Wanted!!!…the movie!

Wanted
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Timur Bekmambetov
Produced by	Marc Platt Jason Netter Jim Lemley
Written by	Michael Brandt Derek Haas Chris Morgan
Starring	James McAvoy Morgan Freeman Angelina Jolie
Music by	Danny Elfman
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	United Kingdom: June 25, 2008 United States: June 27, 2008 Australia: July 31,2008
Running time	110 min.[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$65 million[2]
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

 

Wanted is a 2008 action film loosely based on the comic book miniseries Wanted by Mark Millar. The film is directed by Timur Bekmambetov and stars James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Thomas Kretschmann, Konstantin Khabensky and Angelina Jolie. Production began in April 2007. Wanted was released in the UK on June 25, 2008 and June 27, 2008 in the US.

[edit] Plot

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A man known as Mr. X walks into a building. He walks into a room and talks with an Indian lady with a bindi on her forehead. As the two are talking, Mr. X realizes that there is a red sniper dot on her forehead, on top of her red bindi. She is shot, and Mr. X runs back into the elevator. He prepares himself, and blasts off in amazing speed. He jumps out the window into the air and kills the sniper and the sniper’s accomplices. He receives a call from Cross, another member of the Fraternity. Cross says goodbye to Mr. X, who realizes that he is stepping on top of an X mark on the ground. A bullet drives through his head by Cross.

Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), who works as an accounts manager in a firm, is offered the opportunity to change his monotonous and unrewarding life by avenging the murder of his father, a member of a thousand-year-old secret society of assassins called The Fraternity who follow death orders issued by the Loom of Destiny. The group’s leader, Sloan (Morgan Freeman), invites Gibson to follow in his father’s footsteps. Sloan appoints assassin Fox (Angelina Jolie) to mentor the young man. When Fox meets Wesley, he is being followed by the man that killed his father. After a narrow escape, Fox and the Fraternity begin to train Wesley. The training is brutal. It is meant to harden Wesley into the killing machine that the Fraternity needs.

Once he has completed his training, Wesley is given orders to kill people he does not know. Before going on his first assignment, he questions Fox, “How do we know who is bad or good?” She answers by telling him her story. Her father was a judge. An assassin was sent to their house. He killed her father in front of her by setting him on fire. The assassin then branded her on the neck. It turns out that the assassin had been targeted by The Fraternity several weeks prior, but the assassin who was assigned failed to kill him. Fox then explains that is what the Fraternity does: kill one, and save a thousand. Wesley then proceeds to kill his first target. He is then given several more targets to take out. He finds Cross attempting to shoot him after one of his kills. He chases Cross, until eventually being shot by Cross on the arm.

After being shot by his father’s killer, Wesley analyzes the bullet and finds out where it came from. He is given permission by Sloan to find the bullet maker. Fox admits to Sloan that she believes it to be a bad idea. Sloan then hands Fox a new order from the Loom, commanding her to kill Wesley. He travels to Europe to find the maker. Once there, he has a confrontation with his father’s killer on a moving train. The train crashes on a bridge connecting two cliffs, but when Wesley is about to fall, his father’s killer catches his hand, holding on to him. However. Wesley does not hesitate and fatally shoots him, even though it would cost Wesley his life, as he is still hanging over the edge. The train finally plunges and gets stuck between the two cliffs, but Wesley manages to survive inside. Before the killer dies, he tells Wesley that he is Wesley’s father. Fox comes out of the shadows and confirms the story. Fox tells him that her order was to to kill him. Wesley realizes he’s in danger, and he shoots the glass underneath him, plunging into the water below. He is rescued by the bullet maker, Pekwarsky (Terence Stamp), and wakes up across the street from his former apartment. Pekwarsky tells Wesley that Sloan is making killings for profit instead of following the Loom’s messages. He also tells Wesley that his father wanted him to have a normal life instead of that of an assassin. He takes his coat out of the closet, and realizes that there is another room connected to the closet. He goes inside, and realizes that his father has been living across the street from him for his entire life. He explores the room, and finds a loom piece with Sloan’s name written on it in the special code.

Wesley then plots revenge. He captures several hundred rats and places mini bombs on them. He crashes a garbage truck into the Fraternity compound, which dumps the rats who run off all over the compound. After all the rats explode, he charges in, killing all the Fraternity members he encounters. When he reaches Sloan’s office, he is immediately surrounded by Fox and a few other high level assassins. Wesley tells them that Sloan is killing for profit by providing his killers with fake instructions from the Loom. Fox asks Sloan if this is true. He states that what is true is that all of their names came up as targets. By doing what he did, he had saved their lives because each and every last assassin in the room’s name’s had come up in the loom of fate. He goes on to say that, if they really believe in the code, then they should all commit suicide. After contemplating, Fox shoots and curves the bullet’s trajectory so that it kills all the Fraternity members in the room. The bullet completes the arc and the last person it hits is Fox herself. She smiles as the bullet hits her, and she drops to the floor dead. Wesley then runs after Sloan, but he is gone.

As Wesley goes on to find something else to do, he checks his bank account, which instead of 3 million dollars, he only has circa 14 dollars. Wesley returns to his employment area, and is seen once again Googling his name, which gives no results. Sloan appears behind Wesley, pointing a gun at Wesley’s head. Wesley turns around, and reveals himself to be someone who isn’t Wesley, but a decoy. Sloan looks under him, and finds an X shaped spot made with post-it notes. The real Wesley takes him out with a mile-long sniper shot. Like the comic, Wanted ends with Wesley breaking the fourth wall, addressing the audience and listing his accomplishments, ending with him asking, “What the fuck have you done lately?”

[edit] Cast

• James McAvoy as Wesley Gibson: A meek 25-year-old who works in a cubicle. Gibson has a disloyal girlfriend and a boss who bullies him.^[3] McAvoy was cast in the lead role in October 2006.^[4] McAvoy, who had screen-tested for the role early in 2006, was initially rejected due to the studio seeking an actor that had conventional Hollywood leading-man looks and physique. The actor was later recalled, being considered the “runt of the litter” of those who tested. According to McAvoy, “They [ultimately] wanted someone geeky.” The Scottish actor, who portrays an American in the film, trained for the film’s action scenes.^[5]
• Morgan Freeman as Sloan: The charismatic assassin partner of Wesley Gibson’s deceased father.
• Angelina Jolie as Fox: One of Fraternity assassins who mentors Gibson and serves as the love interest.^[6] Jolie was cast in March 2007 after screenwriter Dean Georgaris rewrote the screenplay to tailor the role for her.^[7]
• Common as The Gunsmith: A professional gunman who trains others to use weapons.^[3]
• Konstantin Khabensky as The Exterminator: Khabensky, who starred in Bekmambetov’s Night Watch, was cast so the director would have a familiar face around Wanted.^[3]
• Marc Warren as The Repairman
• Dato Bakhtadze as The Butcher: A master of knife work who knows how to make an opponent bleed to death within minutes. He trains Wesley in the use of knives.^[8]
• Terence Stamp as Pekwarsky: A master in the science of killing. Pekwarsky operates as a rogue agent outside of The Fraternity.^[9]
• David O’Hara as Mr. X: Was possibly the one of the greatest assassins in the world. He was killed in a elaborate trap set up by Cross.^[10]
• Chris Pratt as Barry^[11]
• Kristen Hager as Cathy^[12]
• Thomas Kretschmann as Cross: Rogue assassin who supposedly betrayed the Fraternity, killing its members off one by one. Near the end it is revealed that Cross is actually Wesley’s father as opposed to having killed Wesley’s father, and wanted to “rescue” him from the Fraternity, while throughout it is thought that he is trying to kill Wesley.

[edit] Production

The comic book miniseries Wanted by Mark Millar first attracted the attention of Universal Studios executive Jeff Kirschenbaum, a comic book fan who sought a film adaptation that would be considered a “hard-R” and encouraged the studio to pick up the rights to the miniseries.^[13] By 2004, producer Marc Platt set up development of the film adaptation. In December 2005, Russian director Timur Bekmambetov was attached to helm the project as his first English-language film, with the script being written by Derek Haas and Michael Brandt.^[14] Millar did not like the first draft of the script. He explained, “I wanted the film to basically be the opposite of the Spider-Man movie, the idea of someone getting powers and realizing they can do what they want, then choosing the dark path. The [script] I read was just too tame. It just seemed a little bit Americanized. But Timur came in with his Eastern European madness, and he really made it nasty. He went closer to the spirit of the book.”^[15]

Director Timur Bekmambetov said that the film would keep the same characters from the miniseries, though the director would take liberty in adapting the comic book’s world.^[16] In July 2006, screenwriter Chris Morgan was hired to revise the third act of the Wanted script written by Haas and Brandt.^[17] The script was also rewritten by screenwriter Dean Georgaris to include the role of The Fox for actress Angelina Jolie.^[6] Haas and Brandt returned to even out the character of Wesley Gibson, which they had established in their first draft.^[18]

Comic book author Mark Millar described the first half of the film as being close to the graphic novel. Millar also said that the film’s ending was similar, though it was relocated elsewhere from the setting in the graphic novel. The superhero costumes in the series were also removed, with the exception of the leather attire worn by Wesley Gibson and The Fox. Ironically, this had been Millar’s intent when writing the graphic novel, although he and artist J. G. Jones had forgotten to. “I wanted them to have those powers and then just wear those costumes for the initiation, but just for one panel.” he said. “And then I forgot. I’d have liked [the filmmakers] to keep the supervillain mythos. That’s one thing I’m kind of sad they didn’t keep, ’cause I really liked that, the idea that supervillains and heroes did exist at one point and they’re all gone now.”^[15] The story arc of the Fates issuing death orders in line with the series’s original theme of predestination was a new element to the film, an addition to which Millar was amicable.^[19]

Wanted includes free running and parkour in addition to car chases and gunfights.^[5] Wanted creator Mark Millar saw previsualized footage for the film and said the footage had raised his expectations for the film adaptation.^[20]

Location plate shooting took place in Chicago in April 2007.^[21] Several chase scenes, including one with a low flying helicopter, were shot in Chicago on May 17 and 18 on Wacker Drive along the Chicago River, between Columbus Drive and LaSalle Street.^[22] Production moved to the Czech Republic later in May,^[7] scheduled for 12 weeks of shooting.^[23] For the film, production designer John Myhre constructed a large textile factory in Prague as part of an industrial world, the setting of a mythological environment in which looms create fabrics interwoven with the destinies of people, interpreted by weavers to issue orders for specific individuals’ deaths to preserve the balance of the world.^[3] Afterward, filming moved to Budapest, then returned to Chicago in August.^[21]

[edit] Release

Wanted was initially set to be released in cinemas on March 28, 2008, but in December 2007, Universal announced it would be moving the release date later to June 27, 2008. Wanted was released June 27, 2008 Previews started in the UK on June 25th.^[24]

[edit] Reception

The film received generally positive reviews from critics. As of June 27, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 74% of critics gave Wanted positive reviews, based on 92 reviews — with the consensus that the film “is a fast-paced, crackling thrill ride tailor-made for the Summer audience.”^[25] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 64 out of 100, based on 30 reviews.^[26] It has an average score of 69.1% from 60 film critics according to Movie Tab.^[27]

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly encapsulated many critics’ views, saying “‘Wanted’ is kind of unintelligible and idiotic. Also kind of nasty and brutish. And also undeniably kind of fun…”^[28] Likewise, Tom Long of The Detroit News said, “Wanted may be the most absolutely stone bonkers, crazy-good movie of the century. Or it may be a gargantuan piece of trash. Chances are it’s a combination of the two. But man, does it rock”.^[29] Claudia Puig of USA Today found the “thrilling stunts and hyperkinetic action scenes [to be] the undisputed stars of this surprisingly entertaining film”.^[30] Conversely, John Rosenblatt of The Austin Chronicle denounced those same attributes, saying, “If Maxim magazine ever decides to branch out into filmmaking, Wanted is just the kind of ear-throttling nonsense it’s bound to produce”,^[31] and David Fear of Time Out New York called it “the cinematic equivalent of an energy drink. The film keeps artificially pumping your adrenal glands with mindless, malnutritional sensations, only to leave you crampy and cranky minutes later. …[T]his exercise in ultraviolence then insults us by having a beaten, bloodied McAvoy inform viewers that he used to be a loser ‘just like all of you’”.^[32] Frank Lovece of Film Journal International, one of few mainstream critics to have read the comic-book miniseries, said the film compared poorly with the source material. Noting that the hero in the comic goes even further, “breaking the fourth wall and positioning himself so that he’s ‘prison-raping’ and taunting the reader for having liked the series,” Lovece found that, “While Millar may have contempt for his readers — and, by extension, the medium in which he works — at least he has his own vision, and gets it across with style and wit” that the movie lacked.^[33]

In the comics press, Erik Amaya of Comic Book Resources said, “The film’s biggest faults lie in how far it strays from the source”, and that, “If you’ve ever seen any movie about leather-clad assassins, you already know how this film plays out. The speed and skill of the movie-making balance out those faults, however”.^[34] Tom McLean of Newsarama noted that while the story deviated strongly from the source, the movie “stands out as a highly entertaining action film that preserves the comic’s core premise and cheeky attitude while taking the story into very different but still satisfying territory”.^[35]

Among European critics, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian said, “It looks as if it has been written by a committee of 13-year-old boys for whom penetrative sex is still only a rumour, and the resulting movie plays like a party political broadcast on behalf of the misogynist party”, concluding, “In an ideal world, the title would have the word ‘Not’ tacked on to the front”.^[36]

~ by aylahbzshu26 on June 29, 2008.