Wanted (B+) (StinkingBob)

[stinkingbob]

Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman, opened Friday 6/27/08. This is a kick-ass movie with lots of action. It has some elements of Matrix thrown in with lots of bullet time effects. Oh, did I mention that they have a shot of Jolie's bare ass?

In a nutshell, Wanted tells the story of an everyday Joe who works for an abusive fat boss as an accountant. One night while buying medication for his "headache" he meets Angelina and also some guy who is trying to kill him. She saves him and takes him to meet the boss (Freeman) who, like in Matrix tells him just enough to get his curiousity up in the Fraternity of assassins. Freeman wants him to join, and of course he does. The story then shifts to his training/hazing in the fraternity so that he can kill the man who whacked his father. I'll leave it at that because I don't want to give away anything if you haven't seen it yet. Lets just say that they have some really cool kill scenes (My favorite was the guy in the limo).

Now, why the B+ and not an A because this could have been an A movie?

-The most important reason is that Wanted had the greatest potential for a trilogy or at least a 2 parter. Everything was there. The story, the set up, the mystery, the loom, who really sends the death messages, etc There is a twist towards the latter part that could have set things up for part 2 (the train scene on he bridge) and they could have ending it gracefully at that moment. Yet, they chose to wrap things up and the ending felt a little to rushed. Imagine the Matrix condensed to 1 movie instead of 3 and you'll get what I mean.

-Some things were left unexplained. For example, at the beginning, the guy had this special power where he sprinted down the hallway, jumped through the window and flew about 500 feet across the street to kill some baddies on a roof top. Then, there is the curve-the-bullet ability. How do these people get these powers and why don't the other assassins have this ability?

-Some people may disagree with me on this but it had to do with Angelina getting out of the pool and showing her bare ass. I have no problems with that. It was the part where the camera caught her upper back and you can see that she is sooooo damn skinny that it just isn't even sexy. You can tell she has an eating disorder. They should have used a body double.

-They should have shown more scenes of the main character killing people in different ways or at least shown the other assassins killing people using their own special ability (if they had any).

All in all, Wanted is a great movie. Well worth the $10.50 admission price and a great date movie (if your gf or wife is into action movies). It has lots of action, cool kill scenes, funny moments, Angelina's DSL, and twists.

You will definitely love it. The only gripe that I had was that I wish it could have been a trilogy.

Stinkingbob says check it out!

[Sheridan Passell]

Hey Stinkingbob I'm sure your reviews are getting better and better.

I'm getting pretty excited to see Wanted - it's been nothing but positive news from all trusted sources.

[Tyler Lovemark]

Yeah, I just saw it last Friday night, it was pretty awesome.  Just like The Matrix or Shoot 'Em Up, the action is completely ridiculous and shatters any notion on real-world physics, but it works so well.  And as worried as I was about McAvoy being overshadowed by Angelina Jolie or Morgan Freeman, he kinda stole the show.  Granted, it was kinda weird hearing him without his native accent, but the same can be said of countless others who have to work with dialect coaches.  Some of the best non-action moments of the film were when Morgan Freeman cursed.  Kind of like an unusual comic relief.

Already this summer has turned out to be a pretty damn good one, and we haven't even gotten to see Batman yet!  Kinda puts last year to shame.

[Sheridan Passell]

Yeah I was just thinking that today - this is the best summer for movies in a long time. In so much as, they delivered.
Iron Man
The Hulk
Wanted
Wall-E
The Dark Knight (according to numerous reviews (see here))

[stinkingbob]

I checked the USA today. Wanted came in 2nd place (behind Wall-E) with a total of about 51.5 million dollars. It made 10 million dollars more than what the studio execs thought it would make. I really believe Wanted can easily surpass the 80 million mark. Again, as I pointed out in my review, Wanted had all the elements to be a trilogy. I'm sure the execs are beating themselves with sticks for not doing it because if they decided to do a sequel (and I am sure they will), it will be hard to accomplish.

Sheridan, thanks for the comment. If I took the time, I could actually write something with a little more jazz. But, I don't like doing that. When people read a review, they want to know if it is worth seeing or not and why.
They want to know the basic plotline.  If you noticed, I give a very brief movie summary. I just don't want to spoil things for people who have not yet seen it. Like most guys, I am straight to the point. I try to tell it like it is in the shortest amount of writing space.

Lastly, I try to be objective. If you watched Siskel and Ebbert (I haven't watched that show in a while so I know its not called that anymore) or read reviews by "professional" movie reviewers, you will notice that they almost always slam horror and sci-fi movies. Why? Because they like a certain genre. They are looking for movies with a plotline, character development, something realistic. In other words, boring films.  Well, I don't think I would want to see the 3 hour long Fanny and Alexander movie which all the reviewers gave A+ to.
I love horror, sci-fi, comedy, teenie-bopper, drama, action and documentary films. I don't like kiddie films nor animated ones like Wall-E or Shrek. But, if I do see them (if my gf forces me to!) I will write a honest review.
If  a horror movie is bad, I will give it a bad review. But, like all reviews, its just my opinion and you may disagree with me, but that's why we have this great forum. You can post your thoughts here. It's like what me and Dalmation discussed over the F rating of Indiana.

[Sheridan Passell]

Couldn't agree more Stinking Bob. Ebert and Roeper still seem to be offended by horror movies. I mean, come on, horror has been around since the beginning of cinema. It's an emotional rollercoaster, like the Ghost Train, and a boot camp for the psyche (we will all have to deal with real death eventually). Get over it.

[dalmatianjaws]

A couple days ago I found a YouTube channel full of old and new "Siskell and Ebert" reviews. I use the quotes because, well, one of the dudes is dead now. Anyway, when Siskel was around it seemed a lot more legit, but once fatty arbuckle got his meat pies on the show it's been SO downhill.


They reviewed Daredevil, gave it two thumbs up, and called it "The Thinking Man's Super-Hero Movie."

Jigga-WA?!?!?!?!

Oh, and they rated LAst Crusade WORSE than Crystal Skull. Dear God.

What a bunch of hacks. They don't respect genre unless it's retarded enough to tickle their silly bone, then they throw it a biscuit for being cute.

[stinkingbob]

Thats why I stopped watched "siskel and Ebbert" years ago. They are very biased against any movie that isn't international or 3 hours long or just damn boring. Seriously. Movies that I thought were great received the thumbs down. Same with most newspaper reviewers to. They really don't understand what the whole concept of a movie is about: to entertain us. To make us forget about the real world for 2 hours. Show me a movie which depicts real life and you will have seen a very boring movie. I am in it for the entertainment value. People were knocking on that upcoming Disaster spoof movie in the forums, but nonetheless, I am going to watch it. It looked entertaining to me.  That's why we need different genres of reviewers. I'm into horror/scifi/comedy mostly so I can give my opinion on whether or not it is worth seeing.

[ArsonCuff]

Good movie for the most part. My full of typos review can be found at the following link:


http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/849975/wanted_angelina_jolie_naked.html?cat=40

[Sheridan Passell]

The last shot of Morgan Freeman in this movie is classic. Someone please find that moment on YouTube.