The Magnificent Seven
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: September 23, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 50 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
29
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlSep 28, 2016
You get enough of a sense of this place and these men — and that widow! — that it's a disappointment when, in the end, we just have to watch it all blow to hell. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeySep 24, 2016
Struggling with tone and urgency during its recruiting phase, the film clomps along to a pedestrian drum-roll, summoning a stark, brooding edge without quite enough lift-off. Read full review
60
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoSep 22, 2016
The film is mindless entertainment by way of scoundrels, dynamite and honor – not quite magnificent, but “The Watchable Seven” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisSep 22, 2016
The new movie is as moth-eaten as the serapes strewn through the 1960 film, but there’s no denying the appeal of the image of Mr. Washington riding a horse, shooting a Colt and leading a posse of vigilantes to save a mostly white Western town. Read full review
60
The GuardianJordan HoffmanSep 8, 2016
There’s a fine line between a slowburn and dull, and this Magnificent Seven frequently finds itself on the wrong side. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneSep 26, 2016
Traces of real history are hard to spot in Fuqua’s Western, but there isn’t much evidence of a real Western, either. You sense that an entire genre, far from being revitalized, is being plundered for handy tips. Read full review
50
TimeStephanie ZacharekSep 24, 2016
The picture is action-packed but mindlessly so, and it’s neither light enough to work as a coltish entertainment nor smart enough to cut beyond anything but the most rote notions of masculinity. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniSep 22, 2016
Despite a great cast and several terrific action sequences, Fuqua's film is largely forgettable. Read full review
50
USA TodayBrian TruittSep 22, 2016
The Magnificent Seven is like a long-fused stick of dynamite: It takes forever to get interesting but does at least unleash an explosive finale. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 22, 2016
If there’s a compelling reason to remake The Magnificent Seven, it can’t be found in the 2016 version, a loud, cluttered, and generally disappointing production. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 22, 2016
This movie's all over the place, trying too hard to be all Westerns to all sensibilities. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadaySep 22, 2016
The Magnificent Seven is fine as far as it goes, but — especially when the familiar strains of the 1960 theme song begin wafting over the final scenes — one can’t help feeling that it should have gone much further. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubSep 22, 2016
Go in with low expectations and you might be pleasantly surprised. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonSep 22, 2016
Only when there’s an opportunity to blow things up does Fuqua seem fully engaged. Another Western bites the dust. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranSep 22, 2016
A sense of lethargy hangs uneasily over the lumbering new version of The Magnificent Seven. Despite its sturdy plot, seasoned director and capable cast toplined by Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke, it arrives in a comatose state, a film unlikely to arouse passions one way or another. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskySep 21, 2016
More importantly, copying an earlier era’s empty slickness still produces only empty slickness. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenSep 21, 2016
Neglects to provide the characters with enough background history to explain what makes them such original figures in the Old West. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 19, 2016
This “Seven” is more diverse, less patronizing than the famous Western it remakes. But it lacks the moral certitude and righteousness of its predecessor, a pre-Vietnam “America saves Paradise from a Dictator” allegory. Read full review
50
ScreenCrushMatt SingerSep 10, 2016
The group...make a fine crew. But the rest of the movie doesn’t find enough interesting wrinkles on the old formula to merit a reboot. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoSep 9, 2016
The sheer talent of the cast here sometimes provides enough depth to get audience members to the climactic shoot-out, and there are a few definite MVPs in terms of ensemble, but it’s hard to envision this film having anywhere near the cinematic legacy of those that inspired it. Read full review
50
VarietyOwen GleibermanSep 8, 2016
Fuqua is trying for John Ford meets Sergio Leone: a funky classical sweep, with room for delirious shootouts. The trouble is that he mimics the trademarks of those directors without their élan, and the plot that was once catchy is now rote. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthySep 8, 2016
Except for the fact that virtually every shot, chop or stab the good guys make hits its mark to make the bad guys quickly drop like toy soldiers, the climactic showdown delivers what it needs to action-wise, leading to a satisfactory wrap-up. Read full review
50
TheWrapRobert AbeleSep 8, 2016
The performances are dedicated, but the camaraderie feels perfunctory, outside of a few ruminative exchanges between Hawke and Washington. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinSep 23, 2016
The Magnificent Seven has the trappings of a classic Western and it hits its marks. All of Fuqua’s movies hit their marks — even sadistic formula junk like "The Equalizer." But there’s no grandeur in its images or generosity in its soul. I don’t think Fuqua ever loved Westerns. And by the time this movie ended, I’d forgotten why I do. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Sep 21, 2016
Instead of ever getting truly "Magnificent," these multicultural gunslingers remain largely a meh seven. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottSep 20, 2016
As a result, while the film is certainly intense at times, it's not some sort of Sam Pekinpah blood-fest. Read full review
40
EmpirePhil de SemlyenSep 13, 2016
Slick but forgettable, Fuqua’s suicide squad is a macho posse movie that could use a jab of fun. It’s The Magnificent Seven, but the “magnificent” is silent. Read full review
40
CineVueBen NicholsonSep 10, 2016
Richard Wenk and Nic Pizzolatto's screenplay completely lacks the interpersonal vibrancy that a film like this needs and this is glaring given that it maintains the slow-build tension of the original. Read full review
40
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 8, 2016
Because the roles are underwritten and the players struggle to establish a rapport, The Magnificent Seven never lets the audience feel like its along for the ride with a dynamic group of death-or-glory hombres. Read full review
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