First off, I take back my prediction of Speed Racer being a future "fiasco" movie. It is definitely my year's secret success! With the internets and its series of tubes, it is rare to see a movie that can be described as "like nothing you have seen before." But the Wachioskis' have done it, in part by using that 360 degree Quicktime effect. Neato. The editing is fast-paced without inducing nausea and it is clear the Wachioskis respect their source material.
On the other hand, we have Wanted, which can only be described as bro'tastic. It takes the central thesis of Fight Club (a movie I begrudgingly respect (though its cohort of over-enthusiastic fans irk me, see any other piece of Fincher's work and you have seen a better movie)) and dumbs it down a bit. "Hey bro, does your life suck? You hate your loud mouth, obese FEMALE boss who constantly emasculates you? And your girlfriend is furious at you cause you disappeared for weeks to join a secret assassin organization? Well no longer! You are no ordinary bro but a super bro! Take that mundane life!
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, the director of Night Watch, a movie I can only describe as the Russian Battlefield Earth, Wanted does have the occasional interesting visual. But this guy cannot do coherent editing. The pandering to 18-24 bro demographic combined with mostly old/cliche visual tricks (bullet-time, slow-mo then fast-mo) made this just about the worst movie I have seen this year. Due to its moderate success, I do not think this is the end of the graphic-novel-turned-idiotic-brotastic-film we have seen. Please be good Watchmen!
Yes, I watched it.
15 years ago
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