I Want To Know Who I Am
URGA MOTW
Wanted
MarchHare (now in Brisbane) sms'd me to say that Wanted was so terribly bad that it was a must see - completely over-the-top ridiculous action that took itself way too seriously.
I can't say that I got the same amount of amusement out of the film - sure, it's heavy on the action, light on the character depth, and is certainly over-the-top with its physics-defying bullets, cars, plot holes and so on.
But it ain't half bad. Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) leads a boring existence as an Account Manager, with an annoying boss, a cheating girlfriend and a best friend who doesn't really care about him - after all, he's the one sleeping with Wesley's
girlfriend.
One night in the pharmacist, Wesley meets Fox (Angelina Jolie) who tells him that his long-lost father was an elite assassin who's just been killed - and the man who killed him (Cross) is also after Wesley. Gun battle ensues.
Turns out Wesley is the latest recruit into the Fraternity - a 1000 year old group of assassins who get their targets from the Loom of Fate (yes, it's an actual loom, with "targets" binary-encoded into the weave). Leading the US group is Sloan (Morgan
Freeman) who indoctrinates Wesley in all this. Oh, and they have superpowers - they can "slow down time" (or just speed up their own perspective), curve bullets when shooting them and perform amazingly well choreographed car stunts :)
So bring on the action - a lot of the setpieces are in the trailer, but there's at least one or two good ones that aren't, so give a fresh boost of excitement.
But the whole thing is pretty flat - characters have little depth, although the only reason Wesley doesn't is because it's what DEFINES his character - and all the others become mere background, one-note characters. The action is pretty neat, but the plot plods along, and the plot twist is pretty predictable and expected.
This could have been one of those films that defined a new level of special effects (like The Matrix's bullet time) but it seems to tread what we've already seen.
It wasn't as bad as I'd been led to believe, but it's certainly nothing fantastic either. Not a bad way to waste a few hours, but perhaps you need a few (more) drinks inside of you to really appreciate it's so-bad-its-good qualities.
5/10
Wanted
MarchHare (now in Brisbane) sms'd me to say that Wanted was so terribly bad that it was a must see - completely over-the-top ridiculous action that took itself way too seriously.
I can't say that I got the same amount of amusement out of the film - sure, it's heavy on the action, light on the character depth, and is certainly over-the-top with its physics-defying bullets, cars, plot holes and so on.
But it ain't half bad. Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) leads a boring existence as an Account Manager, with an annoying boss, a cheating girlfriend and a best friend who doesn't really care about him - after all, he's the one sleeping with Wesley's
girlfriend.
One night in the pharmacist, Wesley meets Fox (Angelina Jolie) who tells him that his long-lost father was an elite assassin who's just been killed - and the man who killed him (Cross) is also after Wesley. Gun battle ensues.
Turns out Wesley is the latest recruit into the Fraternity - a 1000 year old group of assassins who get their targets from the Loom of Fate (yes, it's an actual loom, with "targets" binary-encoded into the weave). Leading the US group is Sloan (Morgan
Freeman) who indoctrinates Wesley in all this. Oh, and they have superpowers - they can "slow down time" (or just speed up their own perspective), curve bullets when shooting them and perform amazingly well choreographed car stunts :)
So bring on the action - a lot of the setpieces are in the trailer, but there's at least one or two good ones that aren't, so give a fresh boost of excitement.
But the whole thing is pretty flat - characters have little depth, although the only reason Wesley doesn't is because it's what DEFINES his character - and all the others become mere background, one-note characters. The action is pretty neat, but the plot plods along, and the plot twist is pretty predictable and expected.
This could have been one of those films that defined a new level of special effects (like The Matrix's bullet time) but it seems to tread what we've already seen.
It wasn't as bad as I'd been led to believe, but it's certainly nothing fantastic either. Not a bad way to waste a few hours, but perhaps you need a few (more) drinks inside of you to really appreciate it's so-bad-its-good qualities.
5/10