The movie is a remake of the 1960 Western The Magnificent Seven which is based on on the 1954 movie Shichinin no samurai. So much for the history.
I am pretty sure I have seen the 1960 movie with Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson but it is more than just a few years back and I can not remember the movie good enough to compare it with the modern one. And maybe this is a good thing.
A while back I started watching movies with headphones on when I am alone. Which gives me a much better and more focused movie experience than any THX surround thing could ever do. So I did with this movie. And I was literally glued to the Screen and watched the movie without a break. The Magnificent Seven is primary an enjoyable action movie and a western just in the second place. The only thing I will complain is the slight lack of magnificence of the main characters. It is that tiny little trait which makes a character more than just some sort of (anti-)hero but an extraordinary cool character. Not in a Blade/Wesley Snipes way but in a Charles Bronson and Client Eastwood style.