"Wanted"

AngryBadger

Garbage. Utter, utter garbage.

Took the sadistically evil fraternity of the original story and mind-****ed them into some kind of second-rate "Knights of Templar".

Even the action scenes seemed fairly bland to me.

If you've never read the original story, then you'll probably love this movie.
If you have read Millars original I suggest you stay away from this movie, or have eye-bleach to hand whenever you do watch it.

In fairness, McElroy (?) and Freeman did a good job on the characters they were given, it's just a pity they were given such ****ty characters.

bombidol

i thought the story itself was pretty crap but the action scenes were amazing.

Fysh

I must admit, the action scenes were the only thing that had me thinking I might watch this (and even then only the russian trailers made it look like it might deliver in that regard). The ComicBookResources review said much the same thing as AngryBadger - if you've read the comic, the story will disappoint you.

I doubt I'll watch it any time soon tbh, I don't like much of Millar's work and while the idea of inverting the traditional "hero's journey" into a "villain's journey" is an interesting one, I really didn't like the original comic.

It seems to be doing pretty well at the cinema. Given that Wanted is probably on a par with Super Mario Bros. in terms of faithfullness to the original material, is it likely to be followed by more adaptations that cheerfully ignore much or all of the source material?

AngryBadger

Fysh wrote: »

is it likely to be followed by more adaptations that cheerfully ignore much or all of the source material?

I want to say no, but obviously the way the movie ended left it wide open for any number of sequels. Which makes me sad to be honest since I really enjoyed the original book, and would have loved a faithful adaptation.

On the other hand, it's another example of a comic book license producing a servicable film to the public which doesn't involve pervsuits, which in the overall can only drive comics as a story medium.....which is good.

ztoical

have to agree with Badger and say "Garbage. Utter, utter garbage" - I got to go to a press screening so it was free which was the only reason I stayed till the end [thats and I was promised cup cakes from Billys in the village if I stayed]. The acting was very wooden, the story pointless and very muddy but i thought "hey its big and loud, its the middle of summer, should be a fun ride for an hour or so" but o no. Its far to clunky with the camera movements which takes away from the action shots and dear god McAvoys accent was like nails on a chalk board for me and his facial expressions during fight scenes were really annoying esp during the last big fight - yes I understand you've never done this but by the end you should be at least a little more use to it. And the fight scenes felt like they were edited by someone with no eyes or fingers.

Freeman was alright until the end when he curses not once but twice - oooooo Morgan Freeman said a bad word big whoop.

But far and away the most annoying thing in the film was the score - what the hell was going on there?

AngryBadger

ztoical wrote: »

But far and away the most annoying thing in the film was the score - what the hell was going on there?

Actually yeah, how did I manage to miss the ****ty score?

The only thing that I'm really confused about is how much input J.G. Jones and Millar both had in such a ****ty movie. I understand you sell the license and that's it, but why both even bringing them on board to make such a sub par piece of dog muck?

And I noticed one ro two other "big name" comic guys involved.

For shame.

Fysh

In the case of Millar at least, I'd say the prospect of quite a lot of $$$ is the reason. I'd have less of an issue with it if the man didn't have a tendency to insist that everything he's put his name to is "the best thing he's ever done" to try and ensure that it sells as much as possible. Yes, I know it's his livelihood but Warren Ellis manages to make a living out of comics, has a big following and also manages to rein in his ego now and again, at least when talking about his own work. (Although on the other hand he calls himself Internet Jesus sometimes so maybe he's not the best example....)

ztoical

Just had a quick look and Danny Elfman is down as doing the score - what the hell, did he hit his head really hard or something?

Also both editors have a pretty decent list of action flicks on their credit list so they should have done a much better job with editing this.

Fysh

I'll be honest, I would have thought Bekmambetov would have made something decent out of it after seeing what he did with Nightwatch & Daywatch. But somewhere between making two films about supernatural pseudovampires and Wanted he decided he didn't like "magic" and thus ended up butchering the script (which, let's be honest, was no great shakes before but at least had some original notions in it).

Rascaduanok

I liked the whole idea of super–villains wiping out all the superheroes, and some of the characters tickled me (Shit–head, for example, made from the fæces of all the most evil people in the world), and the drawing and inking felt like a delight for the eyes — but it smacked too much of the typical male adolescent fantasy for me really to like it. A young lad screwed over by life able to go out and kill, rape, steal with no consequences whatsoever. Plus he looked like Eminem in the comics. Autofail.

I enjoyed the film. I think I did actually prefer the idea of assassins, and the whole loom theme made me think of the ‘Kindly’ Ones, the figures from Greek mythology that wove threads of life for everyone.

raido9

AngryBadger wrote: »

Actually yeah, how did I manage to miss the ****ty score?

The only thing that I'm really confused about is how much input J.G. Jones and Millar both had in such a ****ty movie. I understand you sell the license and that's it, but why both even bringing them on board to make such a sub par piece of dog muck?

And I noticed one ro two other "big name" comic guys involved.

For shame.

Its not a question of how, its a question of what!

MarkHall

I quite like the root they took. I knew full well going in It wouldn't be the comic I enjoyed but I was alright with that in the way I knew V for Vendetta would not be the same.

Fun action, alright acting. Althou Angie looked a little Ruff at times. Morgan was on form and I liked to hear him Curse. It reminded me of the tDoll-Masters moment in the Comic. So it didn't feel like a "Morgan Freeman said a bad word big whoop" moment. Also it was worth it for the guy on front of me comment on "Does he think he's Sam L these days?"

The only real part of the flick that Bothered me was the amount of time and effort requoired for all that Ratbomb making. And he still had to run through the place and kill everyone in it.

I also felt the big reveal in the circular room would have been better had we known anything about the rest of the group. But hey still fun and enjoyable.
I look forward to seeing if they try and get a sequel out of it. Maybe give us more of the supervillian aspect.

Rascaduanok

MarkHall wrote: »

I also felt the big reveal in the circular room would have been better had we known anything about the rest of the group. But hey still fun and enjoyable.

Well they didn’t seem to have any decent character development. I like the actor who played the Repairman, though, I’ve seen him in a film called Dad Savage and an episode of Doctor Who as well as a few other things, so I loved the From Dusk Till Dawn moment with him!

MarkHall

That was fun. I did like his reaction to the rats.

constitutionus

well went to see it today and i have to say i LOVED it. great bit of popcorn crack. kinda reminded me of "hackers" for some reason though.

i purposely DIDNT read the comic though as i knew it deviated wildly from that so while i fully intend to get the book im not expecting it to bear the remotest simaliarty to the film.

still it was a good little action flick and with the paltry selection at the cinema now thats more than welcome. christ i think its the first 16s film ive seen in years as everything seems to get a 12s a now

AngryBadger

constitutionus wrote: »

well went to see it today and i have to say i LOVED it. great bit of popcorn crack. kinda reminded me of "hackers" for some reason though.

i purposely DIDNT read the comic though as i knew it deviated wildly from that so while i fully intend to get the book im not expecting it to bear the remotest simaliarty to the film.

still it was a good little action flick and with the paltry selection at the cinema now thats more than welcome. christ i think its the first 16s film ive seen in years as everything seems to get a 12s a now

You make me sad Conn

I can see that people could enjoy it without any connection to the comic, but for me the changes they did make warped the original story too much. Even the final line made no context in terms of the original story, and this idea of the fraternity being some kind of noble league of assassins was complete B-****ing-S.

MarkHall

View them as too Seperate animals is the only advice I can give you on the matter.

TerrorFirmer

The film is nothing like the comic whatsoever other then in some minor details outside of the actual story, though I actually thought the comic was a load of crap. Never felt like it was going anywhere, nothing in it really interested me or held my attention. Maybe I'm just being biased after finishing about 30 issues of Preacher in one sitting, but I would not recommend Wanted, the comic, to anyone.

Fysh

Part of the reasons for the wide divergence between film and comic is that the film option was sold after the first issue finished, so there was never any obligation to keep the film faithful to anything shown after that.

As regards the comic, the central concept was interesting (the inversion of the traditional superhero origin) but as with most stuff I've read by Millar, let down by some god-awful dialogue and characterisation. I can never tell whether Millar is pandering to his audience or taking the piss out of them, and there's a weird undercurrent of bitterness in his writing, as though he despises the fact that there's an audience for what he writes....

Rascaduanok

I felt constantly and childishly amused that the comics had a villain in it called Shit–Head, created from the fæces of the most evil people in the world…

Saw the film opening night and rely enjoyed it in a brain dead manner. It has some great action scenes and a number of pretty cool moments. That said the plot and dialogue was quite bland and the reliance on snazzy CGI and iconic slow motion shots used to fill the void.

Started the comic this morning and after reading the first three issues I'm far from impressed. The idea is good, in fact it's damn good but Millar seems to be under the impression that swearing is a worthy replacement for good dialogue and that having lots of risque sex panels will make his work edgy. It doesn't, the last three issues may be an improvement but from what I've read thus far Wanted is sadly lacking.

Nathanual

Have to say if I didn't read the comics this might have been good, but when compared to the comics it's terrible. Now they have started on the sequel... ***sigh***

Stephen