Wanted (film)
Encyclopedia
Wanted is a 2008 action film, very loosely based on the comic book miniseries of the same name
by Mark Millar
and J.G. Jones. The film is written by Chris Morgan
, Michael Brandt, and Derek Haas
, directed by Timur Bekmambetov
, and stars James McAvoy
, Angelina Jolie
, Morgan Freeman
, Thomas Kretschmann
, Common, Terence Stamp
, and Konstantin Khabensky
. The storyline follows Wesley Gibson (McAvoy), a frustrated accountant who discovers that he is the son of a professional assassin
and decides to join The Fraternity, the secret
guild
in which his father worked.
Production began in April 2007, with filming in the Czech Republic to later superimpose the sets on images of Chicago. Wanted was released on June 25, 2008 in the United Kingdom and two days later in the United States, to both critical and commercial success. It was nominated for two Academy Awards
: Best Sound Editing
and Best Sound Mixing.
, Wesley Gibson works at a dead-end desk job with an overbearing boss, takes anti-anxiety medication for panic attack
s, and has a live-in girlfriend who cheats on him with his best friend Barry. One night in the pharmacy, Wesley is told by a mysterious woman named Fox that his father was a recently murdered assassin, and the killer, Cross, is after him. Cross and Fox engage in a shoot-out followed by a car chase in the streets of Chicago. Wesley manages to escape and Fox then has a shoot out again with Cross, causing a car accident that knocks Wesley unconscious. Fox brings Gibson to the headquarters of The Fraternity, a thousand-year-old secret society
of assassins. The group's leader, Sloan, explains that Wesley's panic attacks are actually the untrained expression of a rare superhuman ability
; when stressed, the drastically increased heart rate
and adrenaline
levels result in bursts of superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes – demonstrated when he successfully shoots the wings off of a fly. The Fraternity can teach him to control this ability, so Wesley can follow in his father's footsteps as an assassin, beginning by inheriting his fortune. Wesley is initially reluctant and returns to work, only to finally snap when discovering several million dollars in his bank account. He excoriates his boss in front of the entire office, and on his way out, smashes Barry in the face with a computer keyboard. Fox is waiting outside to take him back to the Fraternity headquarters—an unassuming textile mill.
Wesley is then subjected to brutal training; among other forms of combat, he learns to fire bullets to curve around objects. Afterward, Wesley is shown the Loom of Fate, a loom
that gives the names of the targets through binary code
hidden in weaving
errors of the fabric. Those the Loom identifies will apparently cause tragedy in the future; but only Sloan sees and interprets the names fate
wishes to see dead. Wesley is initially reluctant about killing people. Then Fox reveals that in her childhood, a hired killer
burned her father alive in front of her—and said hitman was supposed to be killed by the Fraternity before that, but the assassin failed to pull the trigger. She now considers preventing such tragedy her mission.
After several routine missions and a chance meeting with Cross, in which Wesley is shot in the arm with a deliberately traceable bullet, Sloan grants Wesley's wish to avenge his father and sends him after Cross—but then secretly gives Fox a mission to kill Wesley, saying that his name had come up in the Loom as well. Analyzing the bullet that hit Wesley, it is discovered that the manufacturer was Pekwarsky, a bullet-maker living in eastern Moravia
. Wesley and Fox travel there and capture Pekwarsky, who arranges a meeting with Cross. Wesley faces Cross alone on a moving train. Fox steals a car and crashes it into the train, eventually causing a derailment
. After Cross saves Wesley’s life by preventing him from falling into a ravine, Wesley fatally shoots him. Before dying, Cross reveals that he is Wesley's real father. Fox confirms this, and explains that Wesley was recruited because he was the only person that Cross would not kill. Fox then reveals the kill order on Wesley and raises her gun, but Wesley escapes by shooting out the glass underneath him and plunging into the river below.
Wesley is retrieved by Pekwarsky, who takes him to his father's apartment, located across the street from Wesley's old home. Pekwarsky explains that Sloan started manufacturing targets for profit after discovering that he was targeted by the Loom of Fate, and did not tell the Fraternity members that they were now nothing more than paid killers. Cross discovered the truth and went rogue, and started killing Fraternity members to keep them away from his son. Pekwarsky departs, stating that Wesley's father wished him a life free of violence. Wesley, however, decides to take out Sloan after discovering a secret room containing all of his father's weapons and maps.
An enraged Wesley assaults the Fraternity's textile mill-fortress and battles his way through it, killing nearly every Fraternity member in the process. Upon entering Sloan's office, he reveals Sloan's deception to the master assassins present in the room. Sloan reveals that all of their names had come up in the weaving, and that he had merely acted to protect them. Were they to follow the code, every one of them should kill themselves on the spot. Fox, who believes in the code more than anyone due to her own experience, turns on her fellow assassins, and curves a bullet that kills every Fraternity member in the room, including herself, but not before she throws her gun to Wesley and saves him. Sloan manages to escape, and Wesley destroys the Loom of Fate.
Wesley, penniless once again, is left aimless. A man is then seen at a computer, much like Wesley at the beginning of the film. Sloan appears and points a gun at the back of the man's head. At that moment, the man turns around and is revealed to be a decoy. Sloan is then killed by Wesley using a long-distance bullet. Similar to the comic book miniseries
, the film ends with Wesley stating his accomplishments, then turning to the camera, breaking the fourth wall
and asking the audience "What the fuck have you done lately?", then the credits roll.
miniseries
Wanted
by Mark Millar
and J.G. Jones first attracted the attention of Universal Pictures
executive Jeff Kirschenbaum, a comic book fan who sought a film adaptation
that would be considered a "hard-R" and encouraged the studio to pick up the rights to the miniseries. By 2004, producer Marc Platt
set up development of the film adaptation. In December 2005, Russian
-Kazakh
director Timur Bekmambetov
was attached to helm the project as his first English-language film, with the script being written by Derek Haas
and Michael Brandt. Millar did not like the first draft of the script. He explained:
Director Timur Bekmambetov said that the film would keep the same characters from the miniseries (which ultimately, did not happen) though the director would take liberty in adapting the comic book's world. In July 2006, screenwriter Chris Morgan
was hired to revise the third act of the Wanted script written by Haas and Brandt.
Haas and Brandt returned to polish the character of Wesley Gibson, which they had established in their first draft.
Wanted co-creator Mark Millar saw previsualized
footage for the film and said the footage had raised his expectations for the film adaptation.
Millar described the first half of the film as being close to the graphic novel, and also said that the film's ending was similar, though it was relocated elsewhere from the setting in the graphic novel. The superhero costumes in the series were also removed, with the exception of the leather attire worn by Wesley Gibson and Fox. Coincidentally, this had been Millar's intent when writing the graphic novel, although he and artist J. G. Jones had forgotten to. "I wanted them to have those powers and then just wear those costumes for the initiation, but just for one panel. And then I forgot." he said. Millar also stated he would have liked to keep the supervillain
mythos that dictates the original comic in the film.
Millar was favorable to most changes in the storyline, including the story arc of the Fates issuing death orders in line with the series' original theme of predestination.
Angelina Jolie asked for Fox to get killed, considering that "If she was to find out she had killed people unjustly and was a part of something that wasn't fair, then she should take her own life."
McAvoy was cast in the role in October 2006.
The Scottish actor, who portrays an American in the film, worked out to improve his physique for the film's action scenes, and suffered several injuries during shooting, including a twisted ankle and an injured knee.
Angelina Jolie was cast in March 2007 after screenwriter Dean Georgaris rewrote the screenplay to tailor the role for her.
Mark Millar became much more enthusiastic about the project after learning that Jolie had accepted the role of Fox, saying "the only way they could have got a bigger star to play this role is if they'd hired Tom Cruise
in drag."
Jolie decided to make Fox seem "distant and unattainable" by having her silent in many scenes. She mentioned Clint Eastwood
, who had recently directed her in the film Changeling
, as a possible influence for this aspect of her performance.
Common became interested in the role due to both the script and the prospect of working with actors McAvoy, Jolie, and Morgan Freeman.
Common learned a great deal about firearms as preparation for the role, but said he is not a strong supporter of guns in real life.
Konstantin Khabensky, who starred in Bekmambetov's Night Watch
, was cast so the director would have a familiar face around.
British television veteran Marc Warren accepted to work in the film because he always wanted to be in a Hollywood blockbuster. Thomas Kretschmann originally intended to pick up the comic series after being cast, but Bekmambetov convinced him not to. He practiced a lot of gun training to "look good and I look like I know what I’m doing".
Kristen Hager originally auditioned for Fox, but accepted the role of Cathy, considering it "fun to play".
along the Chicago River
, between Columbus Drive and LaSalle Street
. The opening scene was filmed using the Carbide & Carbon Building
.
Production moved to the Czech Republic later in May, scheduled for 12 weeks of shooting. Using a former sugar factory in Prague, production designer John Myhre
constructed a large textile factory as part of an industrial world, the setting of a mythological environment in which loom
s create fabrics that weavers interpret as assassination orders. Afterward, filming moved to Budapest
, then returned to Chicago in August. The film originally had both an alternate opening and an alternate ending. The alternate opening, a flashback to ancient times describing the history of the Fraternity and the Loom of Fate, is available on the special edition DVD and Blu-ray.
Eight visual effects
companies worked on the film, with the majority of work being done by Bekmambetov's company Bazelevs. Cars of both Chicago 'L'
and European Pendolino
trains were built, and were combined with computer-generated models
of said trains in the action scenes. Some of the action scenes had the actors practicing free running
and parkour
.
It was also the opening night film for the Los Angeles Film Festival
on June 19.
origin of the director, Universal released a specially localized version in Russia. The literary translation of the English dialog was written by the writer Sergey Lukyanenko
. Several texts appearing on the screen and important for the plot were translated using CGI, without using subtitles or a voice-over translation. Several famous Russian actors, most of which were also in Bekmambetov's Night Watch and Day Watch, dubbed the main characters, and Konstantin Khabensky dubbed himself as the Exterminator. James McAvoy also provided some words in Russian for Wesley Gibson.
Danny Elfman
's song "The Little Things" received a version in Russian, performed by Elfman himself, and Bekmambetov also directed a music video for the band Delta as part of a viral marketing
campaign in Russia.
.
Internationally the film grossed $33 million on its opening weekend, breaking records in Russia and South Korea.
Wanted grossed has $341,433,252, of which $134,508,551 was from North America and $206,924,701 elsewhere.
on December 2, 2008 in the U.S. Two versions were released including a single disc DVD and a two-disc edition of both the DVD and Blu-ray. A collectible two-disc gift-set DVD also included a photobook of the Assassins, collectible postcards and a lenticular
film cel
in an acrylic frame. The DVD debuted at second place on the charts (behind The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
), and generated over $65 million in revenue by February 2009.
The Blu-ray debuted at first place on the charts.
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
gives the film a score of 72% based on reviews from 193 critics, with a rating average
of 6.5 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that "Wanted is a fast-paced, crackling thrill ride tailor-made for the Summer audience." Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 77%, based on a sample of 35 reviews.
Metacritic
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 0—100 reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 64 based on 38 reviews.
Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly
encapsulated many critics' views, saying "Wanted is kind of unintelligible and idiotic. Also kind of nasty and brutish. And also undeniably kind of fun..."
Likewise, Tom Long of The Detroit News
said, "Wanted may be the most absolutely stone bonkers, crazy-good movie of the century. Or it may be a gargantuan piece of trash. Chances are it's a combination of the two. But man, does it rock."
Claudia Puig of USA Today
found the "thrilling stunts and hyperkinetic action scenes [to be] the undisputed stars of this surprisingly entertaining film."
Conversely, John Rosenblatt of The Austin Chronicle denounced those same attributes, saying, "If Maxim
magazine ever decides to branch out into filmmaking, Wanted is just the kind of ear-throttling nonsense it's bound to produce," and David Fear of Time Out New York called it "the cinematic equivalent of an energy drink. The film keeps artificially pumping your adrenal glands with mindless, malnutritional sensations, only to leave you crampy and cranky minutes later. ...[T]his exercise in ultraviolence then insults us by having a beaten, bloodied McAvoy inform viewers that he used to be a loser 'just like all of you.'"
Frank Lovece
of Film Journal International
, one of few mainstream critics to have read the comic-book
miniseries
, said the film compared poorly with the source material. Noting that the hero in the comic goes even further, "breaking the fourth wall and positioning himself so that he's 'prison-raping' and taunting the reader for having liked the series," Lovece found that, "While Millar may have contempt for his readers – and, by extension, the medium in which he works – at least he has his own vision, and gets it across with style and wit" that the movie lacked.
Roger Ebert
of Ebert & Roeper
said "Wanted slams the pedal to the metal and never slows down. Here’s an action picture that’s exhausting in its relentless violence and its ingenuity in inventing new ways to attack, defend, ambush and annihilate," while Richard Roeper
said, "It’s made for fans of films that really just want to see some great visuals, some amazing sequences and some terrific performances."
In the comics press, Erik Amaya of Comic Book Resources
said, "The film's biggest faults lie in how far it strays from the source," and that, "If you've ever seen any movie about leather-clad assassins, you already know how this film plays out. The speed and skill of the movie-making balance out those faults, however."
Tom McLean of Newsarama
noted that while the story deviated strongly from the source, the movie "stands out as a highly entertaining action film that preserves the comic's core premise and cheeky attitude while taking the story into very different but still satisfying territory."
Among European critics, Peter Bradshaw
of The Guardian
said, "It looks as if it has been written by a committee of 13-year-old boys for whom penetrative sex is still only a rumour, and the resulting movie plays like a party political broadcast on behalf of the misogynist party," concluding, "In an ideal world, the title would have the word 'Not' tacked on to the front."
Kim Newman
, writing in Empire
, praised Bekmambetov as "the most exciting action-oriented emigré since John Woo
," and commented that the film's gruesome violence "hint[s] at the comic's uncomfortable suggestion that escapism is merely a licence to become monstrous."
Wanted won the Empire Award for Best Sci-Fi / Superhero Movie of 2008. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, for Best Sound Editing
and Best Sound Mixing (Chris Jenkins
, Frank A. Montaño
and Petr Forejt
); the Critics Choice Award
for Best Action Movie, the Saturn Award
for Best Fantasy Film, three MTV Movie Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild Award
for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble.
was invited to do the score, and accepted because he was a fan of Timur Bekmambetov's previous films, Night Watch
and Day Watch
. Considering the film to be a "weird, twisted, sarcastic thing," Elfman decided to make a guitar-based soundtrack, with the "nastiest sounds" and a "heavy metal
approach."
The main song that features throughout the film and as the credits roll is a rock song written and performed by Elfman called "The Little Things". Initially, it was just a guitar riff, to which the producers first asked Elfman to add a beat, and then some lyrics. Then, while Elfman was in London scoring Hellboy II: The Golden Army, he received a call from Bekmambetov, asking him to make a full version of the song. "The Little Things" also received a version in Russian.
Also featured twice in the film is the song "Every Day Is Exactly the Same
" by Nine Inch Nails
. Played for comic relief after the initial car chase is the song "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes
, and "Time to Say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli
plays while Fox and Wesley kill a man in a limousine.
and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released for Microsoft Windows
, PlayStation 3
& Xbox 360
, it is not an adaption of the movie, but a follow-up, with its plot beginning five hours after the movie ended.
Wanted (comics)
Wanted is a comic book limited series written by Mark Millar, with art by J. G. Jones. It was published by Top Cow in 2003 and 2004 as part of Millarworld...
by Mark Millar
Mark Millar
Mark Millar is a Scottish comic book writer, known for his work on books such as The Authority, The Ultimates, Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Civil War, Wanted, and Kick-Ass, the latter two of which have been adapted into feature films...
and J.G. Jones. The film is written by Chris Morgan
Chris Morgan (writer)
Chris Morgan is an American screenwriter. His writing credits include the screenplays for The Fast and the Furious 3, 4 & 5 and Wanted.-Filmography:*Lloyd *Dialing Up 'Cellular...
, Michael Brandt, and Derek Haas
Derek Haas
Derek Haas is a writer.- Life and career :Derek Haas attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas where he earned both his B.A. and M.A. in English Literature. He lives in Los Angeles, and has made a name as a screenwriter and co-author of several successful Hollywood films. In 2008 he published his...
, directed by Timur Bekmambetov
Timur Bekmambetov
Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov is a Kazakh-born director, producer and screenwriter who has worked on films and commercials. He is mostly popular for the Russian film Night Watch and its sequel Day Watch , and the American film Wanted .-Early life:Bekmambetov was born on June 25, 1961 in the...
, and stars James McAvoy
James McAvoy
James McAvoy is a Scottish stage and screen actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in 1995's The Near Room and continued to make mostly television appearances until the early 2000s. His notable television work includes State of Play, Shameless, and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune...
, Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
, Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
, Thomas Kretschmann
Thomas Kretschmann
Thomas Kretschmann is a German actor best known for playing Leutnant Hans Von Witzland in the 1993 film Stalingrad, Hauptmann Wilm Hosenfeld in The Pianist, Hermann Fegelein in Der Untergang, and Captain Englehorn in the 2005 remake of King Kong.-Early life:Kretschmann was born in Dessau, former...
, Common, Terence Stamp
Terence Stamp
Terence Henry Stamp is an English actor. Since starting his career in 1962 he has appeared in over 60 films. His title role as Billy Budd in his film debut earned Stamp an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA nomination for Best Newcomer.His other major roles include...
, and Konstantin Khabensky
Konstantin Khabensky
Konstantin Khabensky is a Russian actor best known in the West for starring in the films Night Watch and Day Watch as the lead character Anton Gorodetsky....
. The storyline follows Wesley Gibson (McAvoy), a frustrated accountant who discovers that he is the son of a professional assassin
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
and decides to join The Fraternity, the secret
Secret society
A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
in which his father worked.
Production began in April 2007, with filming in the Czech Republic to later superimpose the sets on images of Chicago. Wanted was released on June 25, 2008 in the United Kingdom and two days later in the United States, to both critical and commercial success. It was nominated for two Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
: Best Sound Editing
Academy Award for Sound Editing
The Academy Award of Merit for Best Sound Editing is an Academy Award granted yearly to a film exhibiting the finest or most aesthetic sound editing or sound design...
and Best Sound Mixing.
Plot
In ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Wesley Gibson works at a dead-end desk job with an overbearing boss, takes anti-anxiety medication for panic attack
Panic attack
Panic attacks are periods of intense fear or apprehension that are of sudden onset and of relatively brief duration. Panic attacks usually begin abruptly, reach a peak within 10 minutes, and subside over the next several hours...
s, and has a live-in girlfriend who cheats on him with his best friend Barry. One night in the pharmacy, Wesley is told by a mysterious woman named Fox that his father was a recently murdered assassin, and the killer, Cross, is after him. Cross and Fox engage in a shoot-out followed by a car chase in the streets of Chicago. Wesley manages to escape and Fox then has a shoot out again with Cross, causing a car accident that knocks Wesley unconscious. Fox brings Gibson to the headquarters of The Fraternity, a thousand-year-old secret society
Secret society
A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
of assassins. The group's leader, Sloan, explains that Wesley's panic attacks are actually the untrained expression of a rare superhuman ability
Superpower (ability)
Superpower is a popular culture term for a fictional superhuman ability. When a character possesses multiple such abilities, the terms super powers or simply powers are used...
; when stressed, the drastically increased heart rate
Heart rate
Heart rate is the number of heartbeats per unit of time, typically expressed as beats per minute . Heart rate can vary as the body's need to absorb oxygen and excrete carbon dioxide changes, such as during exercise or sleep....
and adrenaline
Epinephrine
Epinephrine is a hormone and a neurotransmitter. It increases heart rate, constricts blood vessels, dilates air passages and participates in the fight-or-flight response of the sympathetic nervous system. In chemical terms, adrenaline is one of a group of monoamines called the catecholamines...
levels result in bursts of superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes – demonstrated when he successfully shoots the wings off of a fly. The Fraternity can teach him to control this ability, so Wesley can follow in his father's footsteps as an assassin, beginning by inheriting his fortune. Wesley is initially reluctant and returns to work, only to finally snap when discovering several million dollars in his bank account. He excoriates his boss in front of the entire office, and on his way out, smashes Barry in the face with a computer keyboard. Fox is waiting outside to take him back to the Fraternity headquarters—an unassuming textile mill.
Wesley is then subjected to brutal training; among other forms of combat, he learns to fire bullets to curve around objects. Afterward, Wesley is shown the Loom of Fate, a loom
Loom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...
that gives the names of the targets through binary code
Binary code
A binary code is a way of representing text or computer processor instructions by the use of the binary number system's two-binary digits 0 and 1. This is accomplished by assigning a bit string to each particular symbol or instruction...
hidden in weaving
Weaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...
errors of the fabric. Those the Loom identifies will apparently cause tragedy in the future; but only Sloan sees and interprets the names fate
Destiny
Destiny or fate refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual...
wishes to see dead. Wesley is initially reluctant about killing people. Then Fox reveals that in her childhood, a hired killer
Hitman
A hitman is a person hired to kill another person.- Hitmen in organized crime :Hitmen are largely linked to the world of organized crime. Hitmen are hired people who kill people for money. Notable examples include Murder, Inc., Mafia hitmen and Richard Kuklinski.- Other cases involving hitmen...
burned her father alive in front of her—and said hitman was supposed to be killed by the Fraternity before that, but the assassin failed to pull the trigger. She now considers preventing such tragedy her mission.
After several routine missions and a chance meeting with Cross, in which Wesley is shot in the arm with a deliberately traceable bullet, Sloan grants Wesley's wish to avenge his father and sends him after Cross—but then secretly gives Fox a mission to kill Wesley, saying that his name had come up in the Loom as well. Analyzing the bullet that hit Wesley, it is discovered that the manufacturer was Pekwarsky, a bullet-maker living in eastern Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
. Wesley and Fox travel there and capture Pekwarsky, who arranges a meeting with Cross. Wesley faces Cross alone on a moving train. Fox steals a car and crashes it into the train, eventually causing a derailment
Derailment
A derailment is an accident on a railway or tramway in which a rail vehicle, or part or all of a train, leaves the tracks on which it is travelling, with consequent damage and in many cases injury and/or death....
. After Cross saves Wesley’s life by preventing him from falling into a ravine, Wesley fatally shoots him. Before dying, Cross reveals that he is Wesley's real father. Fox confirms this, and explains that Wesley was recruited because he was the only person that Cross would not kill. Fox then reveals the kill order on Wesley and raises her gun, but Wesley escapes by shooting out the glass underneath him and plunging into the river below.
Wesley is retrieved by Pekwarsky, who takes him to his father's apartment, located across the street from Wesley's old home. Pekwarsky explains that Sloan started manufacturing targets for profit after discovering that he was targeted by the Loom of Fate, and did not tell the Fraternity members that they were now nothing more than paid killers. Cross discovered the truth and went rogue, and started killing Fraternity members to keep them away from his son. Pekwarsky departs, stating that Wesley's father wished him a life free of violence. Wesley, however, decides to take out Sloan after discovering a secret room containing all of his father's weapons and maps.
An enraged Wesley assaults the Fraternity's textile mill-fortress and battles his way through it, killing nearly every Fraternity member in the process. Upon entering Sloan's office, he reveals Sloan's deception to the master assassins present in the room. Sloan reveals that all of their names had come up in the weaving, and that he had merely acted to protect them. Were they to follow the code, every one of them should kill themselves on the spot. Fox, who believes in the code more than anyone due to her own experience, turns on her fellow assassins, and curves a bullet that kills every Fraternity member in the room, including herself, but not before she throws her gun to Wesley and saves him. Sloan manages to escape, and Wesley destroys the Loom of Fate.
Wesley, penniless once again, is left aimless. A man is then seen at a computer, much like Wesley at the beginning of the film. Sloan appears and points a gun at the back of the man's head. At that moment, the man turns around and is revealed to be a decoy. Sloan is then killed by Wesley using a long-distance bullet. Similar to the comic book miniseries
Wanted (comics)
Wanted is a comic book limited series written by Mark Millar, with art by J. G. Jones. It was published by Top Cow in 2003 and 2004 as part of Millarworld...
, the film ends with Wesley stating his accomplishments, then turning to the camera, breaking the fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
and asking the audience "What the fuck have you done lately?", then the credits roll.
Cast
- James McAvoyJames McAvoyJames McAvoy is a Scottish stage and screen actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in 1995's The Near Room and continued to make mostly television appearances until the early 2000s. His notable television work includes State of Play, Shameless, and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune...
as Wesley Allan Gibson, a meek 24-year-old who works in a cubicle, but learns he is heir to a legacy of assassins. - Morgan FreemanMorgan FreemanMorgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
as Sloan, leader of the Fraternity, and assassin partner of Wesley Gibson's deceased "father". - Angelina JolieAngelina JolieAngelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
as Fox, an accomplished member of the Fraternity who mentors Gibson. - Thomas KretschmannThomas KretschmannThomas Kretschmann is a German actor best known for playing Leutnant Hans Von Witzland in the 1993 film Stalingrad, Hauptmann Wilm Hosenfeld in The Pianist, Hermann Fegelein in Der Untergang, and Captain Englehorn in the 2005 remake of King Kong.-Early life:Kretschmann was born in Dessau, former...
as Cross, a rogue assassin who has left the Fraternity. - Common as Earl Malcolm Spellman a.k.a. "The Gunsmith", a professional gunman who trains others to use weapons.
- Konstantin KhabenskyKonstantin KhabenskyKonstantin Khabensky is a Russian actor best known in the West for starring in the films Night Watch and Day Watch as the lead character Anton Gorodetsky....
as The Exterminator, an expert in explosives who makes bombs and attaches them to rats. One of Wesley's only friends in the Fraternity. - Marc WarrenMarc WarrenMarc Warren is an English actor, known for his British television roles as Danny Blue in Hustle, Dougie Raymond in The Vice and Dominic Foy in State of Play.-Career:...
as The Repairman, an assassin who says he "breaks bad habits" by violently beating people. Trains Wesley in hand-to-hand combat and endurance. - Dato Bakhtadze as The Butcher, a master of knife work to the extent that he can block bullets. Trains Wesley in knife fighting.
- Terence StampTerence StampTerence Henry Stamp is an English actor. Since starting his career in 1962 he has appeared in over 60 films. His title role as Billy Budd in his film debut earned Stamp an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA nomination for Best Newcomer.His other major roles include...
as Pekwarsky, a master in the science of killing. Pekwarsky operates as a rogue agent outside of The Fraternity. He is also a craftsman who is able to build bullets both untraceable and capable of traversing long distances. One of Cross's compatriots. - David O'HaraDavid O'HaraDavid O'Hara is a Scottish actor.-Life and career:O'Hara was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of Martha and Patrick O'Hara, a construction worker....
as Mr. X, said to be the greatest assassin, and believed to be Wesley's father. His murder is the catalyst for Wesley's introduction into the Fraternity. - Chris PrattChris PrattChristopher Michael "Chris" Pratt is an American actor, best known for his roles as Harold Brighton "Bright" Abbott in the television series Everwood, the recurring character Winchester "Ché" Cook in season 4 of The OC, Andy Dwyer in the television series Parks and Recreation and for portraying...
as Barry, Gibson's co-worker and best friend, who is having an affair with Gibson's girlfriend. - Kristen HagerKristen HagerKristen Hager is a Canadian film and television actress.-Biography:Hager was born in Red Lake, Ontario, and made her first television appearance in the mini-series Beach Girls in 2005. A year later, she appeared in the TV series Runaway, which starred Donnie Wahlberg and child actress Niamh Wilson...
as Cathy, Gibson's unfaithful and bickering girlfriend. - Lorna Scott as Janice, Gibson's overbearing boss.
Writing
The comic bookComic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
Wanted
Wanted (comics)
Wanted is a comic book limited series written by Mark Millar, with art by J. G. Jones. It was published by Top Cow in 2003 and 2004 as part of Millarworld...
by Mark Millar
Mark Millar
Mark Millar is a Scottish comic book writer, known for his work on books such as The Authority, The Ultimates, Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Civil War, Wanted, and Kick-Ass, the latter two of which have been adapted into feature films...
and J.G. Jones first attracted the attention of Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
executive Jeff Kirschenbaum, a comic book fan who sought a film adaptation
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
that would be considered a "hard-R" and encouraged the studio to pick up the rights to the miniseries. By 2004, producer Marc Platt
Marc E. Platt
Marc E. Platt , also credited as Marc Platt, is an American film, television and theatre producer.-Life and career:Platt was raised in Pikesville, Maryland. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1979. He was an avid member of the Penn Glee Club during his time at the university...
set up development of the film adaptation. In December 2005, Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
-Kazakh
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....
director Timur Bekmambetov
Timur Bekmambetov
Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov is a Kazakh-born director, producer and screenwriter who has worked on films and commercials. He is mostly popular for the Russian film Night Watch and its sequel Day Watch , and the American film Wanted .-Early life:Bekmambetov was born on June 25, 1961 in the...
was attached to helm the project as his first English-language film, with the script being written by Derek Haas
Derek Haas
Derek Haas is a writer.- Life and career :Derek Haas attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas where he earned both his B.A. and M.A. in English Literature. He lives in Los Angeles, and has made a name as a screenwriter and co-author of several successful Hollywood films. In 2008 he published his...
and Michael Brandt. Millar did not like the first draft of the script. He explained:
Director Timur Bekmambetov said that the film would keep the same characters from the miniseries (which ultimately, did not happen) though the director would take liberty in adapting the comic book's world. In July 2006, screenwriter Chris Morgan
Chris Morgan (writer)
Chris Morgan is an American screenwriter. His writing credits include the screenplays for The Fast and the Furious 3, 4 & 5 and Wanted.-Filmography:*Lloyd *Dialing Up 'Cellular...
was hired to revise the third act of the Wanted script written by Haas and Brandt.
Haas and Brandt returned to polish the character of Wesley Gibson, which they had established in their first draft.
Wanted co-creator Mark Millar saw previsualized
Previsualization
Previsualization is a function to visualise complex scenes in movie before filming. It is also a concept in still photography...
footage for the film and said the footage had raised his expectations for the film adaptation.
Millar described the first half of the film as being close to the graphic novel, and also said that the film's ending was similar, though it was relocated elsewhere from the setting in the graphic novel. The superhero costumes in the series were also removed, with the exception of the leather attire worn by Wesley Gibson and Fox. Coincidentally, this had been Millar's intent when writing the graphic novel, although he and artist J. G. Jones had forgotten to. "I wanted them to have those powers and then just wear those costumes for the initiation, but just for one panel. And then I forgot." he said. Millar also stated he would have liked to keep the supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
mythos that dictates the original comic in the film.
Millar was favorable to most changes in the storyline, including the story arc of the Fates issuing death orders in line with the series' original theme of predestination.
Angelina Jolie asked for Fox to get killed, considering that "If she was to find out she had killed people unjustly and was a part of something that wasn't fair, then she should take her own life."
Casting
James McAvoy, who had screen-tested for the role early in 2006, was initially rejected because the studio was seeking an actor with conventional Hollywood leading-man looks and physique. McAvoy was later recalled, being considered the "runt of the litter" of those who tested. According to McAvoy, "They [ultimately] wanted someone geeky."McAvoy was cast in the role in October 2006.
The Scottish actor, who portrays an American in the film, worked out to improve his physique for the film's action scenes, and suffered several injuries during shooting, including a twisted ankle and an injured knee.
Angelina Jolie was cast in March 2007 after screenwriter Dean Georgaris rewrote the screenplay to tailor the role for her.
Mark Millar became much more enthusiastic about the project after learning that Jolie had accepted the role of Fox, saying "the only way they could have got a bigger star to play this role is if they'd hired Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
in drag."
Jolie decided to make Fox seem "distant and unattainable" by having her silent in many scenes. She mentioned Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
, who had recently directed her in the film Changeling
Changeling (film)
Changeling is a 2008 American drama film directed by Clint Eastwood and written by J. Michael Straczynski. Based on real-life events in 1928 Los Angeles, the film stars Angelina Jolie as a woman who is reunited with her missing son—only to realize he is an impostor. She confronts the city...
, as a possible influence for this aspect of her performance.
Common became interested in the role due to both the script and the prospect of working with actors McAvoy, Jolie, and Morgan Freeman.
Common learned a great deal about firearms as preparation for the role, but said he is not a strong supporter of guns in real life.
Konstantin Khabensky, who starred in Bekmambetov's Night Watch
Night Watch (2004 film)
Night Watch is a 2004 Russian supernatural thriller film directed by Timur Bekmambetov. It is loosely based on the novel The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, and is the first part of a trilogy, followed by Day Watch and ending supposedly with Twilight Watch .-Plot:In the prologue, which...
, was cast so the director would have a familiar face around.
British television veteran Marc Warren accepted to work in the film because he always wanted to be in a Hollywood blockbuster. Thomas Kretschmann originally intended to pick up the comic series after being cast, but Bekmambetov convinced him not to. He practiced a lot of gun training to "look good and I look like I know what I’m doing".
Kristen Hager originally auditioned for Fox, but accepted the role of Cathy, considering it "fun to play".
Filming
Location plate shooting took place in Chicago in April 2007. Several chase scenes, including one with a low flying helicopter, were shot in Chicago over two days, on Wacker DriveWacker Drive
Wacker Drive is a major street in Chicago, Illinois, United States, running along the south side of the main branch and the east side of the south branch of the Chicago River...
along the Chicago River
Chicago River
The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of the same name, including its center . Though not especially long, the river is notable for being the reason why Chicago became an important location, as the link between the Great Lakes and...
, between Columbus Drive and LaSalle Street
LaSalle Street
LaSalle Street is a major north-south street in Chicago named for Sieur de La Salle, an early explorer of Illinois. The portion that runs through the Loop is considered to be Chicago's financial district...
. The opening scene was filmed using the Carbide & Carbon Building
Carbide & Carbon Building
The Carbide & Carbon Building is a Chicago landmark located at 230 N. Michigan Avenue. The building, which was built in 1929, is an example of Art Deco architecture designed by Daniel and Hubert Burnham, sons of architect Daniel Burnham, and was designated a Chicago Landmark on May 9, 1996...
.
Production moved to the Czech Republic later in May, scheduled for 12 weeks of shooting. Using a former sugar factory in Prague, production designer John Myhre
John Myhre
John Myhre is an American production designer who has been working in Hollywood since the late 1980s.He received his first Academy Award nomination, for Best Art Direction, in 1998, for Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth, bringing him to the forefront of Hollywood production designers...
constructed a large textile factory as part of an industrial world, the setting of a mythological environment in which loom
Loom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...
s create fabrics that weavers interpret as assassination orders. Afterward, filming moved to Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, then returned to Chicago in August. The film originally had both an alternate opening and an alternate ending. The alternate opening, a flashback to ancient times describing the history of the Fraternity and the Loom of Fate, is available on the special edition DVD and Blu-ray.
Eight visual effects
Visual effects
Visual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
companies worked on the film, with the majority of work being done by Bekmambetov's company Bazelevs. Cars of both Chicago 'L'
Chicago 'L'
The L is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs. It is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority...
and European Pendolino
Pendolino
Pendolino is an Italian family of tilting trains used in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russian Federation, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Switzerland, China and shortly in Romania and Poland...
trains were built, and were combined with computer-generated models
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
of said trains in the action scenes. Some of the action scenes had the actors practicing free running
Free running
Freerunning is a form of urban acrobatics in which participants, known as freerunners , use the city and rural landscape to perform movements through its structures...
and parkour
Parkour
Parkour is a method of movement focused on moving around obstacles with speed and efficiency. Originally developed in France, the main purpose of the discipline is to teach participants how to move through their environment by vaulting, rolling, running, climbing and jumping...
.
Release
Wanted was initially set to be released in cinemas on March 28, 2008, but in December 2007, Universal announced it would be moving the release date later to June 27, 2008. Previews started in the UK on June 25.It was also the opening night film for the Los Angeles Film Festival
Los Angeles Film Festival
The Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times is an event held annually in June in downtown Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Film Festival began as the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1995. The first LAIFF took place over the course of five days in a single...
on June 19.
Russian localization
Given the RussianRussians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
origin of the director, Universal released a specially localized version in Russia. The literary translation of the English dialog was written by the writer Sergey Lukyanenko
Sergey Lukyanenko
Sergei Vasilievich Lukyanenko is a science fiction and fantasy author, writing in Russian, and is arguably the most popular contemporary Russian sci-fi writer...
. Several texts appearing on the screen and important for the plot were translated using CGI, without using subtitles or a voice-over translation. Several famous Russian actors, most of which were also in Bekmambetov's Night Watch and Day Watch, dubbed the main characters, and Konstantin Khabensky dubbed himself as the Exterminator. James McAvoy also provided some words in Russian for Wesley Gibson.
Danny Elfman
Danny Elfman
Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...
's song "The Little Things" received a version in Russian, performed by Elfman himself, and Bekmambetov also directed a music video for the band Delta as part of a viral marketing
Viral marketing
Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...
campaign in Russia.
Box office
Wanted debuted in 3,185 theaters and earned $50,927,085 in its opening weekend, placing it at second place after WALL-EWALL-E
WALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...
.
Internationally the film grossed $33 million on its opening weekend, breaking records in Russia and South Korea.
Wanted grossed has $341,433,252, of which $134,508,551 was from North America and $206,924,701 elsewhere.
Home media
Wanted was released on DVD and Blu-rayBlu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
on December 2, 2008 in the U.S. Two versions were released including a single disc DVD and a two-disc edition of both the DVD and Blu-ray. A collectible two-disc gift-set DVD also included a photobook of the Assassins, collectible postcards and a lenticular
Lenticular printing
Lenticular printing is a technology in which a lenticular lens is used to produce images with an illusion of depth, or the ability to change or move as the image is viewed from different angles...
film cel
Cel
A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid was used during the first half of the 20th century, but since it was flammable and dimensionally unstable it was largely replaced by cellulose acetate...
in an acrylic frame. The DVD debuted at second place on the charts (behind The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a 2008 epic fantasy film based on Prince Caspian, the second published, fourth chronological novel in C. S. Lewis's epic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. It is the second in The Chronicles of Narnia film series from Walden Media, following The...
), and generated over $65 million in revenue by February 2009.
The Blu-ray debuted at first place on the charts.
Reception
The film received generally positive reviews from critics.Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gives the film a score of 72% based on reviews from 193 critics, with a rating average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
of 6.5 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that "Wanted is a fast-paced, crackling thrill ride tailor-made for the Summer audience." Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 77%, based on a sample of 35 reviews.
Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 0—100 reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 64 based on 38 reviews.
Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
encapsulated many critics' views, saying "Wanted is kind of unintelligible and idiotic. Also kind of nasty and brutish. And also undeniably kind of fun..."
Likewise, Tom Long of The Detroit News
The Detroit News
The Detroit News is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival Free Press's building. The News absorbed the Detroit Tribune on February 1, 1919, the Detroit Journal on July 21, 1922, and on November 7, 1960,...
said, "Wanted may be the most absolutely stone bonkers, crazy-good movie of the century. Or it may be a gargantuan piece of trash. Chances are it's a combination of the two. But man, does it rock."
Claudia Puig of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
found the "thrilling stunts and hyperkinetic action scenes [to be] the undisputed stars of this surprisingly entertaining film."
Conversely, John Rosenblatt of The Austin Chronicle denounced those same attributes, saying, "If Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
magazine ever decides to branch out into filmmaking, Wanted is just the kind of ear-throttling nonsense it's bound to produce," and David Fear of Time Out New York called it "the cinematic equivalent of an energy drink. The film keeps artificially pumping your adrenal glands with mindless, malnutritional sensations, only to leave you crampy and cranky minutes later. ...[T]his exercise in ultraviolence then insults us by having a beaten, bloodied McAvoy inform viewers that he used to be a loser 'just like all of you.'"
Frank Lovece
Frank Lovece
Frank Lovece is an American journalist, author, comedy performer and comic book writer. He was additionally one of the first professional Web journalists, becoming an editor of a Silicon Alley start-up in 1996....
of Film Journal International
Film Journal International
Film Journal International is a motion-picture industry trade magazine published by the American company Prometheus Global Media. It is a sister publication of Adweek, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and other periodicals....
, one of few mainstream critics to have read the comic-book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
, said the film compared poorly with the source material. Noting that the hero in the comic goes even further, "breaking the fourth wall and positioning himself so that he's 'prison-raping' and taunting the reader for having liked the series," Lovece found that, "While Millar may have contempt for his readers – and, by extension, the medium in which he works – at least he has his own vision, and gets it across with style and wit" that the movie lacked.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of Ebert & Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
At the Movies was a movie review television program produced by Disney-ABC Domestic Television in which two film critics shared their opinions of newly released films. The program aired under various names...
said "Wanted slams the pedal to the metal and never slows down. Here’s an action picture that’s exhausting in its relentless violence and its ingenuity in inventing new ways to attack, defend, ambush and annihilate," while Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...
said, "It’s made for fans of films that really just want to see some great visuals, some amazing sequences and some terrific performances."
In the comics press, Erik Amaya of Comic Book Resources
Comic Book Resources
Comic Book Resources, also known as CBR is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book-related news and discussion.-History:Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1996 as a development of the Kingdom Come Message Board, a message forum that Weiland had created to discuss DC...
said, "The film's biggest faults lie in how far it strays from the source," and that, "If you've ever seen any movie about leather-clad assassins, you already know how this film plays out. The speed and skill of the movie-making balance out those faults, however."
Tom McLean of Newsarama
Newsarama
Newsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews and essays about the American comic book industry.-History:Newsarama began in Summer 1995 as a series of Internet forum postings on the Prodigy comic-book message boards by fan Mike Doran. In these short messages. Doran shared...
noted that while the story deviated strongly from the source, the movie "stands out as a highly entertaining action film that preserves the comic's core premise and cheeky attitude while taking the story into very different but still satisfying territory."
Among European critics, Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw is a British writer and film critic. He was educated at Cambridge University, where he was President of Footlights.Bradshaw is a film critic for The Guardian...
of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
said, "It looks as if it has been written by a committee of 13-year-old boys for whom penetrative sex is still only a rumour, and the resulting movie plays like a party political broadcast on behalf of the misogynist party," concluding, "In an ideal world, the title would have the word 'Not' tacked on to the front."
Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Kim Newman is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's Dracula at the age of eleven—and alternate fictional versions of history...
, writing in Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
, praised Bekmambetov as "the most exciting action-oriented emigré since John Woo
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...
," and commented that the film's gruesome violence "hint[s] at the comic's uncomfortable suggestion that escapism is merely a licence to become monstrous."
Wanted won the Empire Award for Best Sci-Fi / Superhero Movie of 2008. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, for Best Sound Editing
Academy Award for Sound Editing
The Academy Award of Merit for Best Sound Editing is an Academy Award granted yearly to a film exhibiting the finest or most aesthetic sound editing or sound design...
and Best Sound Mixing (Chris Jenkins
Chris Jenkins (sound engineer)
Chris Jenkins is an American sound engineer. He has won two Academy Awards for Best Sound and was nominated for another two in the same category...
, Frank A. Montaño
Frank A. Montaño
Frank A. Montaño is an American sound engineer. He has been nominated for five Academy Awards in the category Best Sound. He has worked on nearly 100 films since 1987.-Selected filmography:* Under Siege * The Fugitive...
and Petr Forejt
Petr Forejt
Petr Forejt is a Czech sound engineer. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Sound for the film Wanted. He has worked on over 40 films since 1990.-External links:...
); the Critics Choice Award
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
The Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, commonly called the Critics' Choice Awards, are bestowed annually by the Broadcast Film Critics Association to honor the finest in cinematic achievement. Nominees are selected by written ballots in a week-long voting period, and are announced in...
for Best Action Movie, the Saturn Award
Saturn Award
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...
for Best Fantasy Film, three MTV Movie Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild Award
Screen Actors Guild Awards
A Screen Actors Guild Award is an accolade given by the Screen Actors Guild to recognize outstanding performances by its members. The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called "The Actor"...
for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble.
Soundtrack
Danny ElfmanDanny Elfman
Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...
was invited to do the score, and accepted because he was a fan of Timur Bekmambetov's previous films, Night Watch
Night Watch (2004 film)
Night Watch is a 2004 Russian supernatural thriller film directed by Timur Bekmambetov. It is loosely based on the novel The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, and is the first part of a trilogy, followed by Day Watch and ending supposedly with Twilight Watch .-Plot:In the prologue, which...
and Day Watch
Day Watch
Day Watch , is a 2006 Russian dark fantasy action film marketed as "the first film of the year", opened in theatres across Russia on January 1, 2006, the U.S. on June 1, 2007 and the UK on October 5, 2007. It is a sequel to the 2004 film Night Watch, featuring the same cast...
. Considering the film to be a "weird, twisted, sarcastic thing," Elfman decided to make a guitar-based soundtrack, with the "nastiest sounds" and a "heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
approach."
The main song that features throughout the film and as the credits roll is a rock song written and performed by Elfman called "The Little Things". Initially, it was just a guitar riff, to which the producers first asked Elfman to add a beat, and then some lyrics. Then, while Elfman was in London scoring Hellboy II: The Golden Army, he received a call from Bekmambetov, asking him to make a full version of the song. "The Little Things" also received a version in Russian.
Also featured twice in the film is the song "Every Day Is Exactly the Same
Every Day Is Exactly the Same
"Every Day Is Exactly the Same" is the third single by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails from their album With Teeth. It is the twenty-first official Nine Inch Nails release. The commercial single was released on April 4, 2006 as an EP. It was also billed as the companion remix disc to...
" by Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
. Played for comic relief after the initial car chase is the song "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes
Rupert Holmes
Rupert Holmes is an American-British composer, singer-songwriter, musician and author of plays, novels and stories. He is best known for his number one pop hit "Escape " and the song "Him", which reached the number 6 position on the Hot 100 U.S. pop chart in 1980...
, and "Time to Say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli, is an Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist. Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident....
plays while Fox and Wesley kill a man in a limousine.
Track listing
Video game
A video game titled Wanted: Weapons of Fate was released on March 24, 2009 with mixed reviews. Developed by GRINGRIN (company)
GRIN was a video game developer based in Stockholm, Sweden. Founded by Bo and Ulf Andersson in 1997, GRIN has worked on numerous titles for the PC, consoles and arcade.-History:...
and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
& Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, it is not an adaption of the movie, but a follow-up, with its plot beginning five hours after the movie ended.