On the heels of a summer of remakes nobody wanted or asked for (Ghostbusters, Ben-Hur, Pete’s Dragon), we have The Magnificent Seven, a light but entertaining shoot ‘em up that will never reach the iconic status of the 1960 movie of the same name or Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, but will provide a fun diversion for a couple of hours.

(l to r) Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Ethan Hawke, Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Vincent D’Onofrio and Martin Sensmeier in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Columbia Pictures’ THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN.

In director Antoine Fuqua’s latest iteration, the bandits stealing food from a village of farmers are replaced by an evil gold mining company trying to steal the land. Emma (Haley Bennett), wife of a murdered villager, sets off to hire some defenders, and with the help of Chisolm (Denzel Washington), manages to assemble a band of western archetypes, including a wise-cracking gambler/sleight of hand artist (Chris Pratt), a confederate sharpshooter (Ethan Hawke), a gun/knife master (Byung-hun Lee), a Mexican outlaw (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), an Indian (Martin Sensmeier), and a mountain man the size of a mountain (Vincent D’Onofrio). Continue reading →