Expected more

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Yes I know, it's yet another Hollywood remake, but try watching this movie without comparing it to the original. I for one enjoyed it and I will be adding it to my "watch again" list. The characters where good and the story line was well thought out with a couple of twists that where not in the original. because this is a remake, the story line is a bit predictable but as I said, try not to hold that against it. there are many remakes out there that are in some cases better than the originals. I'm not saying this version is better, but it is a good remake and well worth a watch.

Having seen Kurosawa's Seven Samurai then Sturges' version in 1960 and now Antoine Fuqua's great work in 2016 all I can say it just keeps getting better but for different reasons. I gave it 7 stars for the technological work in cinematography. It reminded me a little of Sergio Leone's work with extreme closeups of the characters. Brilliantly done.

A ragtag bunch of loner mercenaries join together to defend a townful of innocents against a predatory (and far better armed) force which greatly outnumbers them. That synopsis fits this film and also its multiple forbears, starting with Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and including (of course) John Sturges' seminal 1960 western, and Roger Corman's rather less seminal Battle Beyond The Stars. The villain of the piece here is a property baron looking to extort the population of a town out of their land, using murder when necessary. Denzel Washington heads up the seven, in a nice selection of characters which both echo the original yet manage to be their own characters.That is the mark of this film: it often references its predecessor (the knife fight in the railroad stock yard, for instance) yet it is quite different in execution. I must say that the final reference - wait for the closing credits - gripped me by the throat and didn't let go.It is not without flaws: deaths of members of the seven flash by during the (well-staged) final battle, for instance, without them having the impact they should have. There is a closing voiceover which obviously exists only to have the word "magnificent" in it: it is contrived, clumsy and completely unnecessary. And Sarsgard's baddie, Bartholomew Bogue, is either badly conceived or badly performed, with an air of mildly exasperated but languid impatience which doesn't really feel credible.And it appeared to me that much of Fuqua's direction, in the early part, at least, seemed to be based on the assumption that none of the audience had ever seen a western. However, given how long the western has been out of favour, that may well be true.For all that, it is a decent enough movie. Not as epic or iconic as its predecessor, to be sure, but not bad at all.

Brutal just brutal to watch. Don't mind a decent western but good Lord. Hopefully movie didn't go over budget. And for the folks who actually paid a ticket... ouch.