| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 07/04/2008 : 12:16:55
Wanted
Hands up - Who's feeling wanted? OK what about Unwanted?
In a funny way the film is structured a bit like Alice in Wonderland. Maybe it could be called Wesley in Get The Shit Kicked Out Of You Land.
Before anything's said, let's all remember the film is based on comic books. It's not a documentary and it's not out to win the The Booker Prize and it's not on a shortlist for the school curriculum.
It's a film about a fraternity of professional assassins to rid the world of badguys, founded in medieval Europe and still going strong in Chicago. Why Chicago? I guess because there are such familiar tv hospitals so handy for those nasty injuries that innocent citizens suffer while the action whizzes past.
It's about how mild-mannered shlub - James McAvoy, who's adopting an American accent which lets us know on which side of the pond his agent believes his golden egg will be buttered. And if you think that's bad dialogue - what do make of the description of the updated mechanism through which the assassins receive their respective assignments: or as Morgan Freeman reveals: The Loom of Fate.
The Loom of Fucking Fate! I ask you! Calm down, hon, calm down - it's a comic book.
Russian-born director Timur Bekmambetov is of an age that knows its great cinema inheritance from masters such as Eisenstein and Bonderchuck. He's passed through the glasnost wall into western pop culture. And he sure knows how to direct action. Move over John Woo -- Here's Woo-woo-woo didja see that?!
We're not going to look too closly here at anomalies because what's the point? We're not even going to go down the corridor marked -- Are you kidding with that plot reveal, I saw it coming hours ago! Because, again, what's the point?
The center of the story is about packing in action and all the rest is how we're going to dress up the linking scenes.
Get out the checklist:
Embryonic Bourne-like hero McAvoy, a decent enough actor to sustain some character development
- Icily beautiful slightly reluctant, quick-witted Jolie, his partner who's enigmatic enough to keep you watching her impossibly brutal defensive moves even as she spins a web of URST - uresolved sexual tension - which may be resolved or dissolved, but at least isn't as risible as they might be from a more bull-dykey kind of character more at home with acting like one of the boys.
- Authoritative head honcho Morgan Freeman, dragging a screen inheritance of both goodies and baddies to keep you guessing.
- A watery smear of a plot to make you believe all this action is really about something. What's that - family values? Hmmm. Maybe so. Enough to justify all those innocent civilians sacrificed because they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time as justice is being enacted with such a heavy hand?
And, still on plot here, an excuse to get the hell outta Chicago - for the civilizing influence of Europe - in this case Czechoslovakia. Beautiful for sure, but sadly just as corrupt and brutal. Nice scenery, though!
In case you have the attention span of an ant -- which I guess is most of the target audience - you might be surprised and amazed at the way the plot resolves itself.
Personally, I think it would have been edging the film toward greatness if at the end, the shlubby McAvoy woke up and the whole thing had been a revenge dream. And then he goes out to work and wrecks havoc on a buzzing fly. Or something.
Oh yes - do go see it - Bekmambetov really knows how to control a camera and edit table.
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| 12 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Airbolt |
Posted - 12/24/2008 : 01:59:08
In another universe.
A society of ancient plumbers uses harsh language and blocks the drains of those it has targetted. Who chooses the targets? The Toilet Roll of Fate - thats who! At first they got to harassing everyone with the name Charmin but soon worked out that they had to count the sheets, divide by 27, take away the shorts size of Jon Bon Jovi and then add three. Solely manned by hotties in tank tops, surly musclemen and the odd Brit paying for his double glazing, the ancient order works out of whatever east european location is the cheapest. Now , a new hero emerges as a RADA trained Brit puts on an accent, forgets he once played a corpse in Casualty and looks forward to oiled up babes and guns, lots of guns. |
| MisterBadIdea |
Posted - 09/02/2008 : 05:58:53
I wanted to mention, even though I hated the movie, I LOOOOVE Morgan Freeman as a bad guy; he should do it more often. Loved him in Lucky Number Slevin. |
| damalc |
Posted - 08/29/2008 : 23:01:19
i never thought i'd see a film that rips off "Equilibrium" (among others) because ... well ... "Equilibrium" ripped off maybe a dozen movies. "Wanted" did it.
overall, a rushed mess, though entertaining, worth seeing at the 2nd run theater.
by the time the train scene happened, i had the same question everybody did about Hancock: are these guys worth the trouble? one of their philosophies was to kill one so a thousand live later, but what good is that if they kill a thousand trying to kill one?
every single scene felt rushed, like it could have been maybe 3 feature films, or a tv miniseries. SPOILER(?): what did it take, 2 minutes of screen time, for Wesley the accountant to change his mind about being a cold-blooded killer?
from the trailers, it was clear that "Wanted" was going to be OTT, but i submit that it was over-the-over-the-top. SPOILER(?) how many times did we need to see bullets colliding in mid-air in slo-mo? the first time it was like hearing a great joke, the second, hearing the great joke again, the third, somebody explaining the great joke. OK, I GET IT.
and Wesley had to be the whiniest lead since Luke Skywalker ("But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!").
not terribly original, but fun, and it showed Angelina's butt and Morgan Freeman said "motherfucker."
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| damalc |
Posted - 08/29/2008 : 23:00:53
space holder |
| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 08/02/2008 : 02:05:36
Yup, all the above holes are there, and more. However, the binary loom of fate is so ridiculous that I enjoyed it, including the fact that it is obviously not old enough to be the original one. When does it get replaced? Does Fate decide when and which one is the replacement, or does the Fraternity (what an original name  ) tell it which one to start communicating through? 
The idea that a train driver would just pull the brake in any emergency, no matter if this would be the worst possible course of action, is also rather convenient. |
| benj clews |
Posted - 07/09/2008 : 23:45:32
I don't know what to say... I really loved this film. Sure it's OTT and The Matrix re-writ but unlike Shoot 'Em Up, I actually found the action sequences thrilling.
I'll attempt to answer a few of the questions about things that the film did offer answers on...
quote:
why could the assassin at the beginning jump so far?
Just like Wesley, the assassin had the ability to increase his heart rate something like 10 times that of the average human, also upping his adrenalin level and giving himself a temporary increase in strength and speed. Much like these stories of rescuers being able to lift heavy objects in extreme circumstances like car crashes.
quote:
How do they curve bullets?
I guess it's the same principle as throwing a curve ball in baseball or bowling. Obviously it'd be impossible in real life to have the speed of reaction to be able to do it though. Unless perhaps you could increase your adrenaline levels beyond that of the average human.
quote:
How do they rollover cars magically?
None of it was magical- the physics, though OTT again, did at least make some kind of sense to me. (By this, I mean nothing akin to stopping in mid-air and travelling the opposite direction happened). You slam a vehicle at speed sideways into another, then it's feasible it could flip over that vehicle sideways. Or pop one vehicle on it's back wheels whilst hitting another object not unlike a ramp, but only on one side would spin it sideways.
quote:
Why did fate want them dead at the end?
It didn't suddenly want them dead at the end, their names had come up previously but Morgan Freeman had withheld that information. |
| MisterBadIdea |
Posted - 07/09/2008 : 20:22:19
quote:
why could the assassin at the beginning jump so far?
How do they curve bullets?
How do they rollover cars magically?
Man, that's another thing I hated, the completely nebulous powers. Apparently Wesley was granted the superpower of Look What I Can Do. |
| Mr Savoir Faire |
Posted - 07/09/2008 : 19:50:35
what a piece of shit! Do not buy popcorn when you see this film. You will throw it at the screen. (Spoilers follow)
This film has great potential and some great shots (most notably the keyboard smack), but it is wasted. This film doesn't make any sense.
Here's a few unanswered questions:
why could the assassin at the beginning jump so far?
How do they curve bullets?
How do they rollover cars magically?
why is a thousand-year-old society based in Chicago?
Of all the one thousand rats, not one went under the truck or stayed in it?
In one scene, Angelina has a branded neck, and in all others, she doesn't. Why not? Also, wouldn't the healing bath hide it forever?
Why are there so many dead pigs in a textile factory?
Why did fate want them dead at the end?
This screenplay is absolutely horrible. It sounds like it's written by a middle schooler. It also steals lines, nearly verbatim from fight club and the matrix. There's also many, many torture scenes in this film for no reason.
This is the type of film that shoot em up(awesome film!) is a parody of, but even SeU isn't this over-the-top AND it came out 2 years ago.
FWFR rating: 2 out of 10. |
| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 07/05/2008 : 09:05:28
quote:
Originally posted by turrell
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
Why Chicago?
Because its the best damn city in the world.
Yes, that's what Al Capone thought, as well as many others. It is a bit of a cliche, actually. Chicago=American city riddled with crime and big bad guys. Doesn't matter that in reality, Chicago doesn't even get into the top 25 list of most dangerous US cities.
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| turrell |
Posted - 07/05/2008 : 02:08:21
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
Why Chicago?
Because its the best damn city in the world. |
| Ali |
Posted - 07/04/2008 : 14:55:13
quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea
At the end of the movie, McAvoy looks you in the eye and says "I just saved the world. What have YOU done today?" Well, I walked around with the satisfaction that I'm not a retarded sociopath, so fuck off.
Brilliant.
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| MisterBadIdea |
Posted - 07/04/2008 : 14:50:31
It had its moments, but for the most part, I really hated this one. It's really quite juvenile and ugly, some angsty 13-year-old's wish-fulfillment fantasy about fucking hot chicks, humiliating their enemies and beating up everyone they hate. And of course, for reasons well explained above, it makes no fucking sense. THE LOOM OF FATE. IT SPEAKS IN BINARY. NO ONE QUESTIONS THE LOOM OF FATE. And of course there's how it rips off one of the most famous plot twists in history (even giving away which movie it's from would be too much).
At the end of the movie, McAvoy looks you in the eye and says, "What the fuck have YOU done lately?" Well, I walked around with the satisfaction that I'm not a retarded sociopath, so fuck off. |
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