So, I caught an advance screening of Timur Bekmambetov's Wanted last night and wrote it up for my column over at Showcase. They own the stuff that I write for them so I can't reprint it here but let me say in brief that, yes, it's a whole lot of fun and arguably the best thing Bekmambetov has ever done, the Night Watch films included. It's big and flashy, the ultimate example of style over substance and it's got a few car stunts and kills that I've certainly never seen before ... big stupid fun, basically.
It was either this or Incredible Hulk tonight and I went with the Hulk. The fact that they ballsed up the poster right there by having Angie's arm facing the wrong way - you could twist it like that but err...why would you wanna pose in that sort of uncomfortable fashion? Even with an 18 certificate I thought it was only trying too hard to be cool...bullet curving uh okay. Not that the Hulk was up to much but at least it had Norton I guess.
BTW, I'm reading good reviews about this now but I'm still a little hesitant despite the talent involved - I read the comic book after the movie was announced, but only recently made the connection. Being one more "millar cynic-fest" (see his run on "The Authority", etc) - I'm a little curious to see just how much got left in. - although from the reviews I've already seen, it sounds as though most of the really repulsive character traits and events have been pulled - it also sounds like they rewrote the whole "secret society" bit to a twisted, non-representative shell of the original (not that I'd really mind other than the fact that I don't enjoy adaptations nearly as much knowing how great the divergence is) - if that even makes sense.
Ugh, just no, i'm skipping this one.
because all of the movie sites I visit are saying this rules all sorts of everything, I'm stoked to see this now.
Tuan: yeah, the film has very little connection to the comic beyond the initial set up. It's mostly just an excuse for the director to blow stuff up. And, yeah, the Showcase blog is carnival themed - all the writers have to pick some sort of carnival name and since I've got a few very prominent tattoos ...
Meh. Special Effects are the logical extension of the 'watch series with even more cash and computer processing power, but (to use a bluray metaphor), all of the grain of the 'Watch series is washed away, instead we are left with a sludge of Fight Club, Highlander, Office Space, The Matrix, Equilibrium. And NOT in the good hommage-crazy way that DOOMSDAY was....
It looks fun to me.
the Watch series were a set of very terrible movies. ya, all the effects look cool, but narrative-wise it's a mess, and it's all very "empty."
i think the Matrix series was the last great visual-effects extravaganza with a substantial core. all its imitators since then have rung hollow.
there are ppl calling Timur a "visualist" or "visual stylist." no, he is not. the Wachowskis and Timur and ilk are "visual effects stylists." visual stylists are people like Terrence Malick.