October 30, 2007 12:04
Wanted: Does Anyone Want?
Man, I'd love to know how the meeting went down that put Timur Bekmambetov in charge of Wanted, due out next spring, starring Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman and Scot-of-the-moment James McAvoy, who is in every single movie released in 2007.
Not that I think it's a bad idea. Bekmambetov is the Russian action-auteur behind the beguiling, frustrating Night Watch and Day Watch, which I've blogged about before. He's got a wild visual imagination and some very Russian ideas about storytelling, which who even knows if they'll translate to the West. The storyline involves an office drone-turned-super assassin. Not bad for a start. Could be The Matrix, could be Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. (No, he didn't go there! But he did.)
But I'm eager to find out what Bekmambetov will do with an actual budget and big stars. Apparently somebody else is too. Some striking early stills from Wanted are here.
Update: Trailer is here.
About Nerd World
Lev Grossman
Lev Grossman blogs about anything and everything that could be plausibly labeled geeky--science fiction, fantasy, video games, comic books, tech stuff, and so on. If it could get you beaten up in junior high, it's fair game. About the Author
Matt Selman
Matt Selman has worked on eleven seasons and over two hundred episodes of The Simpsons. He currently serves as an Executive Producer. About the Author
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Reader Comments (3)
Trailer's up on Yahoo (http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809878244/video/4771511/), but the puffed importance of Morgan Freeman's monologue and Angelina Jolie in general actually made me want to see the movie less.
Posted by Lee | October 31, 2007 10:34 AM
A lot of shooting, stunts and explosion. But the story is kinda weak: that will probably work great at the box office...
Posted by Tiphaine | October 31, 2007 1:32 PM
Do not want what is being made. If, however, they scrap what story they have and follow the comic it's (very) loosely based on, then yes, I most defiantly want.
Movie: ultra loser finds out that his father was an assassin working for the Fates to maintain balance in the world and is trained to take his place (thereby keeping balance)
vs.
Comic: ultra loser finds out that his father was a super-villain assassin who belongs to a group who secretly took over the world in 1986, killed off all the heroes and made the general populace think that heroes are just comic characters and is trained to take his place (thereby indulging in everything he has ever wanted to do, with total carte blanche)
Posted by Jared G | November 1, 2007 10:39 AM