Should I even bother with a review?
Wanted: Where to begin?
Well, I clearly need to repeat my point about adapting a story from one medium to another: For the love, consider what works in the new medium and who your audience is!
More specifically: DO NOT use the comic book as a storyboard for the movie! I said it about 300, and I'll say it again about Wanted, which succeeded in regressing me to it's target age audience (15?). Only instead of being the type of teen that rejoices in a constant onslaught of shaky camera and improbable car/gun ballet, I was the kind who rolls her eyes repeatedly and emphatically, sighs out loud, and utters things like "You gotta be fuckin' kidding me. How much of a dumbass do you think I am?" ALL OF WHICH I actually did, without even noticing until I heard myself, while watching this piece of throwaway nonsense, which not even pretty people in slow motion could save.
There were some good things about it, such as the mythology (who doesn't like membership to secret societies with special skills, or finding out that they are destined for more than their boring life?), and some fun moments which I sadly realize I've already seen in Fight Club or the Matrix. All of the best bits are in the preview, which is vastly superior, on the whole, to the movie.
My biggest problem is the constant repetition of the same facts (like I was watching some kind of violent Sesame Street) and the nonchalance with which the things I actually had questions about were designated as given - no explanations. There were also several moments in this film where a new scene would begin with practically the same lines that were uttered in the previous scene, as though we had gone to a commercial break, or very possibly, begun a new issue in the series. SO poundy! Bash bash! I think I may have flung my arms skyward and uttered an exasperated WHYYYY?!
And the voice over. Eff the efffing voice over!
That trick of spinning around in the mirror before leaving the house and removing the first accessory that catches your eye? Films should do that. The voice over goes. Just watch the original and Director's cuts of Blade Runner to see my point in action.
So that's it. I'm done. Officially had it. I will see the next Batman for many reasons, and Hellboy II for the fabulous monsters, but all other movies based on comic books will need to be lauded by EVERYONE for me to see them... on DVD.
Harumph!
Well, I clearly need to repeat my point about adapting a story from one medium to another: For the love, consider what works in the new medium and who your audience is!
More specifically: DO NOT use the comic book as a storyboard for the movie! I said it about 300, and I'll say it again about Wanted, which succeeded in regressing me to it's target age audience (15?). Only instead of being the type of teen that rejoices in a constant onslaught of shaky camera and improbable car/gun ballet, I was the kind who rolls her eyes repeatedly and emphatically, sighs out loud, and utters things like "You gotta be fuckin' kidding me. How much of a dumbass do you think I am?" ALL OF WHICH I actually did, without even noticing until I heard myself, while watching this piece of throwaway nonsense, which not even pretty people in slow motion could save.
There were some good things about it, such as the mythology (who doesn't like membership to secret societies with special skills, or finding out that they are destined for more than their boring life?), and some fun moments which I sadly realize I've already seen in Fight Club or the Matrix. All of the best bits are in the preview, which is vastly superior, on the whole, to the movie.
My biggest problem is the constant repetition of the same facts (like I was watching some kind of violent Sesame Street) and the nonchalance with which the things I actually had questions about were designated as given - no explanations. There were also several moments in this film where a new scene would begin with practically the same lines that were uttered in the previous scene, as though we had gone to a commercial break, or very possibly, begun a new issue in the series. SO poundy! Bash bash! I think I may have flung my arms skyward and uttered an exasperated WHYYYY?!
And the voice over. Eff the efffing voice over!
That trick of spinning around in the mirror before leaving the house and removing the first accessory that catches your eye? Films should do that. The voice over goes. Just watch the original and Director's cuts of Blade Runner to see my point in action.
So that's it. I'm done. Officially had it. I will see the next Batman for many reasons, and Hellboy II for the fabulous monsters, but all other movies based on comic books will need to be lauded by EVERYONE for me to see them... on DVD.
Harumph!