For starters, there is one thing that really didn't work, and that is Fra Fee's makeup. Ho boy does his aging-up makeup
Otherwise, it really does. Not 8 or 9 but 7 just because a bit action-heavy for me. For example the fight in the bar once they start going to recruit is superfluous; we already saw Sofia Boutella fight, we don't need another slow motion example. It might have been cool to have it play at full speed in fact, but I digress.
Anyway, for what it is, it is lovely for the reasons I guess most people hate it. It is slow. Seven Samurai is 3-1/3 hours, so the two together are not hideously longer. It's fine, and we can have people talk and travel.
It looks fake: Um, no. It looks stylized. The opening plowing scene with the ringed planet makes clear we're on a moon and that we're in a different universe. Not just different from here on earth, I mean not MCU, Star Wars, etc but a tone of its very own and it worked for me. I mean it, entirely worked, never once was I annoyed by a digital background or strange spaceship as they all worked together and as odd as things were they were believable, In That Universe. Shoveling stuff into the boilers? Sure, made me almost giggle at the old Flash Gordon comics, once when captured shoveling uranium into the reactors. This is the weird parallel universe we're in and I love it.
There's criticism of not enough background in part 1 and too much in part 2: frankly, shaddap already. That's going out of your way to find fault and it worked for pacing. In part 1 they /totally/ tell who these people basically are, and they act a specific way, that carries through to the rest of the film. In part 2 there is a quiet period all gathered around and they can talk to each other. Moreover, Djimon Hounsou /explicitly says/ here's my tale, now everyone else share. Not forced, worked for me.
Oh what else do people hate? Oh, the weapons. I personally was again giddy we have something different for a change. Call it a plasma gun, but I loved that there is a splash at impact, that things are clearly defeated at least partly from heat, so stuff catches on fire and people are burned. There's also some weird power swords, colors seem to mean things, they have names for types: fine. It's clearly a thing, there's background that if it matters they will tell me but it's not random.
Okay, it is... stilted. Not bad dialog, it's clearly to me purposefully a specific style. I tend to think this is a much stricter homage to Kurosawa than everyone thinks, so the villager and "samurai" dialog (at least) is feudal Japan or 14th century europe, and it is nice to not have a modern sensibility tossed in randomly.
Acting: Mostly very good and I had sorta avoided it just for putting Sofia Boutella in the lead. As good as she's been and anything not good is not her fault (slightly too many long gazes into the distance, too much time in the tank top when being a farmer, etc) but line delivery I almost entirely embraced; she did better in vo than most do; I still love Blade Runner and cannot stand the vo cut as Harrison Ford is so annoyed sounding over it all.
I could go on, but entirely liked it, hope it continues and do not at all mind we got Andor to show us the roots of Star Wars rebellion and /also/ get this different rebellion show. Oh, and also: I've been pining for a remake of Battle Beyond the Stars for decades, this satisfies that itch very well.
Otherwise, it really does. Not 8 or 9 but 7 just because a bit action-heavy for me. For example the fight in the bar once they start going to recruit is superfluous; we already saw Sofia Boutella fight, we don't need another slow motion example. It might have been cool to have it play at full speed in fact, but I digress.
Anyway, for what it is, it is lovely for the reasons I guess most people hate it. It is slow. Seven Samurai is 3-1/3 hours, so the two together are not hideously longer. It's fine, and we can have people talk and travel.
It looks fake: Um, no. It looks stylized. The opening plowing scene with the ringed planet makes clear we're on a moon and that we're in a different universe. Not just different from here on earth, I mean not MCU, Star Wars, etc but a tone of its very own and it worked for me. I mean it, entirely worked, never once was I annoyed by a digital background or strange spaceship as they all worked together and as odd as things were they were believable, In That Universe. Shoveling stuff into the boilers? Sure, made me almost giggle at the old Flash Gordon comics, once when captured shoveling uranium into the reactors. This is the weird parallel universe we're in and I love it.
There's criticism of not enough background in part 1 and too much in part 2: frankly, shaddap already. That's going out of your way to find fault and it worked for pacing. In part 1 they /totally/ tell who these people basically are, and they act a specific way, that carries through to the rest of the film. In part 2 there is a quiet period all gathered around and they can talk to each other. Moreover, Djimon Hounsou /explicitly says/ here's my tale, now everyone else share. Not forced, worked for me.
Oh what else do people hate? Oh, the weapons. I personally was again giddy we have something different for a change. Call it a plasma gun, but I loved that there is a splash at impact, that things are clearly defeated at least partly from heat, so stuff catches on fire and people are burned. There's also some weird power swords, colors seem to mean things, they have names for types: fine. It's clearly a thing, there's background that if it matters they will tell me but it's not random.
Okay, it is... stilted. Not bad dialog, it's clearly to me purposefully a specific style. I tend to think this is a much stricter homage to Kurosawa than everyone thinks, so the villager and "samurai" dialog (at least) is feudal Japan or 14th century europe, and it is nice to not have a modern sensibility tossed in randomly.
Acting: Mostly very good and I had sorta avoided it just for putting Sofia Boutella in the lead. As good as she's been and anything not good is not her fault (slightly too many long gazes into the distance, too much time in the tank top when being a farmer, etc) but line delivery I almost entirely embraced; she did better in vo than most do; I still love Blade Runner and cannot stand the vo cut as Harrison Ford is so annoyed sounding over it all.
I could go on, but entirely liked it, hope it continues and do not at all mind we got Andor to show us the roots of Star Wars rebellion and /also/ get this different rebellion show. Oh, and also: I've been pining for a remake of Battle Beyond the Stars for decades, this satisfies that itch very well.