A remake of one of the greatest Westerns ever made — itself adapted from the Japanese film “The Seven Samurai” — the 2016 version of “The Magnificent Seven” faced an uphill battle from the moment it was released. Despite an A-list cast featuring the likes of Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, and Peter Sarsgaard, there’s just no competing with the original, which had legends like Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, and Charles Bronson.

Smartly, the film opts not to copy the John Sturges classic. The core story remains the same: a terrifying villain is wreaking havoc on a small town, whose denizens hire a cunning gunfighter to help them fight back. In the original, the villain is Calvera, leader of a gang of bandits; in the remake, the baddie is Bartholomew Bogue (Sarsgaard), a greedy industrialist who forces the townspeople to mine for gold. The hero is also different; instead of a Cajun gunslinger coming to the rescue, the remake has Sam Chisholm (Washington), a U.S. Marshal who recruits six more men to aid him in his fight to free the town. 

Unfairly compared to the original classic film, the 2016 film from Antoine Fuqua is only loosely a remake, with many fundamental changes made to the story and characters. Taken on its own merits, the new “Magnificent Seven” combines rollicking action, charismatic performances, and high production values to become an action-adventure flick of the highest order. Matt Bomer, Lee Byung-hun, Martin Sensmeier, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Luke Grimes round out the immensely talented cast.