Wanted DVD > Reviews > Bending Bullets

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Excellent SPFX, Great narrative, Good Cast
Disadvantages:	none

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Wanted

Director- Timur Bekmanbetov
With- James McAvoy
Morgan Freeman
Angelina Jolie

Release Date- 25 june 2008
Running Time- 110 Mins
Certificate- 18
Tagline- 'Choose your destiny'.
Distributed by- Universal Pictures

Wanted released in the cinema just over a week ago is one of the best films i have seen for a long time. The film was based on the comic book ministeries 'Wanted' by Mark Millar and is all about injustice and tranfromation. I am not really a fan of Timur Bekmanbetov's work. The Russian director did not do well in the series of 'Night Watch' and 'Day watch', but directing a American blockbuster he seemes to be able to achieve being successfull.

Story

The film begins with a mysterious man known as Mr X played by David O'hara entering a building for a meeting with a lady on the top floor. You are given no information of the man, who he is, why he is there but you can tell hes abit odd. As he eneters the meeting room he is interrupted by a sniper who shoots the lady in the head. Mr X then does a running, slow motion style leap across to the building oppisite, this obviously shows the audience Mr X has some kind of mysterious powers to be able to slow time. It ends in a cliff hanger as he ends up dead shot in the head.

Then following the main character Wesley Gibson played by James McAvoy it shows how hehas a simple life, a boring, office life with no money and having panic attacks. I like this has the audience maybe be able to relate to the character and symphaise with him later on.
The film shows basically how Wesley finds he has the same slow motion powers and he is enetered into assasanations by a group including Morgan Freeman as Sloan the boss and Fox played by Angelina as a assasian. They train him to be able to use his powers bend bullets, slow time and kill.

The ending was really interesting which i do not want to say alot about as i dont want to spoil it for those who are going to see it. The end quotation i found unique as Wesley addresses the audience and says- This is me taking back control of my life. What the fuck have you done lately'.

SPFX

The film was rated at a 18 which i think is suitable for the content. There is alot of gore throughout the film, alot of blood, death and fighting. The assasanations were very realistic and the way they showed the bending of bullets was extroadinary.
There are alot of stunts that i thought made the film exciting and action packed and the audience is kept interested throughout. Wanted has everything a action movie needed, free running, parkar as well as car chases and gun fights.

Info

Timur shot the film Wanted in Chicargo and many of the chase scences including one with a helicopter were shot on Wacker Drive along the Chicargo river. I think filming the film here gives it a high standard quality. Wanted was seen as a low budget film but after adaptating scenes it raked in the most any of Angelina's action films has.

Cast

Wanted has a great cast which i think each really fit their roles.
James McAvoy was cast into the film in Oct 2006, he was first dropped after he lacked the hollywood good looks and physique but Timur later changed his mind and wanted someone ordinary and a little geeky.It was nice to see a younger, less perfect looking guy play this kind of role this made it more realistic and interesting.

Aswell as having Morgan Freeman who plays a very good bad guy in this film there is also Angelina Jolie is is always good at playing a kick ass female. Her role is played well and the screenwriter Dean Georgaris rewrote the screenplay to tailor the role for her.

Conclusion

Wanted is a action packed success which kept me interested from start to finish. I thought everything was done perfect, the acting, special effects and it has a really good soundtrack which i might consider buying after wqatching this film.
I havent been to the cinema in a while because there hasnt been hardly anything thats grabbed my attention. Wanted certainly achieved a excellent ,unique and different way of showing action.
I would definatley reccomend this film to anyone who likes action, violence and breath taking special effects.

Thanks for reading x