I didn't want to see this after just remembering a version coming out in 1998 with Ron Perlman and hoping the original Yul Brynner classic could rest in peace. Well, my teenager liked it.
The plot speaks for itself. That's why they kept reviving it in the 60s. Kids today do relate with the multicultural 7--a first. They even throw in Chris Pratt. It was good to add an Asian (Billy Rocks) to the 7, the screenplay is based on a Japanese script after all. Either way, you are drawn into the story of the Mag. 7, raising a town army to fight off a magnate's thugs terrorizing them.
Yet, it didn't convince me. You can't keep rehashing old classics, and go far beyond the master copy--kind of like giving realism to a Picasso. Denzel Washington, really, as the leader of the 7!? He never adopted cowboy swag. He still struts like John Creasy from Man on Fire, taking revenge on every bad guy. Chris Pratt also doesn't even have a country drawl. Authenticity is what's lacking. They still had to cast believable cowboys. No wonder the director, Fuqua, is best known for films like Training Day, a Denzel award-winner, and other big shooters like Olympus Has Fallen. Fuqua should stick to his blockbusters and Denzel, a fav of mine too, doesn't always do magic in any genre.
I leave this at the Losing 25 yd. Line, just because it caters to the Millennials, but I would never watch it again.
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