 |
|
|
WANTED
(*½) |
|
|
Movie Review by:
Jim "Good Old JR" Rutkowski
Directed by:
Timur Bekmambetov
Written by:
Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, Chris Morgan
Starring:
James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie
Running time:
108 minutes
Released:
06/27/08
Rated R
for strong bloody violence
throughout, pervasive language and some sexuality. |
|
"...there is just nothing exciting about Wanted even in a slapdash style
straight up to one of the most laughable action finales in recent memory"
|
|
|
Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is your
atypical world’s most boring human; so boring that he can’t even
find one listing of himself on Google. An office job he hates, an
overweight boss he can’t stand and a girlfriend cheating on him with
his best friend. Dude has to catch a break sometime, right? That’s
when Fox (Angelina Jolie) finds Wesley at the local pharmacy and
nabs him just as an assassin named Cross (Thomas Kretschmann) has
them in his sights. After a gravity-and-physics-defying chase
through the streets of Chicago, Wesley is introduced to an
underground group known as the Fraternity. For centuries this group
of top gunsmiths have banded together to rid the world of scum
destined for bad things.
After a little reluctance to accept his birthright (it seems
Wesley’s father was a former member), he takes charge and goes
headlong into training that involves beatings, knife training and
the coup de grace, a technique that allows shooters to curve their
bullets. Gene Simmons did something similar using guidance systems
in Runaway. These experts simply wave their arms in a semi-circle.
See, they aren’t just chosen for their ability to take a beating,
guys like Wesley can adjust their heart rate to slow down time and
give them a clearer view of a world gone out of control. Nifty
metaphor, eh? Just made it up cause that’s never what Wanted is
indicative of.
The film is based upon the comic book miniseries by Mark Millar,
although even “loosely based” is still a stretch. Fans intrigued by
the concept of villainous assassins taking on the world’s
superheroes should be outraged that its been turned into little more
than a lame Matrix clone. And honestly, the Matrix series is already
fairly lame. Especially the two sequels. But I'm not reviewing those
here. What else do you call a premise where a bored white guy in a
monotonous day job is approached by a hot female with weapons skills
and mentored by an African-American Oscar nominee? Better question –
how do you take seriously a film where the almighty presence of the
universe’s elders is represented by a machine known as The Loom of
Fate?
The answer is – you don’t. You just go along with the mayhem and
hope for an entertaining ride with enough moments to make you forget
that’s all it is or that you’re watching a story where the deity
comes from a rejected underwear ad. Wanted doesn’t even get the sexy
right, playing down the tension between a bony Jolie and a tooly
McAvoy as if a couple adrenaline junkies couldn’t use a little
stress release every now and then. Sad that the male fantasy with
firing guns has usurped shooting practice of another kind. Be that
as it may, Wanted wears a flashing “I’m so cool” marquee on its
sleeve with each successive (and excessive) action sequence but
ignores its own established laws or just hopes that we’ve ignored
them in the process.
Wesley and his Fraternal ilk have what are akin to anxiety attacks.
When controlled their body pressure stiffens to the point where the
world goes in slow motion from their perspective. Make a note of
that – THEIR perspective. They can get a better read on their
target, stop a loom in mid-thread, maybe even dodge a bullet if need
be. You know, very Matrix-y. This doesn’t mean that the physical
world itself slows down around them. While I’m happy to go along
with someone sliding along the hood of a speeding car while firing
upon their target, the movie continues to try to sell us as if they
have control over the cars themselves; jumping them across other
cars and into trains with absolute precision and, in an opening
scene, run like the wind and across buildings. Why does this bother
me so much when I have gallantly praised filmmakers like Woo, Robert
Rodriguez and James Cameron for such feats in the past? Simple,
because craftsmanship is the great equalizer and director Timbor (Nightwatch,
Daywatch) Bekmambetov simply has none. Overreaching on special
effects and choking on over-editing, there is just nothing exciting
about Wanted even in a slapdash style straight up to one of the most
laughable action finales in recent memory. Seriously, if you’re not
enjoying a hero clipping numerous henchman through the bullet-ridden
skull of his beaten down master, the onus is on the filmmaker.
Stripping out the pastiche of superhero caricatures being hunted
down and eliminated takes about all of the thunder out of Wanted’s
potential uniqueness to the genre, but not all of its intrigue.
While absorbed into greater thought in Spielberg’s Minority Report
(and even Bill Paxton’s Frailty), the idea of guardians taking
otherworldly advice to snuff out evil before they can break bad
again (or for the first time) is a fascinating concept that
screenwriters Michael Brandt & Derek Haas (2 Fast 2 Furious, 3:10 To
Yuma) utilize in a few cliched moments of guilt but never open up,
especially after the obvious late-inning twist (no surprise to the
comic readers) makes you wonder just how bad the victims were and
how the organization remains secret if their services are being
hired out for profit. Wanted is worse than brainless, it’s
brain-dead. It’s action scenes reflect the qualities of an ADD
patient with snow blindness and only Jolie’s icy, smirking stare
demands enough promise for us to stay with it through the next
ineptly staged or written scene. When we, the audience, are
confronted directly at the end and asked “what the f*** have you
done lately?” at least you can readily answer, “well, I sure as f***
didn’t make a film as crappy as Wanted.”
|
|
|
|
WANTED © 2008
Kickstart Productions, Marc Platt Productions, Top Cow
Entertainment
All Rights Reserved
Review © 2008 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
|
|
|
OTHER REVIEWS... |
|
RASSLIN' REVIEW |
|
 |
|
Pay Per
Views and House Shows, we layeth the Smaketh- Down on
both! |
|
|
|
KIDS REVIEWS |
|
 |
|
Dozen's of kid
friendly titles arrive every week and we review the one that
stands out. |
|
|
|
YOUR HEADS UP |
|
 |
|
100's of new
comics ship every week, we give you a HEADS UP on them!
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
