Fans of Millar’s comic book will not recognize Wanted. Gone is the notion of villainy, gone is the egoism and “we do what we want” stance of The Fraternity, and many of the characters have been switched around. Much of the comic book’s trademark snarky boastfulness is gone, too. In its place, Bekmambetov has inserted feral action sequences and a breathless pace. Is it a fair transaction?
First of all, the action sequences work despite their madness. Cars flip over, trains derail and plummet several thousand feet, and bullets bend around sexy women. These elements all stack up nicely to form a neat blockbuster, although the CGI is less than flawless and sequences unfurl in slapdash ways.
Bekmambetov is hoping that audiences buy the action sequences and will ignore almost everything else. The folly of the Loom of Fate is something I can’t even begin to grasp. The idea of predestination is compelling, but the surface is barely touched and Freeman’s Sloan tosses one incidental elucidation after another in an attempt at explaining how this whole process actually works. Fox steps in, as though to give Sloan a breather, but her cheesy dissertation is no better. In the end, explaining the ethics of The Fraternity would have been a whole lot easier had the original storyline of treachery and self-image been kept in place.
The fact that Millar’s original tone and story is left on the sidelines makes for some interesting dilemmas for the characters. For instance, Jolie’s Fox is basically eye candy with a trivial purpose, but her attitude is left to her looks and her few speaking parts. Instead of utilizing the comic book’s Fox, an unscrupulous African-American woman more suited to Halle Berry, the screenplay was written with Jolie in mind and the character was altered to habitually excuse any sign of bad behaviour. Odd.
Same goes for McAvoy’s Wesley. Thrust into The Fraternity, he begins a bizarre trading of validation and overconfidence that never really takes hold. At times geeky, at times narcissistic, and at times mean, we’re never quite sure where Gibson is going or how he’s trying to get there. The screenplay’s flaws are exposed when the characters attempt to over-rationalize their subsistence and conduct.
Article comments