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Wanted (2008)
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Russian fabulist Timur Bekmambetov (‘Nightwatch’, ‘Daywatch’) must have spent a lot of time watching the ‘Matrix’ films before embarking on this action caper. James McAvoy is a nervy, stifled office lackey who is one day asked to join a secret fraternity of assassins by a heavily tattooed Angelina Jolie. Why? Because he possesses the innate ability to curve bullets with his mind, of course.Based in the back room of a textile factory, the team receive orders to kill via the coded weavings of a magical loom. So far-fetched is all this (the threat of an army of exploding rats has already been made) that when overseer Morgan Freeman delivers the line ‘We call this… the Loom of Fate’, you won’t bat an eyelid. It’s already the lingua franca.
This is cinema for people who slow down at car wrecks: Bekmambetov takes pleasure in showing us a bullet slowly boring in or out of the cranium while taking great care in sculpting the resultant swirl of CG blood. McAvoy is reasonable in his first action lead, but offers a tin-eared approximation of the US accent that comes across less like the middle-class salaryman he is and more Jewish New York cab driver (think Bob Hoskins).
There’s an eccentric otherness to the film which just manages to sustain the interest, but whether Bekmambetov’s talents lie in filmmaking rather than gaming or comics is debatable.
Author: David Jenkins
User reviews of this film
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- C-Crew said...
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Posted on Sep 01 2009 10:00
Just thought I'd point out that it wasn't directly his fault what happened to the train - one of the ticket collectors made it stop where it did which meant, I think with some sort of loose connection to the track attributed to Angelina, the people died. But yes he should have some some care for them and those in the many car chases who must have died...
I loved this film. I expected to find it foolish, having heard its premises were so, and therefor not enjoy it. Perhaps thats why I didn't mind some aspects of the plot. But I think it was more than that cos I really like it. The loom was stupid but so are a great deal of fictional and superhero film premises.
McAvoy was inspired casting; with his intensity and reality that give conviction to all the characters I've seen him play previously. Don't know who else they were considering but many other people would have left the film floundering. James makes me 'believe' a lot of the 'unbelievable' stuff here. Or at the very least makes me enjoy it.
I think its not much like the comics - fans of the comics aren't impressed. But something too close to them I don't think would have worked as a movie. Different mediums and all that. As for not liking the casting, I can understand that since Fox in the comics is basically Halle Berry and Wes is Ememem. However I don't think they would have worked in this translation to film!
There have been reviews saying females are unkindly presented. I'd agree, though I hadn't thought of it before and it didn't affect my enjoyment of the movie. I still love the boss - she's great. The girlfriend could have been given more depth and understanding. Living with someone as disconnected as James character would be hard. Not suggesting she was right in how she dealt with it, just saying the character wasn't given enough depth. Angelina, despite her limited number of lines, familiar pout and being there largely as eye-candy, played the part well, somehow seemed to have depth and didn't leave me requiring anything more.
It was a bit self involved - especially with James commentary. I was cringing a bit for the last one... but then the last line of the movie made me laugh. Its such a big question coming out of a film without any real philosophical depth. Maybe it meant to have that depth, but I found any philosophical stuff in it dismissable as plot construction, so the last line just reminded me I was taking the movie as an enjoyable, tongue-in-cheek, action movie.
I'd also like to note the fantastic music that lent a huge amount to the action-romp tone of the whole thing.
In the end, despite any holes in the strange plot, I enjoyed it as a fictional action romp with brilliant actors adding the necessary depth! - Report as inappropriate
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- kermy said...
- Posted on Jul 11 2009 23:04 I had a long and painful relationship once. which i would gladly endure again before ever having to see this film once more. proof that we humans have disappointed ourselves with the poor use of our potential. ! what a god awful load of s%^t. very much up there with the worst films i have ever seen
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- Pablo said...
- Posted on Feb 20 2009 13:23 You know when you start watching a movie and in the first 30 seconds you realise you made a terrible mistake but you continue watching because you convince yourself it just can't get any more pointless, ridiculous or laughable; and then the end credits roll up and you realise you have just lost 2 hours of your life that you never getting back... Well that feeling pretty much sums up this pile of utter rubbish. Up there in my top 5 worst movies of all time (An that's a pretty terrible list)
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- Darren said...
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Posted on Feb 20 2009 12:14
Wow... For a critic, I would of at least expected you to get your facts right. For a start, he doesn't possess nor was it implied he could "curve bullets with his mind". It's an ancestral gift, that allows him to be fast enough to fire a gun in pendulum movement, thus creating the bend in his bullet....
Did you dislike the even more surreal Matrix? - Report as inappropriate
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- nick said...
- Posted on Jan 10 2009 01:24 what an aboslute shocking film , i cant be botherd writing much so to some it up , ide rather rip my d**k off and put it in my mouth than watch that film ever again!
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- ZOFH said...
- Posted on Jan 04 2009 03:11 A Top Class Action Fantasy. Loyal to the graphic novels and loyal to the concept of pure comic book escapist fantasy. Great casting, played with tongue firmly in cheek by all concerned. 5 out of 5 fun rating. If you want Oscars - watch the Changeling. Furthermore, what did you think a comic book action film about Assasins was going to be about? Poetry? I just bought it on Bluray and with the sound pumped up (yes, only on a Saturday afternoon so it doesn't disturb anyone) it utterly ROCKS!
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- Dubya said...
- Posted on Dec 09 2008 23:50 Even half-drunk, What a piece of shit!
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- Alexis said...
- Posted on Dec 07 2008 16:02 Utter nonsense and yet it attracted actors of the calibre of Freeman and McEvoy. Neither total fantasy or reality but some mad genre in the middle that messes about with the viewers expectations. Good CGI but I didn't care a jot about anyone in it. I watched it on a plane and wasn't bothered if they stopped the film before the end!
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- pedro said...
- Posted on Nov 23 2008 16:56 Utter load of crap. don't want to waste anymore time writing anything else.
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- GerryMcC said...
- Posted on Sep 08 2008 16:49 One of your contibutors mentioned the word 'imagination' in relation to this movie. It's not the word I would use except if it was prededed by another two and they are 'lack of'. This was a Mac-Movie. Instantly forgotten except for the sour aftertaste of 'WTF was that about?'. With more holes than an Emmenthal cheese, the plot produces yet another megalomaniac who wants to mould the world to his tastes using a loom to spell out his targets in code - the already mentioned Loom of Fate. I felt it was more like, if you wish, a Loom with a View - and the view is death to all the boss's opponents. I can hardly believe that I wasted an afternoon watching this drivel but then again I'm not a lobotomised bean sprout although this movie did its best to turn me into one!
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- Barbara V said...
- Posted on Aug 31 2008 04:34 I was looking forward to seeing this movie Wanted tonight. I enjoyed Mr. &Mrs. Smith with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, but I was so disgusted and disappointed in this film. There was way too much violence and scenes with large rats as big as cats, so gross. I would think Ms Jolie, who is the Mother of so many children ,would want to give a better impression of herself to the public. This is a movie that doesn't send the right vibes to the younger generation. It was pure trash.
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- TonyC said...
- Posted on Aug 25 2008 09:09 Quite simply...awful. How did James McAvoy agree to be part of this? Story leaked so much my feet were wet. How I lasted to the end was a miracle. Possibly the worst film I've ever paid to see in my life. I could go on for hours but won't waste my time. Don't go and see it!!!
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- goan said...
- Posted on Aug 09 2008 11:01 this rocks !!!
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- courtney said...
- Posted on Aug 04 2008 09:52 YHH! dat film was LAME! absolutley freakish i jst dong get it! me and Lana had 2 walk out in the middle it was so badd! No offfence 2 the other who liked it and will smith and the directors! No hard feelings!!!!LOL...:p
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- Kimberly said...
- Posted on Aug 04 2008 09:50 U GUYS R WIERD! at film was slamming i rly liked it!haha!!!!!! and louise ur my friend and u have a RLY different view!
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Cast & crew
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Cast: James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Terence Stamp full cast
Genre(s): Action/Adventure
Rated: 18
Duration: 110 mins
UK Release: Jun 27 2008
US Release: Jun 27 2008
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