I love a good western. This isn't one.
So my advice if you love westerns? Pretend this isn't one.
As a plain and simple shoot 'em up - good guys versus a really bad guy, the good guys being a bunch of misfits fighting the good fight to defend good people - this kind of works OK.
But mostly, this movie makes for a really good trailer, but not a really good movie.
Denzel Washington leads a pack of men he recruits to help defend a town from a tyrannical gold digger.
It's the 2016 version of course, so our Magnificent Seven is box-tickingly diverse and our female heroine is pleasingly no-holds-barred and handy with a rifle.
And we have Chris Pratt, who plays Chris Pratt, handy with both a rifle and a one-liner.
What ultimately saved this for me were the all-too sparse moments with Denzel and Ethan Hawke together - I love watching these two, their seasoned chemistry which seared the screen in Training Day has lost none of its magic.
A few precious moments aside, this remake won't be changing lives anytime soon.
Diverting action set-pieces with a mostly great cast with not nearly enough to do collectively delivers a fairly watchable rainy day outing.
Three stars.
The Magnificent Seven:: Director: Antoine Fuqua:: Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Peter Sarsgaard:: Rating: M - Violence:: Running Time: 93 minutes:: Release Date: September 29, 2016
Newshub.
