My Review of "The Magnificent Seven (2016)

The Magnificent Seven (2016) was the modern update I didn't think I wanted. Technically it's still not what I want but I can see what they did right with this one. There is an older version of this movie that came out in 1960 and I think I saw that one when I was younger. Ultimately it's a retread of the Seven Samurai (1954). That was a classic that I've grown to become too impatient for.

This movie starts similar to the other movies. We're in a small town called Rose Creek and they're being bullied by a big bad guy named Bogue. He's terrorizing the good citizens of of Rose Creek so that he can gain the rights to their land. Apparently there's a gold mine there and it's very lucrative. With this much terrorizing I don't know why he didn't just take the land and just kill the people. He's already pretty much murdered many of them in broad daylight.

Well the citizens have had enough and because of Bogue, the newly widowed Haley is looking for revenge. She and her colleague Teddy venture into the big town to find some hired hands to defend Rose Creek.

There she finds Chisolm and Faraday. The two are mysterious gunmen. Out of the goodness of their hearts they take on Haley's proposition. We then go out to pick up 5 more friends to make up the magnificent seven. You all know how this is going to go and they do the job well enough.

You'll have to shut off your brain in some areas of the movie. You can tell that they tried to diversify the cast as well as possible. Unfortunately it's a little hard to get past the fact that this would likely not happen due to the overt racism and prejudice back in the day. Still they tried to mention bits of this in passing. Still if you can get over this hurdle you can have yourself a pretty good time.

I liked the duo dynamics of the two gunmen Robicheaux and Billy. They have a pretty fun relationship and it kind of makes sense as well. Robicheaux's character in general is pretty fun as he's a gunman that's suffering through PTSD.

A very interesting character was the gunman Jack played by Vincent D'onofrio. I had to do a double take with him. Vincent plays the Kingpin in the Daredevil series. Those that are used to seeing him play that character will not recognize him at all in this movie. This showed me the range of which Vincent can play. he's like a chameleon that can disappear into a role. It's really amazing!

If you're coming to this movie for a good old fashion western gunfight you are going to get it. This is where this movie excels at. The whole home alone set up where the seven train the citizens how to defend themselves was done very nicely as well. You see the bond between the seven and the townsfolk. Who doesn't like to see a good underdog story?

This build up is pretty well done and even the small little twists are nice too. It keeps the people that haven't seen the older films a little more invested in seeing what will happen. Still it is quite predictable but you probably knew that going into this movie in the first place. That's not what you really care for.

Overall, the entertainment factor is high once the seven are established. The relationship with each of the members grows on you as they form a brotherhood with their task to save the town. You'll also love the payoff at the end when all is revealed and epic final battle. They went over the top and that's what we're here for. I have to give this movie a 7 out of 10. It's good old fun for those that are into westerns.