I’m not a particular fan of Antoine Fuqua’s work as a director, but Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt will get me to a movie theater even for a movie that did not need a remake (but when does that stop anyone these days? Details below courtesy of Geek Tyrant.
With the town of Rose Creek under the deadly control of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), the desperate townspeople employ protection from seven outlaws, bounty hunters, gamblers and hired guns – Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington), Josh Farraday (Chris Pratt), Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio), Billy Rocks (Byung-Hun Lee), Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier). As they prepare the town for the violent showdown that they know is coming, these seven mercenaries find themselves fighting for more than money.
The Magnificent Seven opens September 23rd.
I’m generally not a fan of westerns, other than the usual suspect masterpieces like High Noon, and the Wild Bunch, and Unforgiven, and the Searchers… and the original version of this. I don’t want the Magnificent Seven remade in any way, shape, or form, yet part of me has to take into consideration that fact that young people are not watching old movies these days. So why not remake the story for a new audience/generation? If the movie is good, this might not be a problem. Obviously the original Magnificent Seven was itself a remake.
Also, the presence of Washington immediately improves the pedigree. He’s not immune to making bad choices, but the fact that he’s in this means that I will probably bite the perfectly-aimed bullet and go see one of my cherished films get remade by a run-of-the-mill filmmaker.
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