The Magnificent Seven Review: 5 Ups And 5 Downs

2. It Has Neat Ideas (But They Don’t Get In The Way)

There’s nothing more dangerous to a blockbuster than an overbearing message. Subtext is essential to making an impactful film, sure, but so many big budget enterprises pitched on entertainment can rush it, shoving in a couple of obvious scenes before going back to being dumb. Thankfully, The Magnificent Seven doesn’t; you have beats that look at worthiness, vengeance, capitalism and more, yet they’re not pushed too far, instead tying into the character’s journeys.

This is best seen in how the film approaches the essential element of friendship; rather than being forced, with the heroes constantly reminding us they're forming strong bonds in spite of their differences, it just plays out over the film matter-of-factly, in turn making later interactions all the weightier.

To call a remake of The Magnificent Seven subtle may be going a bit too far, but there’s a deftness of touch in the balance of the film’s ideas all the same.