Did The Movie Just Tell Me I Suck?
So I just got back from seeing Wanted, the new action movie starring Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, and some guy I've never heard of. James McAvoy, I think his name is. Anyway, I saw Wanted, so I figure I might as well talk about it here.
Wanted is big, loud, badly edited, unbelievably clichéd, and downright silly... but it's still a lot of fun. I've never read the comic book the movie was based on, so I can't compare the two, but Wanted has just about everything you could ever want out of a movie like this. There's lots and lots and lots of car chases and shootouts, a paper-thin plot, and a few explosions, which is enough for Wanted. The only real problem with the movie is the camerawork and editing. The action scenes look like they were filmed by a cameraman who's in the middle of a horrific seizure, and edited by someone with ADD who's hopped up on a cocktail of cocaine and Red Bull. A hummingbird couldn't follow half of this movie.
Well, that isn't exactly the only thing I didn't like about the movie. I hated the ending so much. The movie had me all the way up until maybe the last sixty seconds, then it really took a crazy turn. (Now here's a spoiler alert, so skip to the last paragraph right now if you don't want to know anything.) Wanted concludes with James McAvoy's character getting revenge against all those who wronged him, and he wraps things up with a monologue that kicks the everloving crap out of the fourth wall. I don't remember it word for word, but I'll paraphrase: "I used to be nothing. I used to be a complete loser... just like you. But now, I'm fulfilling my life's purpose. I'm saving the world, one dead body at a time. What the [F-bomb] have you done lately?"
Excuse me, what?! What was that?! Why would I want to pay good money to go watch a movie, only to have it call me out like that? I don't care if that was taken from the comics, because having the lead character make fun of the audience after we just spent two hours rooting for him is the most asinine thing I can think of. Call me crazy, but that completely ruined the whole movie for me. I have enough people that think I'm a slacker, so I don't want to spend seven bucks so a movie tell me what I can have real life people tell me for free. Watching Wanted is like riding the most awesome roller coaster on the planet, then when the ride is over, someone shows up and punches you in the nuts. That's not cool, Wanted! What did I ever do to you? Seriously, words hurt. You might want to remember that little lesson if they ever make Wanted 2. (Before anybody says anything, yes, I'm pretty sure that line was making some kind of point about the theme of the movie, but it's still friggin' retarded.)
So yeah, that pretty much sums up my feelings about Wanted. It's an entertaining movie for the most part, but it just isn't worth paying seven dollars to see. My suggestion would be to see a cheap matinee, wait to rent it on DVD, or just download it off the Internet. On the patent-pending World Famous Five-Star Sutton Scale, Wanted is worth around three stars. And that's about the long and short of it.
Wanted is big, loud, badly edited, unbelievably clichéd, and downright silly... but it's still a lot of fun. I've never read the comic book the movie was based on, so I can't compare the two, but Wanted has just about everything you could ever want out of a movie like this. There's lots and lots and lots of car chases and shootouts, a paper-thin plot, and a few explosions, which is enough for Wanted. The only real problem with the movie is the camerawork and editing. The action scenes look like they were filmed by a cameraman who's in the middle of a horrific seizure, and edited by someone with ADD who's hopped up on a cocktail of cocaine and Red Bull. A hummingbird couldn't follow half of this movie.
Well, that isn't exactly the only thing I didn't like about the movie. I hated the ending so much. The movie had me all the way up until maybe the last sixty seconds, then it really took a crazy turn. (Now here's a spoiler alert, so skip to the last paragraph right now if you don't want to know anything.) Wanted concludes with James McAvoy's character getting revenge against all those who wronged him, and he wraps things up with a monologue that kicks the everloving crap out of the fourth wall. I don't remember it word for word, but I'll paraphrase: "I used to be nothing. I used to be a complete loser... just like you. But now, I'm fulfilling my life's purpose. I'm saving the world, one dead body at a time. What the [F-bomb] have you done lately?"
Excuse me, what?! What was that?! Why would I want to pay good money to go watch a movie, only to have it call me out like that? I don't care if that was taken from the comics, because having the lead character make fun of the audience after we just spent two hours rooting for him is the most asinine thing I can think of. Call me crazy, but that completely ruined the whole movie for me. I have enough people that think I'm a slacker, so I don't want to spend seven bucks so a movie tell me what I can have real life people tell me for free. Watching Wanted is like riding the most awesome roller coaster on the planet, then when the ride is over, someone shows up and punches you in the nuts. That's not cool, Wanted! What did I ever do to you? Seriously, words hurt. You might want to remember that little lesson if they ever make Wanted 2. (Before anybody says anything, yes, I'm pretty sure that line was making some kind of point about the theme of the movie, but it's still friggin' retarded.)
So yeah, that pretty much sums up my feelings about Wanted. It's an entertaining movie for the most part, but it just isn't worth paying seven dollars to see. My suggestion would be to see a cheap matinee, wait to rent it on DVD, or just download it off the Internet. On the patent-pending World Famous Five-Star Sutton Scale, Wanted is worth around three stars. And that's about the long and short of it.
posted by Matt Sutton at
10:07 PM
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