You might be humming the classic theme song on the way out, but otherwise, there’s not much reason to saddle up for The Magnificent Seven, an unnecessary revisionist remake of the iconic Western about a septet of gunslingers dishing out some frontier justice.
This technically proficient effort generates a decent camaraderie among its culturally diverse ensemble cast, yet rather than exploring new territory in the Old West, it too often treads familiar ground amid all the bullets and bravado.
The 19th century story takes place in a Kansas prairie, where a ruthless raider (Peter Saarsgard) announces plans to rob the locals of their land to mine for riches. He’ll return in three weeks, he tells the locals, with his gang to collect on their debt.
That prompts a young widow (Haley Bennett) to seek revenge — or righteousness, she says — by passing the hat and hiring a wayward lawman, Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington), who begins rounding up a posse as the clock ticks toward the marauder’s return.
Among those who join the fight are a cool gambler (Chris Pratt), a sharpshooting outlaw (Ethan Hawke), a reclusive rustler (Vincent D’Onofrio), a Korean knifesman (Byung-hun Lee), a small-time thief (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and a tribal bandit (Martin Sensmeier).
The slick visual approach of director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) emphasizes action spectacle over narrative substance and character depth, staging the numerous standoffs and shootouts with a vivid intimacy.
There’s fun to be had in scattered intervals, with Pratt and D’Onofrio providing some comic relief, while Washington offers a commanding portrayal of a man whose motives remain cloudy. However, while the film aims to poke fun at genre clichés, the screenplay by Richard Wenk (The Equalizer) and Nic Pizzolatto indulges them instead.
Genre aficionados will find some nostalgic kicks along the way, such as in the score co-written by the late James Horner, which is more subdued than Elmer Bernstein’s original while appropriately paying homage.
For those who have seen the 1960 original (or Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai, for that matter), the film doesn’t have much subtlety or surprise, nor does it bother much with the moral complexity of its central conflict set against a post-Civil War backdrop.
You might wish the filmmakers shared the courage of their protagonists. While their heroism might be valiant, in this case, The Magnificent Seven fires too many blanks.
