The Magnificent Seven Review: 5 Ups And 5 Downs

2. It Has Awful CGI At The Most Inopportune Points

For the most part, The Magnificent Seven looks rather good. It’s got the wide open vistas that any self-respecting western needs (if not presenting them with quite the beauty of Slow West, the vastness of The Hateful Eight or the unforgivingness of Bone Tomahawk) and Fuqua’s oddly adept at shooting bullet action. Much of this comes from the film being mostly in-camera, something indicative of the genre; it looks real because it is.

However, when we move to computers, things take a sharp, noticeable turn. It’s infrequent, but that only makes it more jarring. You get several wide shots where towering mountains are clearly composites (most prominently with Hawke's introduction, which despite being set in the middle of a valley is clearly shot on a soundstage with greenscreen), making things feel that little bit less epic.

Things are worse for the final scene, which for some reason appears to be all digital, despite being rather simply to achieve practically. It’s intended to be an emotional beat, a cap on the film and a evocative look towards the future, but instead falls flat with an inexplicable shrug (although it doesn’t help that this is where the title is namedropped too).