Wanted (2008): Starring (James McAvoy,Morgan Freeman,Angelina Jolie)

Wanted.

(from movieweb.com)

Based upon Mark Millar's explosive graphic novel series and helmed by stunning visualist director Timur Bekmambetov -- creator of the most successful Russian film franchise in history, the Night Watch series -- Wanted tells the tale of one apathetic nobody's transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice. In 2008, the world will be introduced to a hero for a new generation: Wesley Gibson.

25-year-old Wes (James McAvoy) was the most disaffected, cube-dwelling drone the planet had ever known. His boss chewed him out hourly, his girlfriend ignored him routinely and his life plodded on interminably. Everyone was certain this disengaged slacker would amount to nothing. There was little else for Wes to do but wile away the days and die in his slow, clock-punching rut.

Until he met a woman named Fox (Angelina Jolie).

After his estranged father is murdered, the deadly sexy Fox recruits Wes into the Fraternity, a secret society that trains Wes to avenge his dad's death by unlocking his dormant powers. As she teaches him how to develop lightning-quick reflexes and phenomenal agility, Wes discovers this team lives by an ancient, unbreakable code: carry out the death orders given by fate itself.

With wickedly brilliant tutors -- including the Fraternity's enigmatic leader, Sloan (Morgan Freeman) -- Wes grows to enjoy all the strength he ever wanted. But, slowly, he begins to realize there is more to his dangerous associates than meets the eye. And as he wavers between newfound heroism and vengeance, Wes will come to learn what no one could ever teach him: he alone controls his destiny.

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The first trailer for the movie is also online here: [link=http://www.movieweb.com/news/73/28773.php]Wanted Trailer[/link].

 

I've been waiting for this film for a bit.

 

The comic was an abortion and the movie manages to look even worse.

 

I never read the comic.

 

Don't.

 

Note: Jolie is at least an inch taller than McAvoy...

 

Wanted Official Movie Site.

The Official Site has dossiers on each member of the assassin team. Very cool. Can't wait until this comes out on June 27th.

 

I want to see it, if only because of Kostya Khabensky being in it, and Bekmambetov directing.

 

Who isn't?

 

Having seen this early, I can say that they didn't really kibosh anything, spiritually-speaking, in terms of the graphic novel and its original development. Like Kick-Ass, Millar sold the film rights to Wanted when it was little more than an outline, and allegedly when said outline was very similar to what you're going to see onscreen. After it was sold, Millar then repurposed the outline for the superhero genre, and this is how we arrived at Wanted in comic book form.

And because I never get tired of saying this, Wanted, the comic, is Millar at his worst; frustratingly prosaic and wholly obnoxious.

(Though, lots of folks are gonna be quoting Morgan Freeman's "Aw, ****!!" from this flick, and waiting for its .avi to hit the 'Net. And you gotta love the immense amount of headshottage...the final moment in the film is just greatness.)

 

Well I liked it - like I said in another thread, it WILL draw inevitable comparisons with "The Matrix", but I really enjoyed it in it`s own right. I`ve never even looked at the graphic novel so I didn`t have any expectations going in. Ok, the plot gets a bit silly at times, but some of the setpieces are INCREDIBLE - my favourite being the car chase near the start! And, as mentioned, the final shot is VERY cool!

I looked up the cast on Wikipedia yesterday, I couldn`t believe that the Scottish guy right at the start is the same actor who played the mad Irishman in "Braveheart"??

 

Interview with James McAvoy

 

I think i might see this when it hits the dollar theaters.

 

saw it today, was much better than I thought it would be, sure it's violent, but it's a fricken R-Rated movie, not a lame pg-13 film. It's not a great film, but kept me entertained while watcing it.

Except for the: the 3rd act of the film, it was good up till then, really could of done without the plot twists. Gotta love Freeman's final line though.

oh yeah and remember that Beowulf Angelina Jolie shot? Well:

her coming out of the pool is probably the best thing this summer, this scene is 10 times better than Bewoulf one. Sure it was for a few seconds, but still what a great few seconds.

 

Did $51.1 Million at the box office, far better than expected. WALL*E did $62.5 Million, but this type of second is excellent.

 

I enjoyed the hell out of Wanted. I've never read the miniseries, but I understand that the film is vastly different from it, so I really want to check that out.

 

I so want to see this movie!! James McAvoy is amazing, and the trailer looks fantastic!! Now I just have to wait for it to be released here in Oz. *drums fingers*

 

Very, very awesome movie. The way that he has such control over the final shot is amazing. Simply out of this world. I wonder who the dummy was?

 

I see. Anyway, sorry to see Jolie's character Fox honor the code towards to end. I guess she felt like she had no life worth living anyway with Sloan's lies.

Also, that machine sequence, when Sloan states that you only can go inside it one time: Why does he get to go in more than once besides to pre-arrange all of the hits. Also, the bullet on bullet thing was pretty weird to me.

 

It was ok. It tried too hard to be groundbreaking like The Matrix or 300 was.

 

Wanted was a fun movie, but not a good movie. But of the problem for me was that it went too over the top. I have no problem with the bending of the bullets because in this universe that has been represented as the special power of sorts. However the car knocking over a bus and then riding off the side of it or Jolie catching up to a train in an old jalopy were all beyond what I am able to accept and instead of adding to the fun of the movie detracted from it for me.

Some parts of the story were cool, but the training montage was a bit mundane and not all that realistic in the sense of him all of a sudden becoming as good of an assassin in a matter of weeks as those that have trained for years and years.

I really didn't like Jolie's character simply because they treated her as this ultimate form of hotness, when she really isn't anymore. She's a damn stick figure and was actually hard for me to look at through most of the movie. I'm sorry but watching someone entire spinal cord move around as they walk away is not hot.

Probably my two biggest gripes would be the stupidity of a loom that tells fate and Jolie's death scene. Great unbelievable acts have to draw me in to make me believe them and Jolie's bending bullet that killed everyone else in the room felt forced and rushed, like they didn't know of any other way to get out of the dilemma they wrote themselves into.

All that being said, it was a fun movie, not good or even great, but a fun waste of a couple of hours.

 

Oh, it was nifty looking, but I don't think it worked in the sense of keeping me in the realm of the world of Wanted.