Quartile rating: 7/10 · 2 ratings
Looking to mine for gold, greedy industrialist Bartholomew Bogue seizes control of the Old West town of Rose Creek. With their lives in jeopardy, Emma Cullen and other desperate residents turn to bounty hunter Sam Chisolm for help. Chisolm recruits an eclectic group of gunslingers to take on Bogue and his ruthless henchmen. With a deadly showdown on the horizon, the seven mercenaries soon find themselves fighting for more than just money once the bullets start to fly.
The 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven is a competent but largely by-the-numbers Western remake. The plot retreads familiar ground from both the 1960 film and its source material Seven Samurai, offering little new beyond a more diverse cast and a slightly modernized villain motivated by industrial greed. The acting is solid across the board — Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt bring charisma, and the ensemble is watchable — but few performances transcend the material. Cinematography is serviceable with some attractive landscapes but lacks the visual poetry of the best Westerns. Novelty is low given its status as a remake of a remake with a fairly formulaic execution; the diverse casting is a distinction but not enough to elevate overall originality. The climactic showdown is entertaining and action-packed, landing as a reasonably satisfying finale even if it plays predictably.