Movies/Entertainment,  Off the Shelf

Off the Shelf…’Wanted’

Last night I watched Wanted and I forgot how much fun that movie was.  Talk about a kick-ass movie that defies physics. This beyond cool movie was a “knock your socks off” actioner and if you blinked even once during the last 15 minutes then you probably missed a lot. Sure it was totally unbelievable but I’d equate it to Equilibrium with its imaginative and borderline genius gun fight sequences. A gun that can shoot around corners…wow, using a dead guy to ‘bullet proof vest’…cool idea (although a little bit of an Arnold rip-off). This movie was brainless fun but at the same time, simply flat-out exciting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDvP6OpRVu4

It was an impressive mix of old and new actors who delivered very smoothly serious performances while having just a few smiles in their delivery. A bit of a newcomer to the seasoned cast, I was amazed at how James McAvoy was able to completely hide his thick accent after seeing him in The Last King of Scotland and Atonement. I thought he was a gifted actor in those films and even though this movie didn’t seem like a challenging role, he was convincing none-the-less.  His portrayal of lowly cubicle worker who basically becomes “Neo” was like watching Office Space’s Michael Bolton turn into Jason Bourne. Either way, since most of us have jobs that suck, there was enough relateablilty to get you behind Wesley as he progressed.

One thing I can’t figure out, although I have some idea, is why some of the characters wore the same exact outfit throughout the whole movie.  His best friend Barry and people at his office had very similar outfits. Over the course of the movie, nearly 6 weeks had passed since Wesley started training and still The Repairman and The Butcher wore the same damn outfit. I guess that since this movie is an adaptation of a graphic novel, just like in the comic everyone wears the same outfit.

I don’t think anyone watching this would walk away from the opportunity Wesley got had they been given the same option. Although joining a league of legendary hitmen is just as unlikey as the action depicted in the film, I bet people would pay to be able to quit their jobs as cool and slick as Welsey quit his. That said, it’s still neat to dream huh? Especially about a day when characters like Fox and Sloan to the rescue (which is surprisingly like The Matrix actually).

This film isn’t the greatest action movie ever or do I label it a “must own”, but I think it should be considered industry standard for new age action. More inventive than Leon, bigger explosions than The Rock, Wanted (though wildly outrageous) did not disappoint and the director Timur Bekmambetov could teach Michael Bay and Luc Besson a few things about over-the-top action. Lastly, I heard whispers that they were planning a sequel…I don’t know how but then again I said that about Ocean’s 11, and Pitch Black and sure enough Hollywood came up with some crap that passed as a sequel. Let’s hope if this turns out to be true its odds are better.

G-S-T Ruling – 3.5/5

G-S-T Seal of Approval – GRANTED

16 Comments

  • Castor

    A really fun movie in retrospect, I liked it off the movie theater but thought it was just a popcorn flick with some weird action scenes. I need to see this again someday 🙂

    • Marc

      This is definitely your Saturday afternoon or a Sunday morning flick. It’s a “Check your brain” film but enjoyable and it’s one of those movies that at the end of it you’re like “Hell Yeah!” and then you go off to do something more memorable:)

  • Olive

    Thought this was a fun film too and wasn’t expecting it to be that entertaining. I might watch it again actually, as I watched it in a cinema in Malaysia, and it was hard to follow. All the swearing was bleeped out, which is like half the film!

    • Marc

      Thats a Pity Olive…that fact alone sounds like it killed Wesley’s final “send off” line in the movie:(
      I wonder, did they also bleep, or blur rather, the keyboard scene? Since that sequence spelled a profanity:P

  • Addicted toFIlms

    Wanted the movie has been pretty much ridiculed mostly because if its “loom of fate” plot and how a lot of the story deviates from that in the comic…I wouldn’t know because I haven’t read it. But I greatly enjoyed the movie…and its crazy action scenes…what can I say…its just a whole lot of fun.

    • Marc

      Wanted is a solid “shoot em up” film if you want non stop action…that and theres the film aptly named Shoot Em Up also:)

      Yeah, I was never that fond of the loom of fate, but seeing it blown to smithereens at the end made it all ok:) Kinda makes you tolerate something knowing its demise is imminent. I just wish the same thing happened to JarJar:P

  • Ross McG

    Kaiderman.. always getting distracted by butts.
    as Addicted To Films says, the loom of fate is ridiculous but somehow i managed to enjoy this