Help ‘Wanted’ review

Whoa, so I just got out of the experience known as Wanted. I wish I hadn’t seen that second longer trailer, as some visual gags were a little spoiled for me, but overall, I enjoyed this movie a lot. It’s FULL of problems, and has plenty of Eastern European idiosyncrasies but whew, I feel both pumped up and exhausted. I want to go beat up a hobo or something.

Some pros and cons after the jump, with no spoilers..

PROS:

– It’s rare that I go to the movies and see stunts or sequences I’ve never seen before and Wanted has oh so many. Very clever gags. Ridiculous stunts. I don’t care if it’s all CG, it still looked cool to me.
– A high frickin’ body count. This is a hard-R and then some. Innocent people bite it, bad guys bite it, everyone bites it. The third act is full of such incredible violence, that I’m almost tempted to wish this guy would direct the Robocop remake (better him than Len Wiseman).
– I think Zach Snyder was there; I could be wrong, but that just made it feel all the better.
– One of the last shots in the movie is probably one of my favorite shots of all time. I wish I could make it into a T-shirt.

CONS:

– James McAvoy. I don’t think I like this guy. While I warmed up to him during the flick, he just felt like a weak version of Tobey Maguire or Ed Norton. Some of the things he says and does are just weird to watch, though in his defense, I doubt anyone could have pulled off some of the bits in the movie.
– Angelina Jolie. Half the movie she’s just standing back staring at McAvoy. She’s also looking a little strange… though please do not interpret this as me not finding her irresistibly sexy. KTHXBYE.
– The music. What the F was up with that soundtrack? Sometimes the score is all over the place. It’s badd.
– It’s awkward, really awkward in parts. Some of it flows amazing, but there are many times it just feels off. I’m not sure whether to fault the director, the screenplay or the actors, but sometimes it just feels like it missed the mark of a punchline or action sequence; something that Cameron would have nailed back in the day. I still enjoy the scene, but I sit back saying, “if they just turned it up a little, it could have been awesome.”
– The prelude to the final action scene. It’s tenuous at best, though I suppose by that point you’ve already seen some crazy shit, you can buy a really wacky premise.

From what I hear, WALL-E will blow my expectations away as well, so holy cow, two awesome movies in one weekend? The Gods must be crazy!

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