Badmovies.org Forum

After sitting around bored out of my mind for most of the day yesterday, I decided to catch a flick.
I chose to see Wanted (http://farm.imdb.com/title/tt0493464/).

Holy crap...this film kicked some serious ass!   :thumbup:

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Just getting into the movie was an amusing experience.
When I walked in the front door, I noticed that the ticket booth to my right was empty.
On the countertop was a sign that read, "Please pay at the concession stand."
I walked in and there were about 50 people all with little kids running around.
Apparently, it was "Free Kids Movie Day" and all these parents had brought their children.

There were two lines for the concession stand and behind it were two girls filling popcorn, soda and candy orders for all the customers.
There were about ten people in front of me and at least 15-20 in the line to my right.
After about a minute or two of standing around and noticing that there were no managers and, more importantly, no usher to tear my ticket in half, I calmly stepped out of line, turned to my left, walked into the theater, found a seat and sat down.
Seeing Wanted didn't cost me a cent.  (I'm so bad!  Don't tell me you wouldn't have done it, too.  :tongueout:)

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Anyway, this film is about a total loser named Wesley Gibson who hates his life and has constant panic attacks.

Do me a favor.  Before I tell you about the movie, watch this short clip.  It sets the stage but doesn't spoil the film at all...and it's pretty darn cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYo8qmoZ7WQ
(NOT SAFE FOR WORK!!!)

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Once day Wesley's approached by Fox (Angelina Jolie) and told that his father (whom he never knew) was murdered.
He thinks this is a load of crap until Cross, the assassin who killed his father starts shooting at the both of them while they're standing at the pharmacy counter.
What follows is one of the coolest car chase sequences I've ever seen.

Soon after, Wesley is inducted into a secret group of assassins known as "The Fraternity".
He decides to leave his old life behind and endures some grueling training.
He gets better and better until he's tasked with his first assignment.
To get the info for his first mission, he's escorted by Sloan (Morgan Freeman), the leader of The Fraternity to a giant weaving loom called the "Loom of Fate". 
Apparently, it's some kind of mystical loom that weaves binary code into its cloth. (trust me, it's explained in the movie)
This code is then interpreted by Sloan and it's revealed that when the code is decoded, it gives the name of the next person to be assassinated.
Yes, I know that sounds preposterous, and it is.  But the movie unfolded in such a way that I didn't care and just went with it.

So Wesley goes from being a complete loser to a top assassin searching for Cross.
I won't reveal what happens in the rest of the film but let's just say that there's a BIG plot twist and it works really well. 
The ending kicks some serious butt, too.

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This film appeals to those who wish they could be bigger than life.

I've heard a lot of people compare this movie to the first Matrix film.
Yes, there are some similarities, but once the story gets going, it becomes a very different film than The Matrix.
For instance, these assassins have the uncanny ability to curve bullets, jump great distances and seem to have a sort of "spider sense" where time appears to slow down.
All of that is explained as the film chugs along, usually at breakneck speed most of the time.

Another thing that makes this film so good is the gunplay.
If you're a fan of Gunkata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunkata), you'll love this movie.
The characters in this film love their guns and you'll see some seriously cool gun battles in it.  :smile:

To me, this was mindless escapist fun and I enjoyed every minute of it.
I highly recommend this film and give it 3.5 out of 4 stars.
If it's still in a theater near you, go see it before it's gone forever.
If you can't, then do yourself a favor and rent it when it's released on DVD.

It's an awesome film!   :thumbup:

I absolutley hated this movie, I watched it with a friend not knowing what it was about. I have to say I hate "bullet-time" and CGI car chases, so I can't just take what I'm seeing. Everything seems fake and just plain ridiculous. There also seems to be alot of films out like this recently, bounty hunters and people that cab change time. Didn't like it, sorry  :thumbdown:

Meh.

Meh.

Meh.

I caught the film and I have to say that my expectations were a bit high.  I should have known what I was getting myself into since I've seen both Night Watch and Day Watch and felt both were mediocre. 

Wanted was fun, some of the time but it just wasn't an action film.  I wanted to see bloodshed, I want to see bullets flying, I want something ala John Woo.  Instead, I get that in the last 10 minutes or so while the rest was a meandering story with an obvious twist.  I just felt the film could have done SO MUCH more but it didn't.  It didn't go for being great and seemed content at being mediocre. 

I read the graphic novel first. It ruined the movie. The comic is far more graphic,explicit and just plain raw. There are things in the book that would never make it into a Generally released American film. The movie didn't even come close. And the "Loom of Fate" thing just seemed tacked on and silly. Why not take your orders from a talking dog or a can of Spaghetti-O's? "To each his own" is obviously a watch word here on this forum and I would not impune anyone's taste for liking a movie I didn't cotton to, but i just felt it was uninspired and unimpressive. It was like getting a mouthful of tepid beer when you were wishing for a nice cold one. :cheers:

I haven't read the graphic novel but I was however a big fan of the Russian director's two prior movies Night Watch & Day Watch. 

I thought that the movie was fun and gave it *** out of ****.

To me it was like a much more improved version of the movie Hitman in a lot of respects.  Good acting all around and it's always a joy to hear Morgan Freeman curse. Angelina has gotten too skinny but the bare butt shot was still nice all things considered.   :teddyr:

The Graphic novel and movie have almost nothing in common except the names of some of the characters.  The guy who runs my local comic book shop described as if the movie makers were just told the most basic outline of the book-then used it to make up their own story.  And he was pretty much right. 

The movie also made it easier to like Wesely.  In the book-he's the gut who becomes your boss-then becomes a real D*ck drunk off his new power.  Mark Millar (the auhor) said this was kind of the point.  To due the opposite of the story you'd expect.  Wesily's more simpathetic in the movie.  In the book, I thought-Yeah I'm jealous that you can do things I can't-but your still a real jerk.

James McAvoy is a very good actor, he doesn't need to be making careless, fast-buck turds like this.
Same goes to Angelina too, as for Freeman, well he just loves money.

I liked it. Another decent popcorn movie that got the job done, not perfect, and it has it's stupid moments. But I've been recommending it. I knew little about it beforehand, other than seeing a couple of trailers and seeing who the director was and knowing his past work.

Loved Night Watch and was disappointed with Day Watch, thought this was closer to NW on the enjoyment scale. Plus the last line kind of sold me on the film, but it seemed to go over the heads of most of the audience.