My husband and I went to see Wanted yesterday and I felt like I wasted my time and money. So, I thought I’d warn you guys over 40 in case you’re tempted to see it but haven’t done so yet.
Maybe it’s because I’m not in my twenties and haven’t been immersed in the nihilism (or postmodernism) of that generation that I couldn’t get into this movie. You see, I actually like movies to have a point, to actually be about something, that get from point A to point B and not just be about gun battles. I like them to have an ending that makes sense, that doesn’t leave me sitting there thinking, “You spent all that time building up to that?” I don’t mind if a movie defies the laws of logic and physics which this movie does, if it has a point but when it’s pointless, then I feel manipulated and let down.
The movie is your typical male fantasy (similar to Walter Mitty as Ebert notes) of revenge against those who used and abused him. The women in the movie are nags and the ideal woman is a sexy, usually silent assassin. It’s packed with gun battles and moves as fast as a video game. I really did love the slow motion action shot, it was really visually stunning and when the main character wasn’t talking it was a pretty decent movie. It may have been enough to carry the movie for me if the main character wasn’t such a jerk that I really didn’t care what happened to him.
Now, before you think I’m biased against this movie because it was a male fantasy movie, I have to tell you that I really like action adventure movies, male fantasy or not. I loved Transformers, Fantastic Four, I Robot, The Terminator, etc. So the genre doesn’t bother me, the dialog did.
As I said at the beginning of this post, maybe the problem is that it’s generational. Maybe if I were younger I would find this movie more enjoyable. Maybe the story of a milquetoast accounts manager who becomes an assassin who can bend bullets, shoot from a moving subway car and who gets his marching orders from a loom, would have been appealing but I doubt it. I can’t think that after suspending disbelief though most of the movie and then getting the ending that I did wouldn’t have ticked me off just as much. Though the positive reviews for this movie make me suspect that I’m pretty out of it. So I guess ymmv depending on your age and philosophical worldview.
BTW, on a side note, as we were watching the coming attractions I was surprised by the one for Step Brothers. It was rated R and they dropped the f-bomb (you can view it if you want at YouTube) all over the place but I had watched it with my daughters when we saw Get Smart (which we enjoyed) and there wasn’t any swearing at all. I know they modify the trailers for the audience but really if you don’t pay attention you might be tricked into thinking this movie was OK for your teen and then have to disappoint them when you see the movie is rated “R” because it’s more potty mouthed then they lead you to believe. Or maybe I’m the only one who limits the amount of “R” rated movies my kids can see. And no, we weren’t even tempted to see this movie, it looked really stupid. Yeah, I really want to see a movie about two adult males acting like middle schoolers, that’s how I want to send two hours and 10 bucks.
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posted July 3, 2008 at 11:47 am
Sometimes a bad movie is just a bad movie – regardelss of a persons philosophical or theological views.
posted July 3, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Thank you for the warning, My wife and I were thinking of seeing “Wanted” because we like action movies and I usually like movies based on graphic novels. But I, like, you want to see a plot that makes sense.
I laughed at Indie Jones and plan to see the new Mummy movie.
posted July 3, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Huh, I thought Fantastic Four was awful, just awful but nothing about this movie particularly interests me.
posted July 3, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I appreciate the “heads-up.” Maybe it’s my age, too, Michele (53) but I had the same complaint about the “Pirates of Caribbean” movies, especially the second and third.
I loved the special effects and the costumes, but I thought the stories were muddled nonsense. Give me any “Harry Potter” movie or any other movie where the producers haven’t forgotten that story actually matters. When a movie stops making sense, I start trying to figure out what’s wrong with it, and that takes me right out of the “willing suspension of disbelief”.
The reviews on “Wanted” I’ve read said it was ultra-violent. If I’m going to watch a violent movie, I’d prefer something by an artist like, say, Quentin Tarantino, or Alfred Hitchcock, or Stanley Kubrick. For action-adventure, I would say “Iron Man” is about my speed.
posted July 3, 2008 at 7:49 pm
now iron man was “kick-butt” awesome. i loved the comic as a kid and i loved the movie just as much. i can’t wait to have captain america and the rest all meet up in the avengers. iron man was probably the best movie that i’ve seen in a couple of years (but i’ve been told that i don’t get out enough).
posted July 4, 2008 at 11:39 am
Huh. How odd! I’m old (50-something) and I liked it. Sure, the special effects and action made it a “guy” thing, but I am about messages in movies and I thought this one had a message worth seeing. My only disappointment was that it was, in the end, Angelina Jolie’s character (I’m not a Jolie fan) that made the real point. (Of course, if I said what the point was, I’d be spoiling it for others, so …)