With the exception of Roger Ebert, Hancock has been universally panned. I’ve read quite a few reviews and they all say the same thing; the main character is unlikeable, the plot has too many holes in it, etc., etc. (ironically many critics said the same thing about Wanted, yet they all loved that movie). Is this a back lash against superhero movies in general? After all we’ve had Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Indiana Jones (he may not wear tights but Indy is a superhero nonetheless), with a new Hellboy and Batman movie still to come. Personally I don’t think it is a superhero backlash myself. It feels more like a Will Smith backlash on the part of many critics. Why would critics be anti Will Smith you ask. Well, he is one of the few people to come to the defense of Tom Cruise on his bizarre behavior and overly forceful advocation of Scientology, which had brought about a backlash on Cruise and this could have spilled over onto Smith. Of course that might be reading too much into it. It could just be that many critics are tired of every movie Will Smith makes going to Number 1 in it’s first week. Or maybe I’m just not in tuned with what makes a good film and Hancock really is as mediocre as they claim. Whatever the reason, it didn’t affect the box office as I and millions of other movie goers pushed the film to the top spot last weekend. After all, it’s not the Fourth of July any more without a Big Willie Weekend.
You know how you can tell if a summer blockbuster is really good? When Roger Ebert goes on for paragraph after paragraph about what’s wrong with a film and yet feels compelled to give it three stars for being so well made. Such is the case with the latest comic book adaptation to hit theaters, Wanted. Based on the graphic novel by Mark Millar and J. G. Jones, it tells the story of Westley Gibson (James McAvoy), a man beaten down by a meaningless life filled with a dead end job, bullying boss, a cheating girlfriend who is sleeping with his best friend, and Westley can’t seem to really get too work up about any of it. Then one day he is approached in a drug store by Fox (Angelina Jolie), who tells him he is the son of the greatest assassin in the world and then saves him from rouge assassin Cross (Thomas Kretschmann). Taken to meet Sloan (Morgan Freeman), Wesley discovers that there is a centuries old organization of assassins called The Fraternity that have killed people to keep the world in balance. It is Wesley’s destiny to join them and kill Cross who murdered Wesley’s father only days ago, or so it seems.
The film diverges greatly from the graphic novel, which had a similar set up except for The Fraternity, in the book all of the world’s greatest villains had won and now controlled everything. One of their number gets bored with the complaisant life and starts killing them all, which leads to recruiting Wesley to save them. It was full of hints about the fate of such superheroes as Batman and Superman without actually naming them and was pure superhero comic book action. The film throws all of that out and tries to place things in a more realistic world, albeit one with people who can shoot bullets so that they curve around corners or stop another bullet in mid flight.
But hey, what’s a summer movie with out some Matrix style F/X? If you haven’t read the graphic novel , or can pretend you haven’t , Wanted is a great action packed thrill ride full of shoot outs, car chases and a couple of plot twists that cause you to reassess everything you’ve just seen. James McAvoy makes a good action hero, ably making believable Wesley’s transformation from put upon everyman to a steely eyed killer, though his Scottish accents pops up a few times. Angelina Jolie is awesome as the drop dead gorgeous cold blooded assassin who isn’t as heartless as she appears. And Morgan Freeman is his usual commanding and dignified self.
It may be preposterous when you think about it, but as a piece of mindless action Wanted is just the thing to chase away the blues on a lackluster day.
I was feeling nostalgic this past weekend and rented the classic Sword and Sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian (1982), the first and best of the eighties hack and slash films. While watching I was reminded of how good a film it was, well made, and well acted. The image of it’s star Arnold Schwarzenegger has morphed over the years into a nominal actor who makes action films where his most notable trait is an ability to snap out a designed, witty catchphrase after killing someone. But Conan reminded me that before he became The action star of the nineties, he was a pretty good actor. He runs the gamut of emotions here; rage, sorrow, love, lust, and a deep seated feeling of loss. What really makes him shine in the role though are those moments when he is sitting alone and thinking. Arnold is a good enough actor that he can actually convey that he is thinking. Which is why after all is said and done, it is Conan and not the T-1 that will be Arnold’s most enduring film role.
