Wanted?
I previewed it tonight. If you want a thinking movie... this isn't it. If you want a faithful adaptation of the comic, not gonna happen. If you just want some mindless entertainment, with scenes that are kind of like scenes from the comic, and crazy gun battles, you'll like it.
I will say that I wish they had spent a little more on their CG. It may have looked awesome watching it on my computer screen, but on a 90 ft screen, it looked like something made 10 yrs ago.
Personally I think they could have stuck closer to the comic, even without super powers, and made a better movie.
The comic is what happens when you take a beat down, wimpy, unhappy guy, give him power and self confidence, and then tell him there are not consequences. The super powers, and everything else are just a backdrop for this. In the comic Wesley's father wants him to take control of his life, and enjoy it. The movie is about taking that same guy, giving him power and self confidence and then giving him a noble, if very violent, cause. After that, you betray him, and watch as he takes revenge/sets everything to rights. Movie Wesley's father wants him not to be mixed up in fraternity life, to the normal life that he could not. Which after you see how crappy Wesley's life is, and the joy/control fraternity life gives him, why would he want that for him? because of corruption?
Obviously, these are very two different journeys for our protagonist, and they lead to very different places. I believe that the darker, less moral path, where innocents are considered meaningless collateral damage, where people are sacrificed just to train and desensitize Wesley, and Wesley learns that in a world of no consequences, he must still put limits on himself, or all that power loses it's meaning/joy, is a much more interesting journey. Sure it might not be the normal holly-wood fare, but neither was 300, and that's why it did so well. Not because it had a happy ending where the good guys won and the heroes lived happily ever after, but because it was the opposite. Because 300 put forth a story without a happy ending. Sure they tried to do the tragedy thing in the movie, but it's just not the same as when your hero willingly does the one thing that he doesn't want to, to fulfill his conditions of what he needs to do. Comic Wesley's sacrifice is done with his full knowledge, movie Wesley is tricked into it. The tragedy comes in having to make the decision, not in finding out what you did afterwords.
I will say that I wish they had spent a little more on their CG. It may have looked awesome watching it on my computer screen, but on a 90 ft screen, it looked like something made 10 yrs ago.
Personally I think they could have stuck closer to the comic, even without super powers, and made a better movie.
The comic is what happens when you take a beat down, wimpy, unhappy guy, give him power and self confidence, and then tell him there are not consequences. The super powers, and everything else are just a backdrop for this. In the comic Wesley's father wants him to take control of his life, and enjoy it. The movie is about taking that same guy, giving him power and self confidence and then giving him a noble, if very violent, cause. After that, you betray him, and watch as he takes revenge/sets everything to rights. Movie Wesley's father wants him not to be mixed up in fraternity life, to the normal life that he could not. Which after you see how crappy Wesley's life is, and the joy/control fraternity life gives him, why would he want that for him? because of corruption?
Obviously, these are very two different journeys for our protagonist, and they lead to very different places. I believe that the darker, less moral path, where innocents are considered meaningless collateral damage, where people are sacrificed just to train and desensitize Wesley, and Wesley learns that in a world of no consequences, he must still put limits on himself, or all that power loses it's meaning/joy, is a much more interesting journey. Sure it might not be the normal holly-wood fare, but neither was 300, and that's why it did so well. Not because it had a happy ending where the good guys won and the heroes lived happily ever after, but because it was the opposite. Because 300 put forth a story without a happy ending. Sure they tried to do the tragedy thing in the movie, but it's just not the same as when your hero willingly does the one thing that he doesn't want to, to fulfill his conditions of what he needs to do. Comic Wesley's sacrifice is done with his full knowledge, movie Wesley is tricked into it. The tragedy comes in having to make the decision, not in finding out what you did afterwords.