These Are Stills From Ken Watanabe’s UNFORGIVEN Remake

We tend to see a lot of remakes come through these parts. It’s a hazard of the trade these days, as Hollywood continues to put more stock into brand loyalty than they do originality. So I find myself mostly apathetic to stuff like a new Robocop or Evil Dead, because it’s mostly just America cannibalizing its own output.

But, similar to how Seven Samurai served as a jumping off point for The Magnificent Seven, I couldn’t be more stoked to see what director Lee Sang-il and star Ken Watanabe are able to pull of in their remake of Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. Twitch has a plot synopsis that has me even more intrigued:

Set in 1880 as Japan largely abandons the old ways to adopt a more modern stance, Watanabe stars as a more traditional thinker, holding to the samurai ways, who takes on a job as a bounty killer.

I love how displaced Watanabe looks immersed in an increasingly Westernized culture of 1880 Japan. Something tells me his affinity for “the old ways” involves a sword and some mortal combat, but for now I’m content looking at these stills and anticipating what can potentially be one of the better remakes of 2013:

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Source: Twitch via Badass Digest