63% on Rotten Tomatoes, out of 190 reviews
Runtime: 132 minutes
Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: The titular Seven, plus people like Haley Bennett, Peter Sarsgaard, and Luke Grimes
From: MGM/Columbia
I saw this movie this past afternoon. It was for a few reasons, including the positive reviews and seeing this in a brand new fancy pants film auditorium; it was worth the time and money, the auditorium was. I wish everyone there would have exhibited good manners while watching the film but alas... the details about this are below, via my Letterboxd review:
Until a few days ago I wasn't even playing too close attention to this film. I wondered why the 1960 film needed to be remade, even if it itself was a remake and I typically enjoy movies where a disparate group of people are forced to come together for a single cause and the whole squad is able to show off their special skills. Then I heard better than expected reviews and my interest was piqued. What sealed the deal was the brand new auditorium I saw this in, which I'll talk about at the end of the review.
People should know the plot by now considering it's modified from two famous films of the past. As it's Hollywood, no surprise that they'd have the town surrogate be an attractive girl in Haley Bennett. At least Bennett did a nice job in the role, as did the cast as a whole, for that matter. This movie is certainly simpler than the 1960 movie and the characters are cliched stereotypes. The villain isn't exactly a huge role or drawn to be a Machiavellian genius, either. I say that 1960 is better overall.
Yet, I still got plenty of enjoyment out of this. While not original characters, at least they are a lot of fun to watch and interact with each other. Denzel is pretty neat as pretty much a fictionalized version of real life badass U.S. Marshall Bass Reeves, who was a black man that operated in the Wild West and was great at his job. I rolled with this wacky multi-ethnic crew rolling together even if I wondered how a Korean man ended up cowboy in the Wild West. The action is a blast-especially the final act-and the PG-13 rating isn't too much of a hindrance.
Someone on a messageboard I frequent lamented how most movies these days cut and edit way too much, to the point that you can't simply enjoy the widescreen views and any pretty scenery that may be in the background. Thus, he started rewatching the old classics which did do this, like Ben-Hur or Lawrence of Arabia. Well, I think he would enjoy this movie, shot in an old school way. Aside from there being clear action scenes where you can make out what's going on and the camera doesn't shake about pointlessly, you are able to examine the very pretty Arizona background at times. Production wise the movie is pretty well made, which does help here... between the direction, the cinematography and the score. This is not great but it's still greatly entertaining and a solid popcorn film filled with famous actors and solid character actors alike, in a genre rarely seen on the big screen anymore.
I saw this in an AMC Theatres; to be specific, it's a new gimmick which was elsewhere but literally made its debut in the area of Orlando today: Dolby Cinema by AMC. This is a giant screen with a great projector, a tremendous sound system, and very comfy leather seats which can recline and you can feel movement in them like they are a D-BOX seat. All the giant screens I've been to in the past w/ fancy pants sound systems, they have been nice and I enjoy watching cinema in them. However, Dolby Cinema is the most impressive to me between the amazing picture, the Dolby Atmos sound and the chairs. If you have one by you then I highly recommend checking one out. I do say it is worth the few extra bucks you'll have to pay.
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