Review of The Magnificent Seven (2016) by Ratedrex — 23 Sep 2016

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"The Seven Samurai", which came out in 1954, is one of the most influential films in cinema history. Its theme has been copied one way or another in many subsequent films. However, the movie itself is vastly overrated. I defy anyone, who has never seen it, to view that movie without thinking how grossly outdated the acting, writing and directing is. Moreover, "Seven Samurai" lacks realism and common sense. Plus, the action scenes are some of the worse battles scenes in cinema history. The battle scenes are basically bad guys charging through the streets for a minute or two and then retreating. We barely get to see the seven samurai show their stuff. The 1960 version of "The Magnificent Seven", which I have seen 4 or 5 times, has an outstanding cast (Yul Brenner, Steve McQueen) and a great musical score, but this version of the story also makes no sense. It too suffers from being extremely dated. While watching the 1960 version, I kept thinking over and over, why would they all risk their lives for total strangers. The answers were never given. Without plausible motivations, I couldn't believe what I saw on screen. Thus the 1960 version is also overrated. I think both movies are considered classics simply because they have a reputation for being classics. The 2016 version has upgraded special effects and enough action to keep the audience awake, but, just like the previous two versions, this movie lakes common sense and realism. The bad guys are some of the worse hired gunslingers in the history of American Westerns. They drop like flies. And though we eventually understand Denzel's motivation for defending the villagers, we don't quite see what motivates the other 6. The characters just weren't developed enough for us to understand who they were and why they fought.