When Nightwatch first came out on DVD, I had never heard of it. A friend of mine recommended it to me and swore I would like it. Though he had never seen it, he had just heard good things about it. I watched it the day it came out and still remember my thoughts to this day about it, “I don’t know exactly what just happened, but it was fkn cool.” Daywatch left me feeling somewhat the same way, only I think I actually understood less of Daywatch, even after the third viewing. Wanted, though boasting similarities in visual style and CGI, plays out much, much smoother and just as cool.
Plot: James McAvoy plays Wesley Gibson, an analyst who thinks so little of himself that he lets his girlfriend cheat on him with his best friend, lets his boss berate him every chance she gets, and even lets Google depress him. He is a loser. A no one. Until Fox arrives. Fox, played by Angelina Jolie, saves him from a would-be assassin and tells him something that jars his existence forever (and something that’s been in nearly every trailer since): his father was one of the greatest assassins that ever lived and the man who killed him is now trying to kill Wesley. This bit of information does tread similar to the ‘rabbit hole’ conversation Morpheus gives Neo in the first Matrix film. Morgan Freeman is introduced in what seems like a Morpheus-type role, however the storyline and dialogue truly never makes you feel that way, regardless of what the trailers depict. Wesley is then recruited by The Fraternity, a group of assassins that don’t abide by the normal laws of physics. As Freeman’s character tells us, “pretend no one ever told you bullets go straight,” and that’s pretty much the philosophy the viewer takes as they watch Wesley’s world come crashing down around him.
Without giving too much away, there is a huge segment that I’ve seen discussed very little and I wanted to address it quickly. Before I saw the movie, I never really thought about where these assassins get their orders on who to kill. The thought honestly never crossed my mind. However, in the film, this issue is a vital part of the plot and it adds, in my opinion, some of the most genius depth to the film I’ve ever seen in an action flick. There’s layers upon layers of discussion that can be had just on this plot alone, but I won’t bore you with my take. I do think it’s genius and I would hope others would too, though I haven’t seen it discussed anywhere else.
To be honest, I’ve never been a very big fan of CGI. I feel it’s often overused and generally takes the tone of the movie down a few notches, as it often takes me out of the moment I’m supposed to be enjoying. I blame The Mummy Returns for a lot of my hatred towards CGI. But in Wanted, director Timur Bekmambetov finally proved to me exactly how CGI is SUPPOSED to work. It’s supposed to look over the top. It’s supposed to look unrealistic. It’s supposed to look like something out of a dream. And he makes it look beautiful. Morgan Freeman has a line in the film after handing James McAvoy his father’s tools of the trade which goes, “These were his, and while in his hands he could conduct an orchestrated symphony.” It’s as if the words speak directly of Timur and his own abilities with visual effects. Timur continues to take CGI to a whole new level. Mark my words; Timur Bekmambetov is the Russian John Woo. And that’s a compliment.
James McAvoy does a tremendous job delivering here, with a heartfelt sincerity in almost every scene he occupies. You can tell just by watching him that he truly dug the script and/or story and that he is having a blast. This is vital, as his character goes through so many changes.
I haven’t been the biggest fan of Jolie. I hate to admit to that, because it immediately lets every heterosexual male accuse me of being as gay as Wayne Brady, but it’s true. She does nothing for me. Though this could be because I saw the film Hackers when I was fourteen, and thought she was the hottest woman who ever walked the Earth. It’s been all downhill since for me. Until now. She sells her role as Fox so damn well. Like McAvoy, you can tell they are simply having a blast. Both of them honestly reminded me a lot of Robert Downy Jr’s performance in Iron Man. All these actors love what they are doing. And they excel at it. It’s performances like these that make Liv Tyler and Tim Roth look awful in comparison. Jolie is Fox and you can tell she never doubts it for a second. Her performance here is exactly what I hated about Mr. and Mrs. Smith. She never sold me in that film, but she does here. And she does it so well.
Morgan Freeman’s role is a rather large one, but he did seem somewhat distracted here. I wonder how much shooting time he had for this and Batman. He seems somewhere else. Even in the underrated Lucky Number Slevin, he at least had heart in such an odd role. Here he feels like he’s just passing time. Or maybe not passing it soon enough. Freeman never does a bad job, don’t get me wrong, I just didn’t feel like he was nearly as into the gig as his coworkers. I will say this, “Shoot this motherf@$ker” has never been said so well.
I do want to point out too that it was so, so, so nice to see Konstantin Khabensky have such an important role in this. He's so great as Anton and I certainly didn't expect to see him here, though I'm so glad he was.
This movie is total chaos. The action is so far over the top you can’t take it seriously. Yet, this is exactly what it wants you to do. It doesn’t want you to take it seriously. It wants you to have fun. It wants to give you mind an excuse to sit this one out. Is it a smart film? Mostly. But, you certainly won’t need to think too hard while it’s going on. This marks Timur’s first American film and I was damn proud to contribute to its weekend boxoffice. It redefines cool.
Is it better than The Matrix? No. But it is without a doubt twenty times better than the second and third.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment