Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

The Magnificent Seven 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

"7" in 4K is 2x the fun.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 17, 2016

Now this is a remake. Forget the try-hard Ben-Hur; Director Antoine Fuqua's The Magnificent Seven nails the process, taking the original (which is itself a re-imagining of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai) and not exactly repurposing it, but slicking it up just enough for modern audiences while remaining faithful to both the source and the greater Western genre. It finds that happy medium middle ground between classic and contemporary, light and serious, fundamentally faithful and fluidly original. Perhaps more than anything else that makes the movie a success -- its authentic period feel, performances, score, cinematography -- it's the obvious love with which it's been crafted, a love of the material and the genre alike that helps the movie overcome any nitpick-y shortcomings in its translation to 2016. Fuqua gives himself plenty of room to play by respecting the past and making the movie his own, but still texturally and, mostly, fundamentally a classic Western in every way beyond the date it was made and some of the snappier filmmaking techniques that only enhance the movie, not overwhelm or lessen it.

The dusty, middle-of-nowhere town of Rose Creek finds itself under the oppressive thumb of corrupt businessman Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) who holds the town at literal and figurative gunpoint. Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett), widow of one of Bogue's victims, seeks aid from an outside source to protect the town and drive Bogue and his men away. She meets Sam Chisholm (Denzel Washington), a man serving warrants whose interest in piqued when he hears the details. Chisholm assembles a ragtag band of men with varied skill sets and a willingness to aid him, and the people of Rose Creek, in the mission: a card shark and gunslinger named Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt), land man Jack Horne (Vincent D'Onofrio), marksman Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), outlaw Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), a Comanche named Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier), and an expert knife-thrower named Billy Rocks (Lee Byung-hun).

The Magnificent Seven is so faithful in its adherence to genre structure, style, motif, and even tropes that it borders on parody in a few of its lighter moments, but on the flip side the film proves its worth as a serious update for just those qualities. It's not just reflective of the genre, it lives it, inhales the same dust, wears the same clothes, fires the same guns. Fuqua's passion for it is obvious with every shot, even when it's clear he's taking a brief respite from the film's more serious storylines and characters to chew on some of his favorite genre standbys. The film boasts expert production values that, as the name implies, value authenticity but, at the same time, breathe life into the movie and ready it for the steady cadence of its heartbeat that the cast provides. The film's diverse "seven" melt into the movie. Never is it about where they come from or what they look like, at least beyond those times the movie makes mention in some form or fashion. It's instead about what they can do together, the individual qualities that make them a rugged and ready unit. Cast camaraderie is terrific, the actors' skills with blades or firearms never appear unnaturally practiced, and they wear the clothes and ride the horses like they grew up on the range. Fuqua gets the most from his cast, one of the most likable collections one will ever find in the Western genre. Vincent D'Onofrio and Byung-hun Lee steal the show, while Denzel Washington is perfectly cast as the group's stalwart leader. Chris Pratt epitomizes the movie, delivering a performance that's equal parts fun and serious and all Western.

Cinematography is breathtakingly fantastic. Not only are traditional Western vistas captured to their full beauty, they're presented in their full functionality too, with every sandy or grassy expanse, range, structure, cloud in the sky, everything in frame playing some role in enhancing the composition of a shot or building on the story. It's fluid and a fantastic extension of what the genre has always done so well, here perfected in an obvious, but seamless, manner. The score, started by legendary Composer James Horner and completed posthumously by Simon Franglen, shapes the film in that same style as Pratt's performance and character: classic, fun, and serious all rolled into one. Gunplay is terrific. Action scenes are complexly staged but gracefully occurring. They're chaotic but controlled to where the audience can follow the action. They're entertaining but deadly serious from both the business end of the gun and also from the business end of the narrative. This is everything most anyone could want in a contemporary Western. It's traditional where it must remain so, updated just enough to lure modern viewers, faithful to the ideas of the original, wonderfully cast, and passionately directed. Bravo.

The Magnificent Seven 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

IMDB reports that The Magnificent Seven was shot on film but finished at 2K, an oddity and something of an outlier to be sure. Nevertheless, the 2160p/HDR-enhanced image is quite attractive and a solid to, at times, substantial upgrade over the excellent 1080p Blu-ray disc. The image is noticeably crisper and more refined, its details tighter and enjoying a greater sense of polish and natural sharpness. Everything -- faces, clothing, terrain, wooden structures, leather, weapons -- presents with heightened definition and a much greater sense of natural, tangible intimacy across practically every frame. It's amazing how much tighter and more robust the image appears. It maintains a beautiful filmic appearance. Grain is even and obvious, relatively light though still perhaps a touch sharper than some would like. Color saturation is much improved over the Blu-ray. The HDR enhancement never alters the movie's intended look and feel but rather accentuates the palette, offering significantly increased saturation and nuance, evident even through the heavily warm and mildly bronzed look the movie has to offer. It still looks hot and dusty, but there's a much greater sense of natural efficiency to every shade, as well as a much greater color depth. Black levels could stand to go a little deeper and darker, but such is the only worthwhile complaint in an otherwise terrific 4K presentation that's right up there, maybe only a sliver behind, Sony's best UHD offerings to date.

The Magnificent Seven 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Whereas The Magnificent Seven's 1080p Blu-ray featured a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack -- and an excellent one at that -- this UHD release contains a Dolby Atmos (core Dolby TrueHD 7.1) track, which incorporates overhead object-based sound in addition to the traditional 7.1 setup. The tracks are largely similar on the macro level -- big, wide, aggressive -- but the benefits the Atmos track provides are fairly obvious. Musical precision is noticeably tighter, fuller in its wrap around the main body as well as pushing just a little through the top layer for a more spherical, immersive, yet still very well balanced, listen. Notes are precise and the finest instrumental details are plainly audible. Atmospherics are likewise a bit fuller, more greatly encompassing while still featuring terrific clarity through every fine detail. Of course, the movie's main attraction are its shootouts. Gunfire is deep and potent, perhaps not quite so aggressive as it could be, but for the sake of the track's structural balance (and the listener's ears), they're as penetrating as can be without going overboard. There's a beautiful richness and fullness to the chaos of both of the movie's extended shootouts. Bullets zip through, and it seems above, the stage for a completely immersive effect. There's no inch of the stage left not engaged in some form or fashion. Dialogue is clear and center focused with flawless clarity and prioritization.

The Magnificent Seven 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

In addition to the supplements featured on the included 1080- Blu-ray disc (listed below), the UHD disc contains the following highlight "Moments" (2160p, HDR, Atmos): Chisolm (16:46), Faraday (12:46), The Seven (13:53), and Action Sequences (18:16). Also included is a "Cast & Crew" tab that features still images of key members of the moviemaking team. A UV digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 7:29 total runtime): Breakfast Prayer, What Are You Gonna Do About It?, Bravery and Responsibility, and Goodnight Serenade.
• The Seven (1080p, 8:36): A quick look through the characters and the actors who portray them.
• Directing The Seven (1080p, 5:03): The cast talks up Fuqua's work as director and a discussion of his love of the genre. It also offers a brief discussion of practical effects in the film, which in turn allows Fuqua to discuss the benefits of shooting practically.
• The Taking of Rose Creek (1080p, 5:16): Examining the key location and a discussion of the laborious process of making one of the film's key action sequences.
• Rogue Bogue (1080p, 5:26): A closer look at the film's antagonist and the world in which he operates.
• Gunslingers (1080p, 4:55): The actors discuss physical preparations for their parts, including horseback riding and weapons training. It also looks at how the actors' skill reflected their characters' qualities.
• Magnificent Music (1080p, 4:10): The original's iconic music, Horner's work and passing, modernizing the score while staying true to a classic Hollywood style, and more.
• Vengeance Mode (1080p, 2:53:07, DTS-HD MA 7.1): A full-screen commentary/making-of piece that occasionally cuts into the movie and features both behind-the-scenes footage and cast and crew assembled to discuss their attachment to the film, story details and themes, character motivations and qualities, shooting locations, and plenty more. It's a well-done piece and a fun diversion from the traditional supplemental style, which this disc does have, of course, but it offers a flow, feel, and cast camaraderie that's otherwise impossible to capture in a basic minutes-long featurette.

The Magnificent Seven 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Magnificent Seven is another in the slowly growing list of wonderfully reimagined Westerns, joining the likes of 3:10 to Yuma and True Grit as new standard-bearers for both the genre and the larger world of cinematic remakes. Simply put, it's just a damn good movie in every way: faithfulness, uniqueness, authenticity, style, casting, performances, direction, cinematography, editing, score. It's a terrific example of why the Western was, and can be again, America's genre and why it still holds relevant even today, decades removed from its John Wayne heyday. Sony's UHD release is excellent, featuring an Atmos soundtrack that's a cut above, a 2160p/HDR presentation that's a noticeable boost over the 1080p Blu-ray, and a nice allotment of extra content. The Magnificent Seven earns my highest recommendation.