‘The Magnificent Seven’ Review Roundup: Antoine Fuqua Western Bows To Mixed Reviews

The Magnificent Seven, the new western flick from director Antoine Fuqua, is hitting theaters this weekend to mixed notices.

Directed by Fuqua and written by Nic Pizzolatto and Richard Wenk, the movie attempts to recreate the classic Magnificent Seven story for modern audiences. In this iteration, Peter Sarsgaard plays the villainous industrialist Bartholomew Bogue, and Haley Bennet emerges as the leader of Rose Creek who recruits outlaws to defend the town. Playing the able and charismatic mercenaries are Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Byung-Hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Martin Sensmeier.

‘The Magnificent Seven’ Reviews

Fuqua, who has made such hits as Training Day and Southpaw, has once again managed to impress critics with his slick visuals. Outside of the dazzling look of the picture, however, some critics were left wanting more depth and less predictability. Other reviewers enjoyed the simplicity of The Magnificent Seven, taking it for the entertaining blockbuster it likely was intended to be.

“That “The Magnificent Seven” achieves such astonishing visual luster and philosophical shallowness should surprise no one familiar with its director, Antoine Fuqua…. Less forgivable is a script, by “True Detective” writers Nic Pizzolatto and Richard Wenk, that is content to revert to cliché, obviousness and overkill when it might have sought depth and surprise.” – Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post

“If the sight of Denzel Washington, guns blazing and saddled up for his first western, doesn’t get your pulse racing, read elsewhere. Ignore the hot air blowing in from the Toronto Film Festival, where The Magnificent Sevenpremiered, that suggests Antoine Fuqua’s remake starring Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke and an ethnically diverse cast, isn’t up to snuff…. Relax, people. The new Sevenisn’t aiming for cinema immortality. It’s two hours of hardcore, shoot-em-up pow and it’s entertaining as hell.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

“I expected great things when Training Day director Antoine Fuqua announced that he was remaking The Magnificent Seven. When I heard that novelist and screenwriter Nic Pizzolatto (Galveston, HBO’s True Detective) would work on the script, I think I even got goose bumps. I’m sorely disappointed…. despite a great cast and several terrific action sequences, Fuqua’s film is largely forgettable.” – Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer

“Count this one as a guilty pleasure. Count to “Seven.” That would be “The Magnificent Seven,” though despite a voice-over at the very end invoking the term “magnificent” in awestruck tones to describe all that has gone before, I prefer “a great deal of fun” as the better way to characterize the proceedings…. The result is a simplified but highly enjoyable picture, packed with sweeping Western vistas and massive quantities of gunplay.” – Soren Andersen, The Seattle Times

The Magnificent Seven is currently in theaters.