The Tom’s Guide verdict: ‘The Magnificent Seven’ (2016)
Verdict: “The Magnificent Seven” is a remake of the 1960’s Western of the same name. That movie was itself a remake, adapting Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 classic “Seven Samurai.” This updated version is not better than either of those movies; they’re two of the greatest films of all time. But with its modern stars and a few excellent shootouts, it is a great choice for those looking for an entry point into the Western genre. Just make sure to watch the other two movies once you’re done.
Going into this, I thought that “The Magnificent Seven” (2016) would be a tough movie to recommend. It’s not that I expected it to be the worst film in my 52-movie-long Denzel Watchathon. I thought it would be perfectly fine, and ultimately, it did live up to those moderate expectations. The problem is, this movie is a remake of the 1960 Western classic of the same name, and that’s one of the greatest Westerns ever made.
Further complicating things is that the 1960 version of “The Magnificent Seven” isn’t even the best version of that story. That honor belongs to Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai,” a movie you likely heard of and almost certainly saw an homage to at some point. It’s been remade or copied directly over a dozen times and then indirectly probably scores more. One of my favorite clones of “Seven Samurai” is the episode “Bounty Hunters” from “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.”
In short, it’s tough to recommend watching a movie that’s an inferior copy of a copy, even if the movie itself is perfectly fine. But as I watched this latest homage to Kurosawa, I realised that there is an audience for this movie. Especially while you can still stream it for free.
If you want to watch this movie before you read on, I have good news! It’s currently streaming for free onTubi, one of thebest free streaming serviceswe’ve tested. You can also stream it for free on<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmLnYYZJj8o” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>YouTube (with ads).
‘The Magnificent Seven’ is a great starter Western … just not a great movie
If you’re a fan of Westerns, you can probably turn back now. Not only have you probably seen the original 1960 version of “The Magnificent Seven,” but you’ve probably seen “Seven Samurai.” If that’s the case, the only reason for watching this movie is if you’re a Denzel Washington completist like me. Again, this isn’t because the movie is bad; it’s just that it doesn’t bring anything to the table aside from updating the call sheet.
Here are some of the other Denzel Washington movies I’ve covered to date in my Denzel Watchathon:
But for those of you who are new to the Western genre, this movie is a great starting point. It stars Denzel Washington as Sam Chisholm, a bounty hunter from Kansas. He is in search of a fugitive, which causes him to cross paths with Emma (Haley Bennett). Her town of Rose Creek is in danger of being taken by a mining tycoon, Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), and she’s trying to find men who will help the townspeople keep their land.
Sam agrees to help her, so he recruits a group of six others (Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Lee Byung-hun, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Martin Sensmeier) to help Emma and her fellow citizens make a stand against Bogue. Upon arrival in Rose Creek, they quickly dispatch Bogue’s agents left behind to keep the townspeople in check, then get to work training the newly conscripted soldiers and setting up traps for when Bogue eventually returns to claim the town.
The 1960 original and Kurosawa’s 1954 classic both make serious attempts to emotionally connect you to the seven soldiers and the townspeople they’re defending. There are romantic entanglements, class struggles, betrayals and more. This 2016 version only ever hints at delving deeper into its characters.
That’s essentially the long and short of this movie’s plot, aside from the climactic battle, and that is one of the problems with this remake.
The 1960 original and Kurosawa’s 1954 classic both make serious attempts to emotionally connect you to the seven soldiers and the townspeople they’re defending. There are romantic entanglements, class struggles, betrayals and more.
This 2016 version only ever hints at delving deeper into its characters. We learn that Ethan Hawke’s Goodnight Robicheaux is suffering from PTSD following his time as a Confederate sharpshooter in the U.S. Civil War, which Chris Pratt’s Joshua Faraday refers to as “The War of Northern Aggression.” Given that both these men are currently serving under Sam, a Black man — Sam and Robicheaux even clearly have a strong friendship — you’d think that there’d be some deeper exploration of the racial tensions between these characters. But clearly Robicheaux and Faraday were just fighting for states’ rights.
The closest we really get to any sort of emotional connection is in the film’s climactic battle, when Faraday and Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), who openly harbor some dislike for each other over racial animosity, find themselves bonded by blood in the movie’s deadlier moments. We also learn, just at the end, why Sam really agreed to help these townspeople. This is a construct crafted completely by the 2016 movie, so I won’t spoil the big reveal for you here. But I’ll just say I wish the movie had chosen to let us sit with the information going into the final gunfight rather than turn it into a twist.
Still, if you’re brand new to Westerns, the final showdown of this movie is undeniably epic. It’s around 30 minutes of non-stop shooting and action. So, if you’re just looking to dip your toe into the genre, it’s okay if you pick something like this that doesn’t quite get into the nuances and emotional depth that it should. Start with this, see if you can handle the violence, and then branch out into more well-crafted movies in the genre.
Verdict: ‘The Magnificent Seven’ is a great entry point for budding Western lovers, but only if it’s free to stream
It’s worth noting that my recommendation of this as a starter Western is only applicable as long as this movie is streaming for free.I cannot and do not advocate that you pay any of your hard-earned dollars to see this film. Not when there are other great Westerns available to stream for free, including “Seven Samurai,” which, despite its setting of feudal Japan, is undeniably a Western.
But that movie is also in Japanese, so it’s less accessible for those not yet fully comfortable with subtitles. It’s also in black-and-white, which isn’t everyone’s preferred format. For me, someone who owns the Criterion Collection 4K disc of Kurosawa’s masterpiece, those aspects of the film are both positives, but I can see how they’d be barriers to entry.
So if you’re truly just looking for a starter-kit Western, you could do a lot worse than Denzel’s version of “The Magnificent Seven,” and not least of all because it has Denzel in it. Just make sure, once you’re done, to branch out further into the genre. Once you’re hooked, there’s an entire lifetime’s worth of Western movies to explore.
- How to get NFL Sunday Ticket for 2026-2027 season — Pricing, where to watch and more
- 13 new movies and shows to stream this weekend on Netflix, Apple TV, and more, including Robert Pattinson’s ‘Primetime,’ Keira Knightley’s ‘Black Doves,’ and Owen Wilson in ‘Stick’
- Amazon Fire TV Stick HD Review: Small, speedy, and easy on the wallet
