Wanted (2008)

Wanted. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov. Written by Michael Brandt & Derek Haas. Release Date: June 27, 2008. Country of Production: United States. Key Cast: James McAvoy (Wesley Gibson), Morgan Freeman (Sloan), Angelina Jolie (Fox).

Enter the wild world of curving bullets and super-assassins in this stylish action-packed thriller.  This movie is based on a comics mini-series by Mark Millar and J. G. Jones, and tough I never read it, after watching this, I really want to.  This movie has everything that a movie about assassins should have:  high intensity action, deception, betrayal, all tempered with a healthy dose of sexiness that Miss (Mrs.?) Jolie easily carries almost entirely on her own shoulders.

Apparently the one thing that the comic creators (according to wikipedia) would have liked to see in the film that did not come through for them was an element of super-heroes and super-villains, in the traditional costumed sense of the terms.  However, also according to wikipedia, director Bekmambetov said that he wanted this film to be an opposition to the moral tale of Spider-Man in that this story involves a character whose humdrum existence is given new life when he discovers his own powers, but upon realizing his potential, he chooses a dark path instead.

Also, as you may have noticed in the coming attractions:  there's a train in this movie.  What is it about trains that is so filmic?  Actually, I kind of resent asking that question, because as a certain UF Professor can tell you:  everything about trains is filmic.  If you don't believe me, just watch Frankenheimer's The Train (1964) and write a paper on it.  Now, with the assistance of a few professors, I have been cultivating a theory about the filmic train for a while, and if you've read this far already, I ask that you continue to indulge for a couple more paragraphs:

Well, we'll begin with the tracks, because that's where the train starts, and accordingly that's where the film starts as well: with the reel.  Before it can be traversed by any audience, the narrative and the physical film itself must be laid down, and completed.  So, you can probably see where this is going, the audience's journey through a film is like the train's journey over a given length of track.  But the audience is not the train itself, it is merely the vessel, the projector, or the theater, if you will.

At first, my thinking was that the audience is most like a passenger sitting in the middle of one of the cars, watching as the scenery passes.  The passenger's view out of the window is perpendicular to the tracks, reminiscent of the way in which light is projected through each frame of the film in succession, and therefore as he watches out the window, he experiences his journey on length of track at a time.  I have recently changed my theory though, because one of the interesting things about film  is that there is no simultaneity.  In reality, you are viewing events that appear to be happening before you, but that have already happened, creating a strange temporal displacement for the audience.  You are caught up in a story that already has a determined ending (which further complicates Wanted's themes of fate and destiny, but I digress).  In this way, I conjecture that the audience is more like a passenger standing on the back of the caboose, watching as the track disappears behind him.  He can see the scenic and natural elements that the train has passed, but not until the train has already passed them, and with this perspective, does not know when the train will arrive until he gets there.

Also, for more trains and fantastically thrilling action, I would recommend Bekmambetov's Nochnoy dozor (a.k.a. Night Watch) from 2004.  It's got vampires and stuff.

-PT