Initial Reaction: "Bleh...I feel used..."...Used in the sense that Wanted took advantage of my enjoyment of action films. I didn't experience an action-packed, edge-of-my seat thrill ride with cool new sequences and moves. I felt I had been marketed a cheap copy of films that have actually been successful in this genre. It's one of many, and frankly I'm getting sick of it. Allow me to elaborate.
When the film opens, James McAvoy is Wesley Gibson, an account manager for company X. He's living in a crappy apartment with a girlfriend who's sleeping with his best friend, and he suffers from anxiety attacks for which he takes medication. He can't stand his life, and feels completely numb to everything around him. But something exciting is in store for Mr. Gibson. (Literally...it happens in a store.)
Enter Ms. Jolie as Fox (ha, ha) to tell Wesley that his father was one of a league of assassins, one of the greatest that ever lived. He had just been killed by a rogue assassin who--in the same scene--shows up and begins trading gunfire as Fox tries to protect Wesley. She brings him to meet their leader, Sloan (Morgan Freeman) who explains that Wesley's fate is to become one of them and to kill his father's murderer. Appropriately, the wimpy Wesley is freaked out beyond belief and runs away. But as I'm sure you can guess, he finds his way back to the group after going back to his normal life and realizing he can't go through with it anymore.
This was one of the first problems I had with Wanted. Gibson goes from being a sad, boring account manager to a giddy killer. Literally in hours. With the first glimpse of the assassin gang and the traumatizing circumstance of shooting and being shot at, he's terrified and disbelieving. Probably a good response. Then the next morning, he suddenly finds some strength to tell the people around him to f*ck off, and now becoming a killer is an enticing, satisfying option. Oh, I can see that...the last time I was in a shoot-out and captured by an assassin gang, my next day at work was extremely dissatisfying.
Please.
Next is the "Becoming an Assassin 101" part of the film. He's beaten, cut up, interrogated, and through these experiences learns valuable lessons such as fighting atop a moving train, catching a spindle, and the oh-so-cool "curving a bullet." This part is decent enough, but aside from the interesting bullet thing, just an excuse for some more violence.
And of course, our dear sweet Wesley becomes sufficiently bad-ass. He's given his first assignments and starts to live the life of a true assassin. The best part of the film in my opinion is where the plot decides to go in the second half of the film. We see a little more realness in the struggle of killing people he doesn't even know, and there's a decent plot hitch that made me more interested in the ending. The ending itself was headed in a good direction, I think, but ended up shooting itself in the foot.
Lastly, my least favorite part of the film: the moral of the story. Or rather, the anti-moral. **slight spoiler** It offers a rallying cry to its viewers to do something with their lives. But, wait...wasn't this about assassins? Are you telling me to improve my quality of life by committing murder? REALLY?? And I thought I was living a good life by NOT participating in such things. Guess I was misled. I don't care if this was only meant as a joke, because then it's even worse; it makes the lead character and practically the entire film just that: a joke.
Violence has become sort of pornographic, taking center stage as filmmakers think of creative ways to dispose of people and spatter blood across the screen. This is a trend that is turning me off to action films. I'm not so "prudish" that I can't stand any killing or fighting, I think that physical conflict and force is something that occurs naturally in the world and, while I don't necessarily condone it, can appreciate the art of fighting and the apparent justice of "killing the bad guy." But to derive pleasure from torturing and killing people is a truly disturbing place, and I think that as time goes by we get closer and closer to that end.
Rating: -6
With adequate acting, action-packed (though somewhat recycled) fighting sequences and an intriguing plot, Wanted has a lot going for it. I can see how many people liked it. But everything else drags it way down. I didn't buy Gibson's character or motivations, and the gratuitous violence and pathetic message were terrible. Not just any action-packed bloodbath will do anymore, people. In my book, this junk is just plain NOT wanted.
4 comments:
This story lost a LOT in translation. In the comic from which it's adapted, the fraternity is a league of super-villains who had wiped out all the heroes, not assassins. There were analogues of existing characters: Fox was a Catwoman stand-in, Sloan is basically Lex Luthor, and there are ersatz versions of the Toyman, Bizarro, Clayface, etc. Making them all assassins homogenizes the characters. The problem with the story is that it's completely and utterly amoral......trying to justify what they do with the whole "Loom of Fate" is a fundamental story change that feels really forced....I'd rather they had not filmed the story at all rather than trying to shoehorn some false morality onto it.
At least the factory run at the end was pretty cool. But, Angelina Jolie was not.....
this is about what i was expecting from this film. it seems somewhat above James McAvoy, who has put in very good performances in the last 3 things i saw him in (Atonement, Last King of Scotland, Lion, Witch and Wardrobe). do you think his casting was quite right for this role? but the greatest apparent sin of this movie is the presence of Angelina Jolie, in yet another role where she is nothing more than a piece of ass that can kill you with her pinkie (i cite the Tomb Raider movies). Wanted doesn't look like it even bothers giving her a personality or anything.
it's interesting what you said about violence becoming pornographic. movies like Hostel 34 and Saw CXXXVII have gotten more and more extreme, and maybe they cater to the same human drive that fuels the sex porn industry: that need to just see a little more, till the "little more" becomes "a LOT more." the difference between hardcore sex and hardcore violence is that with sex, there is a separate industry that minors don't (or are supposed to) have access to. with violence, all the minor has to do is stay up and watch prime time TV. it's more readily available.
what do you guys think?
YRF - I hadn't a clue about the comic, I just reviewed this as a film. The factory part at the ending wasn't bad, except for the portrayed cruelty to rats. ;)
Regarding AJ, she was exactly what she tends to be in these action movies, and PM's description of that is quite fitting. I'm not sure about McAvoy. I feel as though he could have done a good job with the character under the right direction. The performances of his I've seen him turn in have been impressive, but then again, maybe action isn't his bag. Actually, I think he could do crazed villain very well if he put his mind to it.
Violence: This worries me more and more as time goes on. The things that people see on screen--the things they are desensitized to are not natural. I've been struggling with this myself because I do like action, but some of it I hate. I've realized the following: I don't mind melee or martial arts, but I do mind gruesome, grisly acts, and guns (except for in war movies where it's historical), M&M's and the three G's, if you will.
Anyway, I think you're right, PM: pornography is kept from minors but violence is not, and considering how things are getting, it makes me nervous.
Thanks for relieving me of watching this one.
With regards to the porn debate, I'm annoyed with what seem to pass under the banner of porn and what doesn't. First of all, I think violence is much worse than sex (and I'm talking about violence of the type specified by WLC).
Second, by my book you don't need to see "skin" or "penetrations" for material to be labelled as porn; a lot of it is to do with the way the material is presented. Thus Tarantino's depiction of women getting killed by a car in Death Proof is porn by my book, but more importantly a lot of the magazine ads we take for granted are porn just the same. Kids are exposed to it with absolutely no barriers, and you can see it gets to them.
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