mikael-popa

Antoine Fuqua is a good director but this time he seems more concerned about being politically correct. One African-American, one Mexican, one Asian and one Native American out of 7 "Magnificent". A lady in the main positive role. I would not have been surprised to see a whale in need to be saved. But I did see an embarrassing speech in the middle of the movie, blaming capitalism and religion for lost of real democracy. The movie is OK. Not as good as the 1960's original, far from Seven Samurai. Ironically, the movie is good mainly because of Denzel Washington who has been cast by Fuqua in order to express the Wild West "diversity". But Denzel is a great actor, he would have been a great actor with an orange or pink skin too. I can't say how much I regret cinematography being under siege of diversity, multiculturalism and other similar progressive movements. It should be a form of art. It is no longer. I've read user comments and some of them know nothing about Seven Samurai or 1960s Magnificent Seven, yet they are eager to discuss about racism, whitewash, diversity, feminism and everything except the movie itself.

I have first seen this movie in the 80s. I was only a child and the movie was on Romanian television, who at that time only transmitted in black & white. Funny how I still remembered the opening scene with the stranger arriving at an isolated farm during a storm. I found the movie now almost by chance. I heard that Ken Takakura died last year and I was very sad to hear it, I always liked his stoic acting. I searched IMDb for his movies and found this one among others. I love the movie. I have seen others with better plot, better directing, maybe better actors ... maybe. But there is something so authentic, so simple and yet so deep about this movie that I just love it. By the way, the last scene is incredible. One of the all-time classics, in my opinion. If you can get the movie don't miss it.