The Magnificent 7

Movie Review #3975 THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN.

Yet another remake, this time of the classic western of the same name that starred many of the 60s he-men including Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, James Coburn & Charles Bronson. This iteration puts Denzel Washington in the lead saddle with Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke sidekicking along plus  didn't recognise Vincent D'Onofrio as my namesake Jack Horne, a hefty tracker who, despite his size proves to be a lean, mean killing machine, well at least mean anyway.

Characters are different but the story is the same; poor, honest farmers and townsfolk are terrorised by a nasty land barron who wants all their land for himself and uses his henchmen to dispense persuasion to those who resist. Local widow enlists the aid of Mr Washington to put together a band of tough misfits to counter said evil dude and rid him from their presence.

Lotsa shooting, stabbing, machine gunning, tomahawking, slashing, blowing up and poking however precious little actual plasma, a pleasant surprise in this day and age plus hardly any really bad words.

Denzel does the star turn well and Ethan Hawke plays out nicely a battle-shocked marksman who has lost his nerve for killing. The customary oriental, Indian and Mexican cohorts complete the the magnificent package although I should probably not succumb to a spoiler by revealing that not all seven make it out alive, needless to say the sequel will be something like the Magnificent <7.

Overall, a good quality, rip roaring, old fashioned western and a solid 8.5/10.