Review of The Magnificent Seven (2016) by Lewis E — 12 Dec 2016

'Magnificent' is a bit strong. The Moderately Entertaining Seven is a less catchy though more suitable title for this remake of a classic western. This is far from the slow-burning artistic piece most modern westerns aim to be.

It is basically simple gun-shooting cowboy fun...but it is fun. It frequently pays homage to the old genre: Gun duels, tense bar scenes, heavy drinking. Often feels like it is reeling through the cliches for no significant purpose and the gun-slinging antics gets repetitive, however a film in this setting does not have much more at its disposal.

Most importantly it is the seven protagonists which must be a success and luckily they are all likeable. Denzel is reliably cool in the lead, Chris Pratt adds decent banter, Ethan Hawke acts as the flawed hero while Byung-hun Lee, perhaps stereo-typically, injects an impressive variation of knife combat.

The seven protagonists appear to be picked on ethnic diversity more than anything but at least they all contribute positively and convince the audience to root for them at the end of the day, though that might also be due to a weak villain who fails to bring any charisma of his own.

I doubt 'The Magnificent Seven' will ever be discussed as a classic like its 1960 counterpart but it holds up as easy entertainment for a lazy night in.