Aug 7
Okay, so Wan Chin and I just caught Wanted, and... well. It was not what I expected! I would give you a review, but
FixedR6 has already said everything I would like to, just with better words than them what I've got
To add my own cent or two - because I can't help myself - it was really surprising that the freewheeling, anything-goes absurdity of the action actually worked pretty well. It's all very post-Matrix, except without the justification of being able to hack the rules of reality... in Wanted's world, people can do physics-defying, bone-crunching ninja shit with impossible precision, it just takes a little practice. Seeing a character deliberately flipping a car over another one so they can shoot at some guy through the open-top usually makes you want to
ask for a refund. In Wanted, you just kinda shrug and say "Ha! Far out. Now what?"
And the "Now what?" was a genuine "What the hell is going to happen next?". The fast-and-loose attitude towards plausibility meant that I really didn't know, and that's pretty rare in a popcorn flick. I mean, sure - the plot has some incredibly, painfully obvious 'twists' that you can see coming from the Val Morgan ads, and you never for a moment believe that our hero is in the slightest genuine danger, and there's one particular scene that puts the most contrived and functional exposition into Angelina Jolie's mouth since an evil genius said "Since you will soon be dead, I suppose I can tell you my whole plan..."
But then, there's also a loom that gives binary instructions to kill people. And there are three-inch suicide bombers. And you get to see Morgan Freeman say "motherfucker", and even when
Morgan Freeman plays a convicted murderer, Morgan Freeman doesn't say "motherfucker". Also, he's an assassin. So, you know.
Okay, Apologies in advance for this last point, but I really don't hold with the whole 'it's just entertainment' idea, so I'm gonna get a bit high-horse for a sec.
Testosterone-fuelled regression is just why we all go to see action films, but Wanted regressed too far. Timur Bekmambetov's accomplished direction (watch this guy - he's going places) can't save the story from being the narcissistic fantasy of a maladjusted fifteen-year-old boy whose understanding of virtue is the Punisher and whose understanding of women comes from Playboy.
Just had to get that out there.
