The Magnificent Seven: Not loaded enough

Cast: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt,     Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensme

Rated: 5/10

One thought magnificent would mean grand, Western would be wild old Charles Bronson type, and seven would be all able and fired up, led as they are with the extremely mission-oriented Denzel Washington.

None of the elements that used to make westerns westerns, add up here. Denzel is sluggish as are Chris Patt and Ethen Hawke. There is a village alright. There is siege alright. There is a population that needs to be saved alright. But there is very little life in the film even after a recently widowed village belle gets out to seek justice for her fellow dwellers who are under the evil grip of a businessman duo.

The violence that has been the foundation of all westerns over the ages, dots this film too but despite its playing-to-the-gallery overtness, it does very little to engage the viewer.

The magnificent seven look too bored and too much in the grasp of ennui for most of the film to make the mount worthy of a spend.

But then there are loyalists, those western buffs who would not mind too much of emptiness in the proceedings if the violence and the bare and barren landscape of the 19th century is loaded with episodes. Not for the rest of us. 

Source: Sunday Pioneer, 25 September, 2016