The Magnificent Seven Review: 5 Ups And 5 Downs

1. Its Pacing Is Very Stop-Start

2016 has been the year of terrible movie pacing; films just don’t seem to care for the three-act structure any more, and those that do are slaughtered in the edit. In that regard there’s something exciting about The Magnificent Seven; its pacing problems are of a completely different type.

The film is incredibly stop-start, never quite able to balance the difference between character development and forward momentum in the same way it does its themes, making a real meal of its really rather simple plot in the process. We're either stuck waiting for things to happen, or it all comes jumbled in one go.

This regrettably crosses over into the action. The final battle may have some thrills within it, but it’s so choppy and randomly put together that there’s no real coherence, to the point where you get lost in a town consisting of two streets.

Many of The Magnificent Seven's takeaways are ignorable, but this one means that at points it becomes a trawl.

The Magnificent Seven is in cinemas from 23rd September.