I'm sad. No, I'm really sad. How come a potentially super movie like this goes wrong like that?! Well, it didn't go so wrong, but sure it wasn't that right either!
It's a (Seven Samurais) story, but with 11 fighters, being old ones, having a dishonor they want to wipe as a salvation. It has a B-movie gold, however the movie insists on being not that shiny. Review with me; not all the 11 are being spotted on, so why the big number from the start? We didn't go through the already cared about characters; it goes like this; one drunk, one rich, one mouthy.. etc. Namely hasty without much writing to utilize the stereotype, or make it less tacky. And most of them weren't even done appropriately in the first place (Naseeruddin Shah loves children while having a child of his own, and not being a lost child himself!). The matter of the girl calling the police to forbid the leads of continuing the mission, just for feeling afraid that they may die, is so idiot it's unbelievable. How the corrupted police officer would collect the handsome financial award for capturing the criminal while he'd let him escape?! And that rich man of the team, he just approved to spend his money, financing the mission, building a school, so easily. Rather, every time these men have a problem with each other, it solves itself so easily; for instance, they disagreed, and half of them is about to leave, then they suddenly unsay and stay (??!!).
The music is another electronic hell, with no taste but to disparage everything and annoy us. The editing was utterly nerves; it deprived the movie of any specialty, and turned the whole thing into accelerated hubbub. Then, the guy who played the villain, OH MY GOD, he wasn't the worst of this movie; he was the worst Indian actor I have ever seen yet! At one moment, I asked myself: Why they didn't hire the American comedian (Chris Rock) instead? In comparison, he would have been at least funnier! While being supposedly scary, his scenes came to be laughable due to his flamboyant make-up, and imbecile performance. That turned me off, before devastating the power of the conflict. The reputation of holding the record for the highest number of extras and the biggest action sequences filmed in a Hindi film IS shamefully false. The action sequences aren't expensive, or excellently made. Average, or in best cases, decent is the word for it. So, as you see, everything was between nerves and average. And finally, (Urmila Matondkar) had a cameo in the singing sequence. She was massively silly, and looked like a freaking robot. So how come she's bigger than all the movie's leads on the poster?!!
I only loved the different format for the Samurais this round, the satire against the police as helpless but colluding; which's something unusual in a story of that sort, the way the script handled the storyline of the village people; from absolute cowards or peace-loving, to brave soldiers who take their usurped rights by war, and the loose performance of the charismatic (Amrish Puri) as nearly the opposite of anything he used to be before, stealing the show from the movie's lead (Om Puri). However, I don't think (Akira Kurosawa), the director of the original (Seven Samurais - 1954), is so happy with this remake. The movie's makers should have made what could equal such a valuable director and movie. Otherwise, why to regard him at the start with a special board? It's something the makers of the much better, and more successful, remake (Sholay - 1975) didn't do. This unprecedented gesture of nostalgia and respect promised of more, but the result was less!
(China Gate) is a clear case of B-grade movie-making that ate up A-grade stuff. And the potentially super movie, which you know and have seen many times in many versions, had been disappointed. That's why I'm pretty sad. It reminded me of the story of the handsome prince who was witched into something else his self. Apparently, the magic of Bollywood this time was more like evil voodoo, transforming the prince into.. Hmmm.. not a prince at the least!
It's a (Seven Samurais) story, but with 11 fighters, being old ones, having a dishonor they want to wipe as a salvation. It has a B-movie gold, however the movie insists on being not that shiny. Review with me; not all the 11 are being spotted on, so why the big number from the start? We didn't go through the already cared about characters; it goes like this; one drunk, one rich, one mouthy.. etc. Namely hasty without much writing to utilize the stereotype, or make it less tacky. And most of them weren't even done appropriately in the first place (Naseeruddin Shah loves children while having a child of his own, and not being a lost child himself!). The matter of the girl calling the police to forbid the leads of continuing the mission, just for feeling afraid that they may die, is so idiot it's unbelievable. How the corrupted police officer would collect the handsome financial award for capturing the criminal while he'd let him escape?! And that rich man of the team, he just approved to spend his money, financing the mission, building a school, so easily. Rather, every time these men have a problem with each other, it solves itself so easily; for instance, they disagreed, and half of them is about to leave, then they suddenly unsay and stay (??!!).
The music is another electronic hell, with no taste but to disparage everything and annoy us. The editing was utterly nerves; it deprived the movie of any specialty, and turned the whole thing into accelerated hubbub. Then, the guy who played the villain, OH MY GOD, he wasn't the worst of this movie; he was the worst Indian actor I have ever seen yet! At one moment, I asked myself: Why they didn't hire the American comedian (Chris Rock) instead? In comparison, he would have been at least funnier! While being supposedly scary, his scenes came to be laughable due to his flamboyant make-up, and imbecile performance. That turned me off, before devastating the power of the conflict. The reputation of holding the record for the highest number of extras and the biggest action sequences filmed in a Hindi film IS shamefully false. The action sequences aren't expensive, or excellently made. Average, or in best cases, decent is the word for it. So, as you see, everything was between nerves and average. And finally, (Urmila Matondkar) had a cameo in the singing sequence. She was massively silly, and looked like a freaking robot. So how come she's bigger than all the movie's leads on the poster?!!
I only loved the different format for the Samurais this round, the satire against the police as helpless but colluding; which's something unusual in a story of that sort, the way the script handled the storyline of the village people; from absolute cowards or peace-loving, to brave soldiers who take their usurped rights by war, and the loose performance of the charismatic (Amrish Puri) as nearly the opposite of anything he used to be before, stealing the show from the movie's lead (Om Puri). However, I don't think (Akira Kurosawa), the director of the original (Seven Samurais - 1954), is so happy with this remake. The movie's makers should have made what could equal such a valuable director and movie. Otherwise, why to regard him at the start with a special board? It's something the makers of the much better, and more successful, remake (Sholay - 1975) didn't do. This unprecedented gesture of nostalgia and respect promised of more, but the result was less!
(China Gate) is a clear case of B-grade movie-making that ate up A-grade stuff. And the potentially super movie, which you know and have seen many times in many versions, had been disappointed. That's why I'm pretty sad. It reminded me of the story of the handsome prince who was witched into something else his self. Apparently, the magic of Bollywood this time was more like evil voodoo, transforming the prince into.. Hmmm.. not a prince at the least!