Wanted (2008)
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov
Doormat Wesley Gibson is an office worker whose life is going nowhere. He meets an attractive woman named Fox and discovers that his recently murdered father - whom Wesley never knew - belonged to the Fraternity, a secret society of assassins which takes its orders from Fate itself. Fox and Sloan, the Fraternity's leader, teach Wesley, through intense training, to tap into dormant powers and hone his innate killing skills. Though he enjoys his newfound abilities, he begins to suspect that there is more to the Fraternity than meets the eye.
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16 films that influenced Wanted
What critics say influenced Wanted
Given that it involves both accountancy and cuckoldry, he may have a point, and the twitchy Gibson is the heir of a hundred other movie mice, headed by Jack Lemmon in “The Apartment.”
Wanted is like The Killer with more car stunts, a baffling battle royale between forces that defy physics while simultaneously stoking audience appreciation.
I don't usually like to say that a movie is a hybrid of other movies, but if I were going to do that, I'd say that Wanted is a cross between The Matrix and Fight Club: The Matrix for the kind of non-stop, larger-than-life, physics-defying action it possesses, and Fight Club for the anti-establishment story about an emotionally pent-up guy who finds personal liberation in illicit activity.
The influence of “The Matrix” — a similar story of an Average Joe who learns his life is much more significant than he imagines — is apparent early on.
I’d like to think it’s all there, because otherwise, “Wanted” is just another dumbass shoot-’em-up where we’re supposed to gawk at the awesome stunts and nifty special effects work that more or less repeat stuff we’ve already seen in “The Matrix.”
The movie marries the superhero origin film with the revenge thriller, blending them with hints of the frenzied intensity embodied by 300 and the visual orchestrations of The Matrix .
The action scenes will goose people the same way The Matrix did a decade ago, when the Wachowski Bros. introduced "bullet time" to turn physics into a stunt actor.
The story of the film—based on a comic book by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones—is at bottom a kind of rethinking of the Wachowski Brothers’ The Matrix (1999) with a liberal sprinkling of angst-driven echoes of David Fincher’s Fight Club (1999).
Following Wesley as he grows from “Fight Club” mouse to “Matrix” lion is a far more enchanting arc than it has any right to be, if only because Betmambetov keeps the film’s outlandishness out in front to stun the viewer, while the rest of the film breakdances like a madman to keep the pace at top speed.
Based on the graphic novel series, Wanted initially feels like an unofficial remake of Fight Club, as cubicle nobody Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy, speaking of Atonement) narrates how he's been beaten down by his mundane, miserable existence (cheating girlfriend, obnoxious boss, dead-end job).
I don't usually like to say that a movie is a hybrid of other movies, but if I were going to do that, I'd say that Wanted is a cross between The Matrix and Fight Club: The Matrix for the kind of non-stop, larger-than-life, physics-defying action it possesses, and Fight Club for the anti-establishment story about an emotionally pent-up guy who finds personal liberation in illicit activity.
The story of the film—based on a comic book by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones—is at bottom a kind of rethinking of the Wachowski Brothers’ The Matrix (1999) with a liberal sprinkling of angst-driven echoes of David Fincher’s Fight Club (1999).
While it’s clear that this movie borrows liberally from the Wachowski’s action packed bullet time virtual reality revisionism, it also incorporates much of Fight Club‘s insignificant rebel in a crass corporate pond philosophizing.
And director Timur Bekmambetov manages to take the source material and turn it in to a slick action thriller that mixes gore and dark comedy with a respective ensemble cast that give absolutely fantastic performances in what could be described as a vicious hybrid of “The Matrix,” and “La Femme Nikita” with a dash of “Fight Club.”
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If you’re the kind of girl, like me, who might have thought it would be sort of awesome to throw, oh, I dunno, Mr. Darcy into Die Hard, well, this is almost it.
He's a great and unusual choice; it's like casting Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate when everyone was expecting someone like Robert Redford.
The film begins with a prologue in which we see Gibson's dad, Mr. X (David O'Hara, "Braveheart," "The Departed"), retaliate against his assassins by leaping through a high rise window with enough force to carry him across a Manhattan street (the effect, which makes the shattered glass look like a mobile mosaic shield, is a beaut).
And director Timur Bekmambetov manages to take the source material and turn it in to a slick action thriller that mixes gore and dark comedy with a respective ensemble cast that give absolutely fantastic performances in what could be described as a vicious hybrid of “The Matrix,” and “La Femme Nikita” with a dash of “Fight Club.”
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With yet another invaluable music score from Danny Elfman (2006's " Charlotte's Web ") and accompanying song tracks that work wonders, the picture additionally augments a moody atmosphere that compliment's Wesley's journey.
The premise itself isn’t world-shattering: Wanted is the standard summer-thriller mishmash of blockbusters past, from The Matrix (obviously) to The Terminator to Star Wars to Harry Potter, with a bit of Bourne for ballast.