I saw WANTED, and I wonder if I saw the same movie that everybody else did.
This seems to be the summer of me being less impressed with comic book adaptation movies than everybody else, who seemed to love them. (The only other comic book movie I've seen thus far this summer is THE DARK KNIGHT. Compared to wanted the internet love hype machine went apeshit over TDK. Another movie I enjoyed quite a bit, but didn't soil my drawers over like most people.)
When WANTED came out, praise was flying all over the internet. I wasn't sure what to think, since from what I read it didn't sound much like the comic at all. Finally I got around to seeing it, weeks after the rest of the planet. Now, I can say that I didn't hate WANTED. I liked it. It's not a bad movie. However, unlike most of the reviews I read from other internet nerds, I didn't love it.
This seems to be the summer of me being less impressed with comic book adaptation movies than everybody else, who seemed to love them. (The only other comic book movie I've seen thus far this summer is THE DARK KNIGHT. Compared to wanted the internet love hype machine went apeshit over TDK. Another movie I enjoyed quite a bit, but didn't soil my drawers over like most people.)
When WANTED came out, praise was flying all over the internet. I wasn't sure what to think, since from what I read it didn't sound much like the comic at all. Finally I got around to seeing it, weeks after the rest of the planet. Now, I can say that I didn't hate WANTED. I liked it. It's not a bad movie. However, unlike most of the reviews I read from other internet nerds, I didn't love it.
I was, for the most part, able to enjoy it for what it is. A big dumb action movie with ridiculously unrealistic violence. C'mon, even the comic didn't try to sell people on the idea of curving a bullet shot. I'm talking about the same comic that had a shit monster composed out of the shit of the 666 most evil people in history. (I guess that's to differentiate it from the shit monster in DOGMA.)
In fact, to enjoy the movie, it's best to just forget about the comic book altogether. Some character names, and most of the beginning aside, it's an entirely different beast. If they changed the name of the flick and the character names, nobody would ever think the movie was an adaptation.
Even without having read the comic, anybody who's seen or read enough fiction could see the movie's two twists coming from a mile away. I can't fault the movie too much for that though, since there's very little in movies or TV plots that surprises me these days. Then again, this is hardly a movie where plot is the main concern. This is an, "Oh shit! Did you see him shooting that guy from the roof of a movie train?!?" movie.
It was a bit jarring for me to see Steve from SHAMELESS speaking with an American accent and playing a role that was clearly originally designed for Eminem. That's probably selling James McAvoy short. He does a good job in the movie, but it's just an over the top action flick. Nothing that requires the acting skill of something like THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND. Nobody needs to really bring their A-game to this one.
I might have to turn in my man-card, but I'm just not that into Angelia Jolie. On a certain level, an intellectual level, I get why so many people find her hot. She just doesn't do much of anything for me. I think I figured out why. Maybe it's just me, but her face just resembles her father, Jon Voight, too much. Plus her whole persona just rubs me the wrong way.
I will say, one highlight of the movie was hearing Morgan Freeman say "motherfucker". I can't recall ever hearing him swear in any of the dozens of movies I've seen him in. Certainly, this is the first time I've ever heard him drop an f-bomb. So that got a good laugh out of both me and my brother. Other than that, I felt he was put to better use as an actor over in THE DARK KNIGHT.
I knew from various reviews, not to expect the comic. That doesn't mean that I can't make some comparisons.
Instead of super villains who conquered the wold by killing off all of the super heroes and making people forget them, we get assassins. Considering what good box office super hero movies do, I don't know why the change was made. I guess it could be because WANTED is essentially a recycled pitch for a DC's Secret Society of Super Villains story. In the comic you can even figure out who certain characters are supposed to be. (Batman, Robin, Catwoman, etc.) Or it's typical Hollywood thinking that guns and explosions are enough.
The film Wesley is far less morally reprehensible than comic Wesley. Which, at least for me, makes comic Wesley and his transformation from wimp to amoral killer far more interesting. I suppose you can't have the main character in your movie raping, killing random people, shooting up an entire police station full of cops for the hell of it, and have mainstream audiences okay with it. All of the killings in the movie are presented as justified and for a good cause, even the ones that are revealed to be not what they seemed don't sound as horrible as the main character shooting his neighbor in the face for being too cheerful.
I understand why they couldn't make a faithful adaptation. It's still a pretty good movie for what it is. It's definitely not some sort of "you'll joyously soak the seats and people in front of you in the theater with your man chowder" awesome movie that some people made it out to be. I think the comic was a lot more entertaining and clever.
Do yourself a favor. Get the comic. You can get it in trade paperback or hardcover. I honestly can't see somebody preferring the movie version to the book after having read it.
In fact, to enjoy the movie, it's best to just forget about the comic book altogether. Some character names, and most of the beginning aside, it's an entirely different beast. If they changed the name of the flick and the character names, nobody would ever think the movie was an adaptation.
Even without having read the comic, anybody who's seen or read enough fiction could see the movie's two twists coming from a mile away. I can't fault the movie too much for that though, since there's very little in movies or TV plots that surprises me these days. Then again, this is hardly a movie where plot is the main concern. This is an, "Oh shit! Did you see him shooting that guy from the roof of a movie train?!?" movie.
It was a bit jarring for me to see Steve from SHAMELESS speaking with an American accent and playing a role that was clearly originally designed for Eminem. That's probably selling James McAvoy short. He does a good job in the movie, but it's just an over the top action flick. Nothing that requires the acting skill of something like THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND. Nobody needs to really bring their A-game to this one.
I might have to turn in my man-card, but I'm just not that into Angelia Jolie. On a certain level, an intellectual level, I get why so many people find her hot. She just doesn't do much of anything for me. I think I figured out why. Maybe it's just me, but her face just resembles her father, Jon Voight, too much. Plus her whole persona just rubs me the wrong way.
I will say, one highlight of the movie was hearing Morgan Freeman say "motherfucker". I can't recall ever hearing him swear in any of the dozens of movies I've seen him in. Certainly, this is the first time I've ever heard him drop an f-bomb. So that got a good laugh out of both me and my brother. Other than that, I felt he was put to better use as an actor over in THE DARK KNIGHT.
I knew from various reviews, not to expect the comic. That doesn't mean that I can't make some comparisons.
Instead of super villains who conquered the wold by killing off all of the super heroes and making people forget them, we get assassins. Considering what good box office super hero movies do, I don't know why the change was made. I guess it could be because WANTED is essentially a recycled pitch for a DC's Secret Society of Super Villains story. In the comic you can even figure out who certain characters are supposed to be. (Batman, Robin, Catwoman, etc.) Or it's typical Hollywood thinking that guns and explosions are enough.
The film Wesley is far less morally reprehensible than comic Wesley. Which, at least for me, makes comic Wesley and his transformation from wimp to amoral killer far more interesting. I suppose you can't have the main character in your movie raping, killing random people, shooting up an entire police station full of cops for the hell of it, and have mainstream audiences okay with it. All of the killings in the movie are presented as justified and for a good cause, even the ones that are revealed to be not what they seemed don't sound as horrible as the main character shooting his neighbor in the face for being too cheerful.
I understand why they couldn't make a faithful adaptation. It's still a pretty good movie for what it is. It's definitely not some sort of "you'll joyously soak the seats and people in front of you in the theater with your man chowder" awesome movie that some people made it out to be. I think the comic was a lot more entertaining and clever.
Do yourself a favor. Get the comic. You can get it in trade paperback or hardcover. I honestly can't see somebody preferring the movie version to the book after having read it.
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