| about
trismugistus.com
and digital-bondage.net
are my web sites.
trismugistus.com
is where I upload my anime, manga and tv&film reviews,
and also where I occasionally post short stories and longer
works I've written.
digital-bondage.net
is my wallpaper site and provides anime, manga and other
desktop wallpapers in a variety of resolutions. I also
have some psds for you to download.
I also run a site called scan-city.org,
which provides some scans for you to download and use
in your wallpapers.
You can also read my blog here
or check out my anime list here.
I also have pages on devart here
and urbis here. |
|
|
|
| details |
| The Genre: Action |
| The Format: DVD |
| 
|
| The plot: A young man named Wesley Gibson works
at a dead-end desk job with an overbearing boss,
takes anti-anxiety medication for panic attacks,
and has a live-in girlfriend who cheats on him with
his best friend. During one of his trips to the
pharmacy, Gibson is told by a mysterious woman named
Fox that his father was a recently murdered assassin,
and the killer, Cross, is behind him. |
|
| back
to top |
|
| opinion |
| Wanted sits firmly in that bracket of movies
that count as "guilty pleasures".
Fundamentally a lot of it is quite daft, and this
daftness is exemplified best I think by the character's
ability to bend bullets.
The only actual power that we're told our hero
Wesley Gibson and the other characters in the movie
have is that they can speed up their heart-rates
to something like 400 beats-per-minute and with
that surge of adrenalin comes massively improved
perceptions.
|
Now in a way this is actually something
that really happens. Although it's actually
the adrenalin that makes the heart pump faster,
the boost does actually improve perception.
If you've ever heard people talk about being
in accidents or been in one yourself you'll
often hear them say that 'time slowed down'.
Now that's actually a real phenomenon although
it's actually their perceptions that speed
up.
Basically your eyes are able to take in far
more information than your brain can process.
However, your brain is sort of 'overclocked'
by the adrenalin and it's suddenly able to
process more of that info. But, your frame
of reference - your internal clock - is unaltered,
so since more is being 'recorded' in the same
apparent time span it feels like the world
is running slower.
So there's a vague notion of reality kicking
about there and you can sort of see that's
how they're able to do some of the stuff they
can. But how in the heck does that allow them
to bend bullets?
|
 |
|
You can sort of say yes I see how that lets them
see bullets in the air or maybe run faster or whatever,
but how the heck does it allow them to alter the
path of a bullet as it flies through the air? Especially
since they don't do anything - they don't wave their
arms about to cause the wind to blow it or anything.
Instead they just wave the gun as if they're giving
it spin and the bullet changes cause half-way through
its flight.
But here's the thing - that sort of stuff will
only occur to some time you after you've seen the
film. Well, okay, maybe that one occurs during as
it's one of the more obvious ones, but certainly
smaller details you enjoy while you're watching
but then later on you think "hang on..."
The main reason for this is that the film almost
bullies you through its running time - there are
very few chances to stop and catch your breath.
There's little opportunity to think things through
before we're already onto the next action scene.
|
 |
There are a few things that come across as hooky
- the loom, for example, and the twist/reversal
is a bit odd in that it doesn't quite make sense.
Also the relationship between Wesley and Fox, Angelina
Jolie's character, is a bit under-done.
It's like, how can I put this? In a film that revels
in its own clichés, the fact that their relationship
doesn't end-up where you expect it to is a little
surprising.
But then for each of those there are equal moments
of black humour (the "FUCK YOU" gag is
particularly amusing) and downright coolness (the
whole car chase is awesomely done).
|
 |
One other thing I would genuinely criticise
the film for is being too similar to lots
of other films without being entirely clear
if it's parody or not. For example, one of
the biggest influences is clearly The Matrix
and there are some scenes that are so reminiscent
of The Matrix you could almost chop them out
and slot them into that film.
However, the problem is that you're not sure
if this is meant as glowing homage or if it's
somewhat ironic. As I mentioned the film has
sprinklings of dark humour throughout, but
it's like these are almost accidental. Like
they've crept in under the radar.
Now I don't mean it should have been a parody
of these other films, but it would have been
nice to know which side of the fence it stood
on - are the bullet-time gags like the FUCK
YOU the thing, or are the serious bullet-time
moments the thing?
One thing the film has clearly tried to do
is keep things as live-action as possible,
keeping the CG to a relative minimum. Unfortunately,
they didn't quite go far enough as the CG
is the culprit in one of the less successful
sequences.
|
|
It involves some rats and they just look so fake.
The problem isn't actually that the rats look fake,
it's more in the way they've been animated. They've
been animated to be a bit too lively - they move
with a bit too much purpose, too much regularity
and uniformity - like they've been animated, rather
than modelled if you see what I mean.
But despite all of these criticisms I still keep
coming back to the fact that they film is pretty
darn good fun and well worth a watch. |
|
| back
to top |
|
| summary |
| The Summary: It's a fun roller-coaster ride
of an action film with lots of cool action bits,
although the plot is a bit tired and there are some
bits that don't quite make sense. |
| The Score: 3/5 |
| The Pictures:
(click for larger versions) |
| |
|
| back
to top |
|
home
| reviews | films&tv |
|
|
