The Magnificent Seven : Would You Consider This A Great Western Film?

I don't really see how they could have made it any better. One of the most entertaining films I've seen in recent memory. Those action scenes, I mean dang they were well executed and heart pounding. Some people might complain that the bodycount was high, but I loved the shoot outs. It's been too long since we've had a western like this. And that final scene with Denzel was brutal. Gave me flashbacks of his role in Training Day. Easily could have been Rated R, I was actually somewhat surprised they got away with a PG-13 rating due to that scene and all the violence in the film. Character development was great (of course some didn't get as much). Screw all the crap about the PC cast and plot, the diverse cast was great and you can't add much to the familiar story of "Cowboys and other misfits have to protect a town from a group of bad guys." Seems like most critics complain about it not living up to the previous one (1960 version), but like I said, I don't think you could have added much more to the plot. The cast, action scenes, and soundtrack make up for it as well as the humor. I thought James Horner's final soundtrack was great. The suspense motif that builds up to the 1st shoot out scene in Rose Creek gave me goose bumps. I wonder how much Simon Franglen contributed. Also, it was nice to see a snippet of Elmer Bernstein's theme. Everyone in the theater, old and young, were laughing and having a great time with this movie. This is how a remake should be done. Absolutely loved the cast. I was a little hesitant with the casting of Vincent D'onofrio, but I gotta say, he was great just like the others. *POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT* Some people complained that it was predictable, which parts of it were, but the killing of some of the major characters did surprise me. I knew some were gonna die, just like in the previous one, but I was still surprised. All in all, I loved this, gave it an 8 out of 10. I really hope it does well at the box office. Looks like Antoine Fuqua is starting to become a respected film director.

Your thoughts on the film?

I would say it's pretty good but I wouldn't call it great. There was a lack of character development and the men's relationship with the town pretty much got ignored. That being said, I still loved the movie.

I thought there was no character development at all, neither any believable motivation. One of the worst movies I've seen not just in a while, but in my entire life.

This is more like a great (yes, great, I loved it) action film that happens to be set in the old West, like the "3:10 to Yuma" remake. A true Western has deeper themes of man fighting against the lawless frontier, like "High Noon" or 2010's "True Grit" or even "No Country For Old Men."

Opinions on movies from a guy you'll never meet: https://swansonaround.wordpress.com

I can see that (more of an action film set in the old West), however I think "No Country For Old Men" is more of a thriller set in the West. Glad to you see you loved it too!

Exactly what I was thinking. It's a good action film but it's not a particularly interesting western. There's no grit to it, any interesting twists or stand out characters. 3-10 Yuma, unforgiven, true grit, tombstone are all modern westerns that stood out. As s western this one does not. I'm not knocking the film but as a modem western it's not particularly interesting.
I purposely avoided referencing any old westerns, it wouldn't be a fair comparison.

I'll reply with the usual type of reply: Then you really haven't seen many films.

Elaborate or stfu with these hit and run answers.

Have seen enough of westerns, so I am pretty sure at what I am saying about this piece of crap.

There was more character motivation and backstory in this sequel by a mile. What was Yul's background? Why did he take the job? What about Robert Vaughn? He acted great but his being the fastest gun in the West a better reason for clanking up than Goodnight who was in the Civil War and saw way more death. What about Steve McQueen? Why was he there? Only connection was burying the Indian in the beginning. So yes I shat on your character development argument.

Oh, have I said anything about the "original" Magnificient Seven? Don't think so.
The only decent film based on the story is Kurosawa's Samurai.
The moral of this post: don't play a smart guy since you're not one.

Que?

No character development? OkaySo Goodnight going from being a coward to being the bravest character in the film isn't character development? Chisolm going from being a calm man who hated the idea of revenge to torturing someone out of vengeance wasn't character development? What the hell is your definition of character development?

Never Drumpf! Never Hillary!

Unopendoor: I see your point to some extent - the characters do 'develop' a bit, but by limited means.

Character development can be achieved by several means, and once we explore that, we can see the superiority of the 1960 version:
1> by how a person acts..
2> or reacts
3> by what a person says ..
4> or what others say about him
5> by how others react to him
Shakespeare wrote the book on this, I am told.

So, in the original, we see different motivations for each of the mercenaries - and the Mexicans who hire them grow a little bit, too (Remember: "There's a man for us look at the scars on his face!" "The man for us is the one who gave him those scars"). This is all established before the group leaves for the village. But, we learn later that Chico was a humble farmer before this expedition he opts to stay, with the pretty young farming girl who has grown fond of him.

In this film, the characters arrive as cardboard cutouts - I'm not saying always bad cutouts - Denzel does a lot with his role, as always. But I don't think he's given the rich script that Yul Brynner had. Script and actors were just superior in the original, probably because they stuck to the themes in the earlier Japanese film.

But I didn't mind this one - I'd give it a 7! I'd like to see more revivalist westerns. Hollywood has a lot of tools to work with in cinematography. In my opinion, the last great modern western was Silverado - by coincidence, I thought the bad guy, Brian Dennehy, from Silverado would have been perfect for the crazy fat guy role played by Vincent D'Onofrio.

100% agree. A mega flat, stupid story. Real shame.

Magnificent Seven Remake: Team Diversity vs Team Evil Whitey.

Spoiler: Team Diversity wins.

Evil Whitey had a native with a badass bandana, that counts as two

i agree with the lack of character development. overall, i found it entertaining and i believe the actors all did well with their roles, but could have been given more to work with.

No, definitely not great.

Good is far as I will go.

I agree. I admire the passion of the OP's review however, for me, this was an average/good western. I did like the diverse characters and the build up. I just didn't see anything special or original that takes this beyond good.

Thank you, glad you liked some of it. This story definitely isn't anything special, but I still really liked it. I wouldn't quite call it "magnificent," but I would call it great. I just really enjoyed this film haha.

I liked it very much. I gave it an 8/10 rating. Although it was a very good movie, it doesn't quite reach the level of the greats (The Outlaw Josie Wales, High Plains Drifter)but it still does a bang up job. I'm hoping the movie will catch fire based on positive word of mouth. I would love to see "the big, Panavision Western" come back as a viable genre in Hollywood. Hopefully, as a result, they would stop making so many of these garbage Marvel/DC movies as a result.

Yes. I think it was great! Yul Brynner and Steve Mcqueen are tipping their hats. I really liked Denzel in this!

Actors are useless without the power of a good writer's imagination

I liked this movie


also *spoilers*

I think one of the predictable part was the two native american fight I saw once they introduce the native american villain.
I didnt like the big bad, he was dull
The deaths shocked me like even the character I didnt like made me feel sorry for him , I never saw the original (or dont remember watching it) so I just thought they were all going to ride off to the sunset together

A great Western? No.

A good Western? Absolutely.

It played more like a sequel than a remake, which knocks it down a peg for me, and the character development isn't as good as the original, and nowhere near the source (Seven Samurai). There was a ton of stuff they could have done to incorporate more of the Seven Samurai story and characters, but they intentionally went further away from that than the original did, which was to the detriment of this movie (and why it seems more like a sequel than a remake).

Unforgiven, Open Range, True Grit, Tombstone - those were great modern Westerns. This one isn't up to the standards of those movies (even Tombstone had much better character development than this one did).

Great Westerns are about the characters, not the shootouts. This was about the final battle as much as anything else. It was a great final battle, to be sure, and the earlier shootout was excellent as well, but that wasn't enough to make up for the lack of character development and the human story that was missing.

The human story was done in an obligatory fashion to serve the action. Great Westerns are done the other way around.

Again, this was a good Western for sure (one that I'm glad I saw in the theater, and one I'll buy on Blu Ray). It just wasn't a great one.

There is no way any movie will be as good as Shichinin No Samurai that follows it.

It's been remade numerous times, maybe more times than any film that's been written directly for the screen, and it's ALWAYS been at least passable though. (I've never seen Battle Beyond the Stars though)

I mean just look at the films and TV series that are based/inspired by it:

The Magnificent Seven (1960)
The Maginificent Seven (2017)
Battle Beyond the Stars
Samurai Seven
A Bugs Life
The Magnificent Seven (TV Series)
Samurai 7 (Anima Series)
Return of the Seven
Guns of the Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven Ride.
Justice League


And that's DIRECTLY inspired by ti. Films like the Dirty Dozen and Guns of Navarone are very much inspired as well. And all those films are just off the top of my head.

Never Drumpf! Never Hillary!

Great? No.

A Classic? Definitely not.

Entertaining? Absolutely!

I don't think it was great. I do think it was very, very good and I enjoyed the heck out of it, and will certainly buy it to add to my collection.

they try to do to much Action and no character developments today.
The Lone Ranger was big dissapointment. That Comedy, Action and Johnny Depp destroyed (to mee) Lone Ranger.

I must have seen a different film.

This movie could be retitled My First Western. Or possible Westerns for Beginners. It's basically a procession of genre clichs, alluding to great movies in an entirely cosmetic way.

It was a very poorly shot film, and the script was clunky at best, with deadening attempts at humour and virtually zero character development. Like many a modern action movie, the filmmakers equate the duration of an action scene to its awesomeness, but I just found the last hour dull and repetitive. Washington was stolid, Pratt was miscast, and only Hawke made any kind of impression.

The terrible Summer of '16 continues.


My movie reviews: www.rocknreelreviews.com/reviewed_by/rupert

No way. This was a poor film. It was lacking all the elements of a good Western.

I consider it a good one. Don't know about great.

Not great
Not a classics
No one will remember this movie in two months.

---

Not great Not a classics No one will remember this movie in two months.

---

Agreed. It was an average western of the current day genre. Relatively one-dimensional characters, lots of scenery, all designed to capitalize on the overly violent action scenes.

An OK movie, but not memorable.
But, that's just me

i liked the 2 originals a lot better. it seemed they developed characters and the villages they were protecting a lot better. did like the diversity and the use of a woman as a lead, and of course, always glad to see indians being good guys (or at least there was one good indian). there could have been good interraction and characterization with the fat man who murdered indians for their scalps (the jeremiah johnson type character who was played by the guy who was kingpin in the daredevil tv show). anyway, that would have been good. not enough redemptive moments for everyone like in the originals.

No. Just fun, and an homage to the sort of westerns that were everywhere when the original was made. The one from 1960 really stood out at the time. Also please see Seven Samurai.

I thought it was decent. I loved Jake Snow. D'Onofrio nailed that part. But I saw the killing of thae main baddie a mile away.

I'm not quite ready to put the great label on this yet, but good, defiantly. Very Good? For me yes. One of the better Westerns since we struck gold with Tombstone and Unforgiven. Those were great. Since then even pretty good/average Westerns have been hard to come by, so I am glad this one was quality. I enjoyed it a lot, hope to see it again before it leaves theaters, and i'll be in line to buy the Blu Ray on release date.

One of the better western movie I have seen in my life and in recent years.

You haven't seen a lot of westerns have you

Even the original Magnificent Seven isn't a great western. If you want a great western watch The Dollars Trilogy, The Searchers, Unforgiven, Once Upon a Time in the West. This movie (although not as bad as people think it is) does not even reach close to that level.

No but I would consider it a okay Western film based off a really good western film and a great Japanese film.

I found it pretty enjoyable. Obviously it doesn't have the ultra-cool iconic cast of the original American version, but I was enterained. The characters were different enough that I could put Brynner, McQueen, Coburn, Bronson, etc, to one side.

It was a fun movie, and I'm glad it did well at the box office.

Was it the best western of all time? no, but it had its moments and that Denzel power.

Yes enjoyable. But not a classic - never meant to be. Denzel and all other actors did well.

Great, no.

Average/Good, yes

No. The 7 were not likable like the 1960 guys. The story was pretty bad, as was the ending.

Great? No.

However, I would rate this as very good.


You can't palm off a second-rater on me. You gotta remember I was in the pink!

All-in-all it was good popcorn fodder. I love westerns so was really looking fwd to this (and the new Westworld series). This film looked great and had a fast paced showdown at the end. But it lacked something at its core. And that 'something' was character development and truly memorable moments. So the movie didn't 'stay' with me after the credits rolled. Movies like 'High Noon', 'Dead man', Tombstone', the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns and others all linger in the imagination. This one, while entertaining, I've forgotten about 2 hours later and doesn't require repeat viewing. 3 stars from me.


All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

This was a steaming pile of *beep* and piss. The entire film with the exception of Denzel was garbage.