I am not a huge fan of remakes in the first place, but please just don't ever even try to talk to me about "updated versions" of Schichinin no samurai (with Tarantino directing, and George Clooney & Ziyi Zhang starring?!) or Batoru rowaiaru. Really. Do they think people can't handle/appreciate the (subtitled) originals? It's ridiculous.
(See this Seven Samurai article and this Battle Royale article for (not many) more details.)
6 comments:
Umm... I'm afraid even to ask how they could fit george Clooney into the plot of the Seven Samurai...
Yeah, I mean...I can extremely vaguely see a sort of resemblance between him & the crazy samurai (I think; it's been a while since I've watched it), but...he's Caucasian. That kind of presents a big problem with regards to the plot of the film. Unless by "remake of" they mean something entirely different, like "loosely based on the plot of" or something. Which would still suck, probably. Grr. Either way -- they just shouldn't be doing it. End of story.
I can't say I hated the "remake" of Ocean's Eleven, though, so maybe I'm not one to talk. We'll just have to see where they go with all this...
Having George Clooney in a remake of a Rat Pack movie doesn't stretch my imagination too far, or necessitate changing much, IMO. However, the story of the Seven Samurai is indivisible from Japanese culture. I could see a good case being made for setting it in a different era, if the same issues are addressed, but if it leaves Japan the movie is pretty much screwed. Or just a different movie. (See: Hitchcock's Mr. & Mrs. Smith and the recent Mr. & Mrs. Smith)
Blah blah blah. I'll go back to my silent films now...
Well, The Magnificent Seven was really, really good--in fact, I think I like it and Seven Samurai equally. But Hollywood should quit while it's ahead; a new remake is bound to be crappy.
I agree -- I have never seen the Magnificent Seven, so of course it didn't cross my mind at all, but I have heard it's excellent. So I will admit I do like some remakes, sigh. But still. I guess I'm more worried they're going to try to do something really close to the original with no storyline changes, and that would be just a dreadful mess. But clearly they've been able to make "modern updates" to stories successfully. I guess I am just getting so bothered/jaded by all of those awful remakes that keep popping up. There should be like a panel that decides before they release a movie whether or not it's actually up to par. Because clearly the people will still go see a movie even when it's terrible. Heh.
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