Movie News
35 New Images to Prove that Wanted Will Kick Ass
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on June 5, 2008
As if we needed any more inclinations as to whether or not the upcoming graphic novel adaptation Wanted is going to kick serious ass when it hits theaters on June 27th, the folks at Universal have released a huge lot of great images from the flick. With the release around the corner, the hype is growing — director Timur Bekmambetov is being heralded as the next big thing in Hollywood, James McAvoy may finally be recognized as an action star and Angelina Jolie — well, she is still smoking hot despite pregnancy.
In the photos below you will see all of the aforementioned participants, as well as supporting cast members Morgan Freeman, Common and Thomas Kretschmann. This highly-stylized action thriller, based on the work of comic legend Mark Millar, hits theaters later this month. Stay tuned for more coverage as the release gets closer.
| 
| Read more articles by Neil Miller
21 Comments
June 5th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I don’t see any proof that Wanted will kick ass. I see an over-reliance on CGI, cartoonish stunts, and a tattooed and too-skinny Bobblehead Jolie.
Maybe you meant proof that Wanted will suck ass.
June 5th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I agree with Rob. Good cast, but every action clip I’ve seen from the trailers have been absurd.
June 5th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
You guys realize this is based on a graphic novel about super-villains who have brainwashed superheroes and now run the world right? the movie doesn’t follow the same plot, but nonetheless it is based on a graphic novel
June 5th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
You guys are also aware that this is a movie, right? And that in a movie, if a storytelling creates a universe where the action can be “absurd”, then as long as they are true to the universe they’ve created, there is nothing really absurd about it…
As in, saying the action in this movie looks absurd is like looking at the Shire and saying, “Nope, that’s dumb — Orcs do not exist.”
June 5th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Two completely different things Neil… Orcs and the Shire are part of a fictional world where more than just the rules of physics have changed. Wanted hues a little too close to the ridiculousness of Shoot ‘Em Up or Crank. Its not simply a matter of being realistic or believable, the rules of the “universe” need to have a solid base… they just seem too flexible and willy-nilly in these movies. The effects have to work that much harder to make me believe… and those car scenes just aren’t looking that good.
And there have been plenty of great movies based on graphic novels Brian… Wanted just doesn’t look to be one of them.
June 5th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Unless the plot takes place within The Matrix, I think the stunts should at least abide by the laws of physics
June 5th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
35 reasons this film will suck. This film looks like a total piece of crap.
I guess if your into eating disorders and tats.
Some people like marking up there body with GPS coordinates and other bs that means nothing, but not me.
Funny how one picture crops off Jolies forhead so you just get those dsl lips.
Work it baby work it!!
What does Pitt see in this mess??
June 5th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
@790
It is true — I am into eating disorders and tats.
As well, I like remakes of 60s TV shows that are allegedly “not like the original”… :P
June 5th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Get Smarts gonna bomb Neil you know it!!
June 6th, 2008 at 12:15 am
I love eating disorders and tattoos, but I hate Angelina Jolie, so obviously I’m conflicted.
As for the movie, while I recognize its comic roots (and read a lot of comics), I also think their is too much CGI going on and, as a weapons fan, putting designs on your bullets totally ruins your flight stability, I mean come on!
June 6th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Recast this entire film and maybe it could be a rental.
The curve ball bullets are comical.
June 6th, 2008 at 9:38 am
I’m totally baffled by the lack of faith in this movie. I could understand it if it were casting issues, the director not being vetted, etc. but the physics is what’s throwing you off? You’re unconvinced that a bullet can curve or that a woman can drive with her feet?
Women-can’t-drive-with-their-hands jokes aside, if it takes that much suspension of disbelief to get into a movie, maybe you should be checking out biographies and Ken Burns’s work instead.
The comparison to The Matrix is a good one, since Wanted is a lot like it. Boring drone job, secret history, awesome stunts. Plus, the main character is a lot like Bullseye with perfect aim.
Seriously, though, if we’re going to start arguing that superhero (or supervillain in this case) movies should be “realistic”, we might as well pack up shop and head home.
In the mean time, someone explain to me how everything is in Grayscale in Schindler’s List. Now that’s a trippy world. Colors don’t exist! How unrealistic.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:36 am
I think the problem I have, and maybe some people have, is that if you’re not familiar with some details of the comics, you don’t think of these people as super-villains and super-people, but as normal people. It is yet to be seen what parts of the comic translate, but the world in which they exist (in the comic) has super-heroes, people like Superman or Braniac, Scarecrow, etc. A real Super-Powered world.
The trailers dont hint at that at all, so I feel like maybe they cut it, and then the unrealistic stuff is just that - unrealistic in an otherwise “normal” world.
But if supervillians actually exist and they toss a nod to that there are super people, then I’ll look past the CGI bullet bending.
June 6th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Looks like a pretty interesting movies, i’ll check it out for sure. I wasn’t aware that it was based on a novel, that’s cool. Even if this goes against physics i’m still game to check it out.
June 6th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
the PHYSICS are unrealistic and this is why you are uninterested? C’mon now, 9 out of 10 action movies don’t adhere to the laws of physics. Cars don’t REALLY burst into big flaming fireballs like they do in the movies, there’s just not the much gasoline or oil contained in them. Guns don’t hold enough rounds to allow the ‘hero’ or ‘anti’hero’ to mow down massive amounts of enemies without reloading once. Christ, the whole point of an action flick IS to see something that shouldn’t normally be possible.
I’m not really that interested in this particular film, but it’s not because of the non-adherence to the laws of physics. It’s more due to the fact that it’s just another in a long line of graphic novel/comicbook movie interpretations that is going to fall far short of the original book version. ‘Course, that always happens when you make a book into a movie.
Complaining about the “unrealism” is absurd. That’s the whole point of the movie.
June 6th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
There is a difference between Michael Bay explosions and Crank’s absurdism or Shoot ‘Em Up. Things get adjusted for film to make them look better. When hand grenades go off, there is no fire, just what looks to be dust. But we do accept some things.
Commando is a perfect example. Its pretty ridiculous. Unlimited ammo in his guns, throwing saw blades, big explosions, one man army. But he doesn’t curve bullets or jump through shatter proof glass and fly 50 feet out of a street or whatever the hell is going on.
There is a difference between exaggeration and a complete disregard of the entire movie. Some movies exaggerate well (Commando, Bad Boys II, Terminator 2, et al) and some movies step just far enough into the absurd it turns people off (Crank, Shoot Em Up, Wanted Trailer).
I will see this movie at some point, but honestly I dont like the look of it/the style so far, and bullet curving is just plain stupid.
June 6th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
neil miller has it down. its a movie and because it is a movie, we are watching that universe. whatever may happen in the movie is to be taken as possible in that universe, not the one we live in.
its kinda like Last Action Hero with arnold…there was a difference between before the kid went into the movie and when he was in it. when he was in it, everything was over the top action. out, it was back to normal life where 1 bullet can kill.
and dont base everything of a movie from the trailer. i know its hard not to because thats all you get to see before the movie is actually released, but i went to the NYC Comic Con with a buddy of mine and we saw some scenes from Wanted…more then the public has seen to date…and also heard the director speak/take q&a…
prior to this i agree with some of you about the car scenes and some of the action, but after seeing these “extended” scenes, im totalling convinced this movie will kick major ass. granted, if you dont like the kind of “over the top” action that it presents, your not gunna like it. but dont say its not gunna be a good watch. it might not be your cup of tea but that doesnt mean you can say its crap.
and crank/shoot em up were “ridiculous?” you dont like action movies huh Rob Hunter? or are you the kinda person that wants believable action?
please remember opinions are opinions. if you dont like something, you dont like it. i thought crank and shoot em up were pretty kick ass action movies….i LOVED the “absurd” over the top action. i felt they pulled it off just right.
i can see your basing your opinion SOLEY off of the trailer and its unforunate you do this. have more of an open mind. the entire plot isnt going to be told to you in the trailer.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
>> the entire plot isnt going to be told to you in the trailer
That’s an interesting comment given how many trailers now give away so much of the movie that it kills the experience.
Personally, I can look past curving bullets and what not if it fits the world of the story. My issue with Wanted is that it looks completely and totally charmless — as if it lacks any redeeming sense of soul or character. Perhaps it’s just poor marketing/badly cut trailer, but the movie simply looks like an assembly-line action film. I just don’t see anything to care about.
June 7th, 2008 at 12:12 am
prior to seeing the scenes at comic con, i agree. but after seeing them and seeing everything play out as it would in the movie, i dont. but its easy for me to say that when ive seen 3 5-8 minute long clips and most people have only seen the 2 minute trailers.
itll be better then the trailers show trust me
June 7th, 2008 at 10:00 am
@Chris - i saw some of those extended scenes as well at WonderCon earlier this year and they’re what I’m basing my opinion on. The entire car chase was absurd… I don’t care about her steering with her legs, I care that for someone who can apparently control bullets she can’t hit the bad guy’s tires even once? Don’t get me started on the flip through the air onto the side of the bus… bad effects don’t help. I love action movies, just not stupid looking ones like Wanted, Crank, Shoot ‘Em Up… As you said, opinions are opinions… it’s just that mine are more accurate than yours apparently. (Relax, that’s called a joke.) Read Fure’s comments above as he explains the distinction pretty darn well.
June 8th, 2008 at 1:13 am
Disliking a movie because it doesn’t adhere to the “laws of physics” is almost as laughable as a person who takes that position of opinion behaving as if they know the laws of physics. that being said, ITS A MOVIE PEOPLE. We know its make believe, so how can you dislike something that is make believe because it is not “real” enough. As far as the “bad CGI” from what I have seen it looks very crisp and natural. I don’t get the animosity, seems like negativity just for the sake of negativity, and thats just lame.