Magnificent 7 Review

Magnificent+7+Review

Sam Stuve, Reporter

“The Magnificent Seven (2016) isn’t going to eclipse its predecessors but it is, nonetheless, an immensely entertaining and heartfelt action-western experience.” – Ben Kendrick (Screen Rant)

“Fuqua’s direction has no intimacy — it’s too brisk, too metronomic. Without violence or its imminent threat, there’s nothing going on. And when the violence does come, it’s not memorable.” – David Edelstein (Vulture).

“An update of the 1960s classic refreshes the racial mix but leaves the cliches intact.” – Wendy Ide (Guardian).

Those are some of the things that the critics are saying about the remake of the 1960 American Western film The Magnificent Seven. Some notable actors in this movie are Denzel Washington as Sam Chisolm (The Bounty Hunter), Chris Pratt as Josh Faraday, and Haley Bennett as Emma Cullen. The cast in this was very ethnically diverse which is unfortunately not something you see in all movies.

The movie really starts out with a bang in the first ten minutes and really hooked me into the movie right then and there. It is the most dramatic start to a movie that I have ever seen.

The movie begins in a small western town called Rose Creek which is near Sacramento, California. Rose Creek only has 40 people and then a group of hoodlums come through the town threatening to take over. That’s where Sam Chisolm gets called in by two local farmers Emma Cullen and Teddy.

Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) plays a deputy sheriff in the Great Plains region (Wichita, Kansas is the base) who goes about his job as if he is a bounty hunter. He begins to recruit men from around the area to hunt down and Bartholomew Bogue’s men (The ones who are causing all the trouble). Chisolm first recruits Josh Faraday who is an expert gambler and has a thing for explosives.

Magnificent Seven has a wide variety of actors from different backgrounds and characters that come from different backgrounds. The cast is very diverse which is always a benefit to have. Most western movies only have one weapon. Guns. However, in this movie, there are a wide variety of weapons that we see being used.

The main thing that helps this movie is the intensity that is present throughout the movie from start to finish. It does a really good job of keeping the audience interested. It also did a very good job of throwing in some comedy, as well as action packed, which makes the movie thrilling.

The things that do not help the movie is the development of certain characters. Chisolm and Faraday are the focus of the movie, while the other 5 do not have much character development. Another thing that hurts the movie is its lack of female characters. The number of female characters compared to male characters is disappointing. Also, the reasoning why Rose Creek is being attacked is not really talked about. It’s left up to interpretation.
I give this movie a 4-star ranking because of how well written the movie was, how much intensity was in the scenes and how good the overall story was. The only thing holding the movie back was the lack of character development. I would recommend this movie to people who like action movies, western classic movies, and dramas.