海角大神

The remake of 鈥淭he Magnificent Seven鈥� premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on Thursday evening, the newest high-profile Western project: a genre which is often declared to be having a comeback, but which may have never completely disappeared in the first place.

鈥淢agnificent,鈥� which is a remake of the 1960 film starring Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner (itself a take on the 1954 movie 鈥淪even Samurai鈥�), stars Chris Pratt, Denzel Washington, and Ethan Hawke, among at least four others.聽

The movie is an entry in the Western genre, with the story centering on a group of men who agree to aid a threatened town.

The Western genre is often considered to be gone forever, then revived. Recent well-received films in the genre in the last decade are this summer鈥檚 鈥淗ell or High Water,鈥� which has attracted critical acclaim; the 2010 movie 鈥淭rue Grit鈥�; and the well-reviewed 2007 movie 鈥�3:10 to Yuma.鈥澛�

鈥淧eople say the Western is dead almost as often as they say film is dead,鈥� said, following the debut of 鈥淢agnificent.鈥澛�

Where the Western seems to have been surviving is in these smaller, well-reviewed films, . It鈥檚 bigger movies like 鈥淐owboys & Aliens鈥� and 鈥淭he Lone Ranger鈥� that have struggled to find audiences, and therefore not been successes financially.聽

鈥淎lthough end-of-year prestige movies like 鈥楾rue Grit鈥� and 鈥楧jango Unchained鈥� have broken through to achieve critical acclaim, Oscars, and substantial return on investment, the Obama era has not been kind to newfangled Westerns that aimed for large audiences,鈥� Mr. Agresta writes. 鈥淓xacerbating the problem is the rejection of cowboy movies by international audiences, particularly the Chinese.鈥�

notes that the genre doesn鈥檛 have a massive presence at the multiplex, but believes that some of the best Westerns ever, including 鈥�3:10鈥� and 鈥淒jango,鈥� have been released within the last decade.聽

鈥淲esterns aren鈥檛 huge,鈥� Mr. Franich writes. 鈥淏ut they also aren鈥檛 going away.鈥�