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

(+) Yeah! (+)

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.

The whole point of Big Trouble in Little China is that Jack Burton didn't realize he was the sidekick. It's a comedy.

And even the studio didn't get the joke. That's why they mandated that intro stressing his contributions. They thought he was legitimately supposed to be the bad ass hero.

The movie didn't play it straight. Jack Burton fired a gun into the air and knocked himself out when a piece of the roof fell on him. That's comedy.

And I never saw Kick-Ass. If it's on any streaming service that I have access to, I should probably rectify that. <_<

Even if it's part of the joke.

Key details.

If they decided at the last moment that the movie wasn't going to be a comedy and Jack was still going to spend half the climax knocked out or trapped beneath a heavier opponent, it probably wouldn't have worked as well as it did.

And Wanted isn't a bad movie.

It just doesn't reach its fullest potential. The weak protagonist / strong supporting character works to the movie's detriment. Had Angelina Jolie been the protagonist, or had James McAvoy's character made a better account of himself, I think far more people would be talking about it.

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

I didn't like it very much.

The climax is a bigger problem than the win/loss record. It's true that the hero looks a little wimpy because of it, but

you have Angelina's character shooting McAvoy's character and wounding him. She has that "I'm the bad guy?" moment. Then she takes herself and the other assassins out. Afterward, McAvoy picks himself up to find Morgan Freeman has escaped. We get a closing narration and Freeman is assassinated in an anticlimax.

The star of the movie isn't really a factor. If he had a big final showdown with Morgan Freeman, the ball would have been back in his court. Instead, his victory is a footnote to Jolie's victory/sacrifice. That scenario would have worked far better with her as the star of the movie and him as the apprentice/narrator.

Even if you like the movie, it ends on a forgettable note for our young antihero.

I would agree with you that more realistic protagonists would be refreshing. But this is a movie where people leap from rooftops and cause bullets to curve at impossible angles.

The film's problems stem from the way that Angelina Jolie's character was set up to overshadow the protagonist. She gets the climactic showdown, she gets the action that matters, she gets the emotional content, and gets the winning record against James McAvoy's character. This would be great if she were the star instead of him. She's not. Her character comes into the story late. The story doesn't follow her. She's a supporting character through and through. When it comes time for those moments where the protagonist typically gets a chance to prove himself or herself, the film gives them to a character who was never intended to be the star. That is a flaw in the film's story structure.

And it's not like the movie lacks a fight scene. The main character has that knife fight with the guy who helped train him. The action in that scene is solid. The problem is that the opponent is nobody in terms of the story. It's not an emotional payoff or meaningful conflict to see our protagonist fight Trainer #2.

It's not whining to critique a story. The story has structural flaws. That's why I got it out of a $5 DVD bargain bin at Wal*Mart in 2009.

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

No doubt an incel made Wanted. It's based on a comic book ffs

Millar might be an incel.

I watched the video in the OP, and...the explosions were pretty cool, I guess? But most of the action isn't even close to John Wick's level. There's a ton of random cuts, a lot of "main character shooting guns toward the camera, then shots of random goons dying with blood mist popping off their heads"

It was pretty underwhelming. I like shots with high clarity and readability. I want to see the gun fire and the guy get hit within the same cut. That's good action to me. Slow motion helps, but only if it enhances the detail.

Honestly, a lot of the video you posted is just McAvoy running and flailing his arms around while making muzzle flashes for people to react to. Or maybe they're CGI muzzle flashes; can't really tell, but it's not that amazing to watch.

yeah this isnt even remotely accurate

Ok? If you're not going to elaborate I'll just have to assume you have terrible reading comprehension.

I'd say Atonement and The Last King of Scotland were the movies that really launched his career. But Wanted definitely helped make him into an action star.

Frank? I wouldn't be surprised lol

Nothing the hell makes sense in John Wick. It's what I call "pathetic fake realism".

Yeah, good thing I didn't say Wanted was literally the first movie he was noteworthy in. Before Wanted he was just that guy in the Forrest Whittaker and Keira Knightley movies.

again lol
what the hell is up with you judging based on who fights who. it's really childish.

also do you have the same issue with Kickass then (assuming you watched that movie but seems like you didnt)

I wouldn't compare it to John Wick at all.

That being said, it has a naked Angelina Jolie in it and Chris Pratt gets fucked up with a keyboard. 2 things CE should love.