The Futon

Seven Samurai remake

Speaking of raping Brilliance... 

Help us all, the Weinsteins are remaking Seven Samurai.

This already makes me wanna hurt someone but on top of that they've apparently cast George Clooney somewhere in it. That's right:

"Hey, remember that Seven Samurai movie? Yeah, the greatest movie ever made. Let's remake that."

"Oooh, and we can get that f**king wanna-be Danny Ocean to star in it."

"Brilliant!!"

They've also cast Donnie Yen as Kikuchiyo.

That one is a little more respectable but I'm still not sure. I'd have gone with Ken Watanbe. Watch The Last Samurai and tell me he's not channeling Toshirô Mifune.

Re: Seven Samurai remake

Well, my initial reaction is *BARF*

Although I know they've already remade this movie with The Magnificent Seven, and although I've never seen it I hear it's quite good.

And don't forget how many times Yojimbo was essentially remade with success.

And even Star Wars had some elements of The Hidden Fortress.

Maybe there is something about Kurosawa that lends itself to good remakes.  Have there been any really bad ones?  I'm sure there have been, but I just can't think of any right now.

I'm sure it requires the right filmmakers remaking it.

Re: Seven Samurai remake

Re: Seven Samurai remake

There haven't been specifically bad ones but they've also never done a straight remake. The Magnificent Seven was the closest thing to a true remake of Seven Samurai but it wasn't a samurai movie, etc. so it avoided being to literal.

The same can be said for the Yojimbo/Sanjuro remakes: Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Last Man Standing, etc.

I think Kurosawa, like his sometimes inspiration Shakespeare, lends himself more to reinterpretation rather than imitaion.

If this is a direct remake then it has a lot to live up to. If it's a reinterpretation it may have a good chance of being, at the very least, adequate.

Re: Seven Samurai remake

josephkuzma:

If this is a direct remake then it has a lot to live up to. If it's a reinterpretation it may have a good chance of being, at the very least, adequate.

Exactly.  Any good remake has to actually be more of a reinterpretation.  To try to recreate is pointless because otherwise the original would be sufficient.  You need to acknowledge and use the differences.