the actors are giving it 110%. This is definitely a career best for Pine as he manages to give a really restrained performance that forgoes most of the charisma he’s associated with. There is an absolutely jaw-dropping performance from Ben Foster as Pine’s much more unstable and toxic brother. Jeff Bridges also pops in and out of the movie, but you probably don’t need me to tell you that Jeff Bridges is good in this, do you?
The direction and cinematography are appropriately slow-paced, moody, and quiet. There will often be times when the camera just sits and rests on the rural backdrop and lets the excellent sound-design just fill the screen, and sets the tone incredibly well. The writing is really what elevates everything. Every situation, every set-piece, every main character and background character, is written so believably and so entertainingly that it manages to enter that “Coen Brothers, No Country For Old Men” territory of gritty realism. Not everything is necessarily realistic, but everything feels real.
So yeah, that’s kinda all there is to it. If you’re a fan of movie’s like No Country for Old Men, you’ll definitely love this one, and I’d strongly recommend checking if it’s still in theaters in your area. If you’re in the mood for something a little more bombastic, keep reading.
The Media Fire gives this movie a 9.1/10
The Magnificent Seven
Antoine Fuqua’s remake of The Magnificent Seven seems like it occupies the polar opposite space in the Western Genre as Hell or High Water. Whereas Hell or High Water was a gritty, quiet, contemporary Western, The Magnificent Seven is not only a big, loud, flashy Hollywood western, but it also manages to be one of the few movies that’s a remake of a remake (Seven Samurai, 1954 and The Magnificent Seven, 1960).
Much like Hell or High Water, it’s not too hard to figure out where this movie needs to succeed in order to be considered good. You can basically already place the outline of the plot and the outline of everyone’s subsequent character arc just by watching the trailer; it’s all about the details here and that’s where The Magnificent Seven shines. It knows just on which elements to concentrate on in order for the movie to feel unique and pack the necessary punch. It knows just how much time it needs to spend developing every character, which characters are specifically going to be the most appealing, how long to spend with them so that they don’t become stale, how much characterization the town needs to receive, and when to just cut loose and have fun.
While I can’t really say I was terribly surprised by anything in the movie, I can’t say I was ever bored with it. The Magnificent Seven is just a barrel of fun. It’s got some of the best characters I’ve seen in a movie this year, some of the coolest action scenes, some of the best music (and I should acknowledge that this is sadly James Horner’s last posthumous score), and it’s overall just fun. Maybe not quite Captain America: Civil War, maybe not quite Star Trek Beyond, but it’s up there.
It is also worth noting that these characters are actually really interesting characters. Maybe it’s a little too much like Suicide Squad where one or two of the characters get side-lined a little too much and you mostly have to rely on the charisma of the actors, but they’ve definitely got the cast to pull it off. In particular, Vincent D’Onofrio seems like he should’ve been hanging out with Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant; he’s this terrifying wilderness man whose main method of fighting bad-guys seems to be just tackling them and stabbing them till they stop moving. If this sounds like your kind of thing, then you’re more than ready to see this movie.
It’s not a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it knows what it wants to be and on that level it succeeds with honors. The Magnificent Seven is pretty Magnificent.
The Media Fire gives this movie a 7.9/10
That’s all for now everyone! Hope to have a more consistent flow of reviews out soon. See you next time!
