I have been requested to write the occasional film review, so here we go. (You can thank Laura DiMichelle-Ross) Ah, reminds me of my days at the Western Herald.
WANTED [Directed by Timur Bekmambetov. Starring: James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Common, and Angelina Jolie]
6 out of 10
RATED: R for Intense, Graphic Violence, Profanity, and Brief Nudity.
If you are looking for a summer-action-popcorn-extravaganza-thrill ride this is it. If you are looking for a little logic and coherence in your summer-action-popcorn-extravaganza-thrill ride than you may want to skip this melee of bullets, fast cars, stabbings, and otherwise orchestrated mayhem.
Ludicrous comes to mind (and I'm not taking rap here). Granted the whole enterprise is based on a comic book so suspending your disbelief is a prerequisite. I won't give much away but here is the gist of the film, James McAvoy plays an accountant whose pathetic life is, well, pathetic in every shape and form. The film plays all of this very cynically, think The Office as written by 20-something bitter interns at the New Republic. He finds out he really has a genetically inherent gift to be a world-class assassin. It doesn't take long before he's recruited by The Fraternity. [Thousand year-old assassin guild started by medieval weavers, believe me I am not making this up]. They are commanded to keep order in this world by occasionally bumping off bad people. And they get their kill orders from a giant mystical LOOM. Yes, a LOOM.
It isn't quite as stupid as it sounds, but it is very odd. (No, actually it is as stupid as it sounds) McAvoy goes through the usual stages: training, disillusion, more training, betrayal, twists, turns, numerous wounds, more training, revenging father, etc. The movie has it all. There are some amazing action set-pieces in the film so I will give it that. It wants to be as ground-breaking as the Matrix, but the film is limited in its scope.
As for the cast, Jolie is perfect at playing the bad-ass vixen so she's enjoyable. McAvoy does a fine job as well as the American slacker, though his accent bothered me a bit since I've only seen him in British films up to this point. Freeman clearly did this film for the check, but he's game. Overall, if you have a free afternoon and you like the action genre you have some fun. Katie actually enjoyed it much more than I did.
You need to sit listening to the silence
2 days ago
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2 comments:
Thanks for that Mark! Although I was hoping for a better review to convince Adam to go see it with me. I just care about James McAvoy, hmmmm....nice Scottish boys are always good....
I give it a seven. I agree with your analysis in the most part. There were way too many stupid, silly and cheesy bits, and in such an unnecessary way. The movie had so much potential to be brilliant and completely lost it. I increased my rating though because the action scenes, although silly at times, gave me hope of what movies will be in the future. Much like Terminator 2, when the T1000 morphed in and out of a silver blob, it made me think that movie making was getting more and more exciting. I didn’t see Speed Racer, but I imagine my reaction would be similar. Ahh..now I’m reminded of Western Herald days.
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