Current Events > Before John Wick, there was Wanted. The most underrated action movie in history

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I9setQfcSQ

It actually received about 80-90% RT score when it first came out and grossed really well for an M18 movie at its time. Even spawned a video game featuring the amazing curved bullet time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn-3s38EKaA

Yet fast forward today it's like no one is even aware about the movie at all!

I didn't like it very much.

It was okay. I'm glad it wasn't overtly edgy like the comics, but I wish they stuck with elements of it, like the society supervillains the secretly ruled the world instead of assassins.

DeadBankerDream posted...

I didn't like it very much.

https://youtu.be/hkL8a9RlLU0

Wanted was a gun fu movie?

Starlord vs Stampede

It basically launched James McAvoy's career, and probably helped get Kick Ass made

It's not really comparable to John Wick, but it is a good movie.

Replacement Killer>>>wanted

Hard Boiled = BEST GUN FU MOVIE EVAR

Veggeta_MAX posted...

Hard Boiled = BEST GUN FU MOVIE EVAR

Whats a gun fu?

DB_Insider posted...

Whats a gun fu?

Highly choreographed gun fights thats reminiscent of kung fu movies.

SwayM posted...

Highly choreographed gun fights thats reminiscent of kung fu movies.

Close-Quarter Combat

Is this the movie were they said you could curve bullets by swinging your arm while shooting? It looked really stupid to me.

I always see people shit on the movie, but I really liked it.

DB_Insider posted...

Whats a gun fu?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_fu

Isn't Equilibrium a cult classic for yall? How do you not know about this genre?

I expected it to be crap and was quite surprised by how much I like it.

Would rank it along Kingsman before John Wick though

Veggeta_MAX posted...

Hard Boiled = BEST GUN FU MOVIE EVAR

better than Equilibrium?

I think taken would be a much better comparison.

Ricemills posted...

better than Equilibrium?

It's the best gun fu movie ever. John Woo is the father of this genre.

Hard Boiled was not a "gun fu" movie, I mean unless you consider waving around an MP5 and 20 guys falling down dead "gun fu"

At least the "curve the bullet" meme was fairly popular

CommonGrackle posted...

Hard Boiled was not a "gun fu" movie, I mean unless you consider waving around an MP5 and 20 guys falling down dead "gun fu"

It is, bro.

CE would love Wanted, Chris Pratt gets the shit slapped out of him with a keyboard

I only remember the ending, which I wasn't a fan of.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


He was the work friend, that was also having Wesley buy condoms that he used to fuck Wesley's girlfriend

Seaman_Prime posted...

CE would love Wanted, Chris Pratt gets the shit slapped out of him with a keyboard

The fuck. He was in that movie?

I'm pretty sure it violated the laws of every single field of science.

Even geology.

I'm good with it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7mmuQteX1qA

Seaman_Prime posted...

CE would love Wanted, Chris Pratt gets the shit slapped out of him with a keyboard

Despite not seeing the movie since it released in theaters, I can vividly picture that scene. Didn't even realize it was Chris Pratt, but now my memory fills it in as Chris Pratt lmao.

DrizztLink posted...

I'm pretty sure it violated the laws of every single field of science.

Even geology.

I'm good with it.

RenescoStCewl posted...

Is this the movie were they said you could curve bullets by swinging your arm while shooting? It looked really stupid to me.

And that's what makes the movie so great. The willingness to go overboard is just so rare in hollywood blockbusters.

The movie also shines in being just as realistic as it was overboard, as compared to the outlandish Miller comic source material. Wanted is basically the very epitome of gun fu fights. The assassins are so good with guns they can literally shoot each other with their bullets slamming together pinpoint and cancelling each other out. They can literally BLOCK BULLETS with BULLETS. They can also snipe people from god knows how far away with CURVED SNIPER BULLETS.

Also that scene where Wesley punches the guy while shooting at the same time (I call it "a punch shot") is probably what inspired the same moves seen in John Wick

The problem with Wanted is that Angelina Jolie dominates the movie from a supporting role.

It's never a good structure to have a big sidekick and a little hero. They should have made it Angelina Jolie's movie or else they should have cooled her character off a bit and let James McAvoy shine a bit.

((MAJOR SPOILERS))

Angelina Jolie's character defeats James McAvoy's character in three consecutive fights, then takes out ALL of the bad guys while committing suicide. The only thing McAvoy gets to do in the entire movie is shoot Morgan Freeman in the back.

Oh, and he hits Chris Pratt with a keyboard. I guess that's something.

Seaman_Prime posted...

CE would love Wanted, Chris Pratt gets the shit slapped out of him with a keyboard

What a piece of shit douche he was in that flick.

Awesome fun movie. Surprised Matthew Vaughn didn't get a shot to direct that one.

The movie Wanted made the comic Wanted look good.

I hated the comic.

When people get mad about the movie not matching the comic, I remind them that the protagonist in the comic is a rapist and therefore undeserving of a faithful adaptation.

FortuneCookie posted...

When people get mad about the movie not matching the comic, I remind them that the protagonist in the comic is a rapist and therefore undeserving of a faithful adaptation.

To give the comic credit, and I promise you that I am loath to do this, the entire premise of the comic is that they are all full-fledged Supervillains and nobody is a good person.

I've always hated gratuitous rape in media. I'm glad that's mostly gone the way of the dinosaur.

Holy shit, I never knew it was Chris Pratt that was the guy that gets slapped by the keyboard. That's pretty fucking hilarious.

Anyways it's a very good movie with some amazing action scenes. I guess my problem was that the plot was very basic, which probably isn't even that bad of a deal since John Wick films are also basic. I guess I'm a more "hand to hand" kind of combat guy than gun shooting, but Wanted did an amazing job with it's "bullet bending" premise.

FortuneCookie posted...

The problem with Wanted is that Angelina Jolie dominates the movie from a supporting role.

It's never a good structure to have a big sidekick and a little hero. They should have made it Angelina Jolie's movie or else they should have cooled her character off a bit and let James McAvoy shine a bit.

((MAJOR SPOILERS))

Angelina Jolie's character defeats James McAvoy's character in three consecutive fights, then takes out ALL of the bad guys while committing suicide. The only thing McAvoy gets to do in the entire movie is shoot Morgan Freeman in the back.

Oh, and he hits Chris Pratt with a keyboard. I guess that's something.

bro, McAvoy just went from computer nerd loser to badass gun-wielder solo-killing dozens of armed guys all at once.

expecting him to overpower Angelina Jolie, a seasoned trained assassin, is too much. Also that sounds kinda misogynistic for you to somehow be disappointed Jolie is winning? I actually like that. Not often we have a dominating female sidekick (at least back then that wasnt a trend...)

Prestoff posted...

Holy shit, I never knew it was Chris Pratt that was the guy that gets slapped by the keyboard. That's pretty fucking hilarious.

Anyways it's a very good movie with some amazing action scenes. I guess my problem was that the plot was very basic, which probably isn't even that bad of a deal since John Wick films are also basic. I guess I'm a more "hand to hand" kind of combat guy than gun shooting, but Wanted did an amazing job with it's "bullet bending" premise.

The story revolves around one big twist in the end if you recall. It's actually pretty good since it misleads you at the beginning to believe who is good and who is bad

Compsognathus posted...

The movie Wanted made the comic Wanted look good.

I hated the comic.

yeah, the comic was horrendous edgy trash. Everyone in the comic were douchebags doing every despicable thing you can imagine and trying to toss in as many vulgarities into every word they utter in dialogue boxes. i get it's about villains, but I think Millar went way too far to borderline edge territory (well, like he always does). I dont even know why the movie producers even call it an adaptation. Just call it an original IP and make more money without the royalties to pay to Mark Millar.
Not like most people even knew the comic to begin with anyway

If they're gonna adapt it, at least give Wesley his costume, man. He looked so badass in that

Wutobliteration posted...

The story revolves around one big twist in the end if you recall. It's actually pretty good since it misleads you at the beginning to believe who is good and who is bad

You made me want to rewatch this movie now because I barely remember most of it. I only remember liking that the action scenes are actually really good with great chereography and doesn't fall too much in line with the other gimmicks like shaky camera and fighting in darkly lighted rooms. Of course I could be wrong, but that is all I can recollect.

Wutobliteration posted...

expecting him to overpower Angelina Jolie, a seasoned trained assassin, is too much. Also that sounds kinda misogynistic for you to somehow be disappointed Jolie is winning? I actually like that. Not often we have a dominating female sidekick (at least back then that wasnt a trend...)

FortuneCookie posted...

It's never a good structure to have a big sidekick and a little hero. They should have made it Angelina Jolie's movie or else they should have cooled her character off a bit and let James McAvoy shine a bit.

The first option was to make it Angelina Jolie's movie. Letting McAvoy win was the second option. It has nothing to do with sex or gender. It's with how stories are told.

In the movie,
Jolie beats up McAvoy for being whiny. That's one.
Jolie shoots floor out from under McAvoy to try and kill him. He survives, but that's two.
Finally, she shoots and wounds him during the climax of the movie before eliminating herself and the other assassins. That's three. The protagonist of the movie is 0 for 3 against a supporting character. That does not happen in action movies.

There's a scene where they're having a race on a train and Angelina trips him. They could have easily changed that so that they're play fighting and he wins. That way, the score would be Angie 3, James 1. That's far better. But that still leaves us with the issue that she takes out all of the assassins and leaves McAvoy nothing to do in the climax of the movie. He shoots Morgan Freeman's character in ambush during the film's epilogue.

It would have been for the best if McAvoy's character was more of a narrator and Jolie's character was the true protagonist of the movie. That would have meant dialing McAvoy a bit and giving Jolie more screentime. As it stands, the individual who has the most screentime has very little of the action that matters.

You wouldn't have a James Bond movie where Superman is his sidekick and all 007 gets to do in the movie is remove the kryptonite. If Angelina Jolie is to be far and away better than James McAvoy, it should be her movie and not his.

I always loved the movie. Hoo boy that comic was on some whole other shit though. Also the fact that he ended up looking like Eminem was so weird and unnecessary.

FortuneCookie posted...

Jolie shoots floor out from under McAvoy to try and kill him. He survives, but that's two.

I'm pretty sure he did that himself, which would give him a win

Dunno why it matters tho

wanted is total garbage and so is the graphic novel

If you can't see what's wrong with the sidekick solving everything and defeating the hero in 3 out of 3 contests, I can't explain it to you. The movie would've been better off with Angelina Jolie as the star. Make McAvoy the sidekick and you have a much stronger movie.