Wanted
Year: 2008
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Starring: James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Thomas Kretschmann, Common
Distributor: Universal Pictures
MPAA: Rated R
Wanted is a movie that I have been craving to see. Ever since that first teaser for the movie, I was stoked for it. You know their are some trailers that you can just tell if the movie is going to be good or not, by what you see in the trailer. There are some that can be misleading, but then some are accurate. This was the one that was accurate. After awhile, Universal released a couple more trailers and the film kept looking more and more interesting. The Matrix type style of fighting mixed with tons of action just made me want to melt in excitement. Its been awhile since The Matrix impressed people with its high technology of fighting and slow motion scenes. I was hoping that Wanted comes and keeps that idea still fresh while creating new ones.
Plot Outline:
Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is an office worker who does not know how to stand up for himself. Wesley's life just seems to be a complete waste, until one night a mysterious woman named Fox (Angelina Jolie) rescues him from an assassin. Fox takes Wesley back to meet her leader, and here Wesley learns that she is a member of a secret Fraternity of Assassins. At the Fraternity's headquarters, Wesley is told that he possesses all of the powers to be in the Fraternity and is convinced by the Fraternity's leader Sloan (Morgan Freeman), to become an assassin. Once Wesley begins his assassin training, he learns that his father was an assassin as well, and that he was killed by the rogue assassin Cross (Thomas Kretschmann). Upon learning this Wesley begins to train harder in order to avenge his father.
Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is an office worker who does not know how to stand up for himself. Wesley's life just seems to be a complete waste, until one night a mysterious woman named Fox (Angelina Jolie) rescues him from an assassin. Fox takes Wesley back to meet her leader, and here Wesley learns that she is a member of a secret Fraternity of Assassins. At the Fraternity's headquarters, Wesley is told that he possesses all of the powers to be in the Fraternity and is convinced by the Fraternity's leader Sloan (Morgan Freeman), to become an assassin. Once Wesley begins his assassin training, he learns that his father was an assassin as well, and that he was killed by the rogue assassin Cross (Thomas Kretschmann). Upon learning this Wesley begins to train harder in order to avenge his father.
Plot: 
Wanted is surprisingly deep and good. The movie is loosely based on the comics "Wanted" by author Mark Millar. I searched online to compare the movie to the comics. While the movie does a good job on what made the comics so good, it also changes a few things. I don't want to discuss this when people can search online for comparisons. As for the story, I really enjoyed it. There are many scenes that make you think "oh my god, that was cool" and these are really fun to see. The film starts out with a guy jumping through a building and you might laugh alittle after seeing this, but what this does is give you the feel of the movie. It makes you a custom to the high flying stunts, by letting you witness one in the beginning. You might think some of the scenes can be alittle over the top, but so what. This is based on a comic and shouldn't be taken seriously just like Spider-Man. The plot does drag alittle and the story could have been explained alittle more clearly in a sense that the whole audience can understand, but these little hiccups get overshadowed by the action. The movie also comes with a twist ending that will surprise people who haven't read the comics. I haven't had this much fun watching a movie like this since The Matrix days.
Wanted is surprisingly deep and good. The movie is loosely based on the comics "Wanted" by author Mark Millar. I searched online to compare the movie to the comics. While the movie does a good job on what made the comics so good, it also changes a few things. I don't want to discuss this when people can search online for comparisons. As for the story, I really enjoyed it. There are many scenes that make you think "oh my god, that was cool" and these are really fun to see. The film starts out with a guy jumping through a building and you might laugh alittle after seeing this, but what this does is give you the feel of the movie. It makes you a custom to the high flying stunts, by letting you witness one in the beginning. You might think some of the scenes can be alittle over the top, but so what. This is based on a comic and shouldn't be taken seriously just like Spider-Man. The plot does drag alittle and the story could have been explained alittle more clearly in a sense that the whole audience can understand, but these little hiccups get overshadowed by the action. The movie also comes with a twist ending that will surprise people who haven't read the comics. I haven't had this much fun watching a movie like this since The Matrix days.
Cast: 
The cast for Wanted works really good. James McAvoy plays as Wesley Gibson and he does a great job in his role. McAvoy has done movies like The Last King of Scotland and Atonement in the past so its really nice to see him doing an action packed movie like this. I really enjoyed his work here and wouldn't replace him for anybody. Angelina Jolie plays as Fox and shes just plain good. Shes very sexy in her role and has that right charm of playing someone as rough as Fox. She also looks good next to McAvoy. Morgan Freeman plays as Sloan and hes also good. His character seems to match his voice and charisma perfectly. I couldn't find anything bad about Freeman in this movie. Thomas Kretschmann plays as Cross, but he doesn't really say much in the movie even though hes in it for like the first half and alittle bit of the second. Still, his certain look and natural voice makes him a good choice to be playing Cross.
The cast for Wanted works really good. James McAvoy plays as Wesley Gibson and he does a great job in his role. McAvoy has done movies like The Last King of Scotland and Atonement in the past so its really nice to see him doing an action packed movie like this. I really enjoyed his work here and wouldn't replace him for anybody. Angelina Jolie plays as Fox and shes just plain good. Shes very sexy in her role and has that right charm of playing someone as rough as Fox. She also looks good next to McAvoy. Morgan Freeman plays as Sloan and hes also good. His character seems to match his voice and charisma perfectly. I couldn't find anything bad about Freeman in this movie. Thomas Kretschmann plays as Cross, but he doesn't really say much in the movie even though hes in it for like the first half and alittle bit of the second. Still, his certain look and natural voice makes him a good choice to be playing Cross.
Picture: 
The visual look of Wanted is very straight forward. The movie doesn't feature so many CGI effects like Transformers, but it does have enough to make the action surreal. The movies source is in good shape with only a few grain in some scenes. Colors don't tend to have that vibrancy to them, but are still good. The film has many scenes during the night making the colors seem muted and dark. Blacks are nice and inky. Detail is also good, but not great. Close up shots have good detail in them and reveal alot. They aren't up to the top like I might have wanted, but they still look good none the less. The CGI in the movie seems pretty right and is only used in scenes that really require it. The animations look precise and seem to act like they should. This isn't a movie that's going to blow you away, but it still looks pretty great.
The visual look of Wanted is very straight forward. The movie doesn't feature so many CGI effects like Transformers, but it does have enough to make the action surreal. The movies source is in good shape with only a few grain in some scenes. Colors don't tend to have that vibrancy to them, but are still good. The film has many scenes during the night making the colors seem muted and dark. Blacks are nice and inky. Detail is also good, but not great. Close up shots have good detail in them and reveal alot. They aren't up to the top like I might have wanted, but they still look good none the less. The CGI in the movie seems pretty right and is only used in scenes that really require it. The animations look precise and seem to act like they should. This isn't a movie that's going to blow you away, but it still looks pretty great.
Sound: 
The sound design in this film is bombastic. The score is composed by mastermind Danny Elfman who also scored the first two Batman films. His score for this movie is done really well and the music just goes well with the movies theme which is to be baddass. Not only that, but the bass is also done with great attention towards it. The action scenes just explode with thundering bass. There even their when McAvoy's character is having stress attacks. The last 30 mins of the movie is just roaring with cleaver sound that the theater was shaking. This easily marks as demo material and is something I would love to hear with loss less sound. Dialogues are clean and clear to the point where you can hear everything everyone is saying.
The sound design in this film is bombastic. The score is composed by mastermind Danny Elfman who also scored the first two Batman films. His score for this movie is done really well and the music just goes well with the movies theme which is to be baddass. Not only that, but the bass is also done with great attention towards it. The action scenes just explode with thundering bass. There even their when McAvoy's character is having stress attacks. The last 30 mins of the movie is just roaring with cleaver sound that the theater was shaking. This easily marks as demo material and is something I would love to hear with loss less sound. Dialogues are clean and clear to the point where you can hear everything everyone is saying.
Conclusion:
Wanted is a mindless action packed experience. It sets itself to be just baddass and in many ways, it does. The story is based on Miller's Wanted comic and it does a good job of capturing most of his essence from that comic. Its not exactly the same as the comic, but it comes close. The cast is good and their talents really show. I thought everyone gave a good performances that should let the audience down. The visual look of the move is clean and sharp. Its not the best looking movie ever, but its still a good looking movie. The soundtrack is filled with many dazzling bass. Its loud and definitely demo worthy in my opinion. I really enjoyed Wanted and thought it was entertaining. The movie is fun and full of crazy moments. I would recommend this to people who love action movies or just looking for a movie that's going to be worth your theater money.
Grade: B-
Wanted is a mindless action packed experience. It sets itself to be just baddass and in many ways, it does. The story is based on Miller's Wanted comic and it does a good job of capturing most of his essence from that comic. Its not exactly the same as the comic, but it comes close. The cast is good and their talents really show. I thought everyone gave a good performances that should let the audience down. The visual look of the move is clean and sharp. Its not the best looking movie ever, but its still a good looking movie. The soundtrack is filled with many dazzling bass. Its loud and definitely demo worthy in my opinion. I really enjoyed Wanted and thought it was entertaining. The movie is fun and full of crazy moments. I would recommend this to people who love action movies or just looking for a movie that's going to be worth your theater money.
Grade: B-
1 comment:
I loved this movie. It was really fun. Nice review, I like how you made a section for each part.
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