You might be wondering what this post is doing here on a Monday. Well, I missed it on Friday, and this week's lone wide release is coming on Wednesday, so I figured I might as well split the difference and combine them both for what you see here now.
WantedCubicle drone pulled from his boring existence into a world of intrigue and danger? Check. Smoking hot raven-haired beauty as a love interest/experienced member of secret society? Check. Leadership/introduction given by wise elder (of color)? Check. Special effects that revolve around bullets? Check?
Could this have possibly been any more of a Matrix ripoff? Why does this not bother everyone to the point of boycotting it? It's not as though the source comic came out before the Keanu-led actioner, so there's really no excuse for a 'remake' of the Wachowski brothers' classic less than ten years from its release date. Ugh, this pisses me off.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 15%, or equal to the chance that someone like James McAvoy would ever end up with someone like Angelina Jolie.
Wall*EI've seen the early scores from the fine folks at the LAMB for this, and let me tell you, were LAMBScores not such a new feature over there, I'd be crowing about Wall*E setting a record for the highest scores yet. The worst score I've seen so far is 4.5/5, and one person is even trying to give it a 6/5 rating.
My interest in seeing this has always been little more than marginal, but I must say, I feel compelled to see it now. I just wish Steve Guttenberg was on board.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing: 70%...and rising.
HancockBad buzz, or just a lack thereof? Bad marketing? Confusing poster? Whatever the reason, it seems as though no one is hyped to see Hancock. I can't say that I am, either, but I am intrigued, and frankly, with Smith and Jason Bateman on board, I'll have a hard time saying no, especially when considering the lack of any competition this weekend (or next, really, which brings Hellboy II and, uh, Meet Dave to the table).
Fletch's Chance of Viewing: 50%, or equal to the chance that I can get "Summertime" in your head by saying this:
"Summer summer summertime/
Time to sit back and unwind"
(Repeat 50x)
25 people have chosen wisely: on "TGITDNMAR (6/27/08 & 7/1/08)"
"Wanted" only bears passing resemblance to "The Matrix." It's not as much of a ripoff as people are making it out to be. It breaks its own ground.
For once, I actually agree with Matt here (shock of shocks). Wanted was actually really good, and does borrow a few things from the matrix (mostly just bullet time). Otherwise, it doesn't resemble it much besides the incredible broad characteristics you detailed. And it's also been getting pretty good reviews.
There's a reason that this past weekend was a record setting weekend (no other weekend has ever had 2 brand new movies both premier with over 50m simultaneously).
"It [Wanted] breaks its own ground."
And buries itself in it. :)
I'm just appalled by the way you seem to write off 'Hellboy II'. Have you seen the trailer? Looks amazing.
Your post is in competition with The Wackness trailer for getting Summertime stuck in my head.
Oh, and by the way... forgot to mention this in my last post... but I'M hyped for Hancock (and so is the rest of my family, oddly enough).
@ Matt/Nick - I don't doubt that Wanted breaks its own ground, or really, that it's good. But to say that it bears only a passing resemblance to The Matrix is ludicrous. Sure, the details may be different, but how is the basic plot any different? If you had to narrow each down to a couple sentences, wouldn't they sound pretty much the same?
@ Brian - RE Hellboy II - I knew it would come off that way, but I don't mean to write it off. It's just that Hancock has no competition this week, and Hellboy is the only competition next week (9 days after Hancock is released).
@ Fox - woot! Mission accomplished!
@ Nick - you're the only ones. ;)
I agree "Wanted" and "The Matrix" are barely comparable. Plus I'd rather watch James McAvoy paint a wall all day long (shirtless) than watch Keanu attempt to act.
The Matrix - An office worker is dragged out of his meaningless existance into a dystopian future world where robots harvest humans for energy. He must save mankind. Woah.
Wanted - An office worker is dragged out of his meaningless existance into a secret society of physics-ignoring assassins where he must get with the smoking hot, raven-haired girl of his dreams shortly after she takes a shower. He must...uhh...curve bullets. Woah.
To slightly clarify Paul's synopses...
The Matrix - An office worker/hacker is dragged from his meaningless existence into a dystopian future world where robots harvest humans for energy. He must save mankind. (I actually liked that synopsis). Also, main guy is 'The One' who can fight back against the uber-baddies.
Wanted - An office worker is dragged from his completely meaningless existence (including office job, cheating girlfriend, asshole best friend) into a world of assassins (in the comic, super-villains) where they are given names of apparently evil people to kill and, well, kill them. The main guy here is just the son of a previous assassin who was murdered and revenge needs to be saught.
As I said, and as Rachel and Matt have clarified, besides the bullet-time and physic-ignoring stuff (and having the main character work in a cubical)... there's really nothing similar to The Matrix at all. And no, he doesn't have to be saved from death by trying to secretly sneak out of his office building (for that apparent rip-off, see trailer for 'Eagle Eye').
How dare you people not agree with me at every turn!
;)
I stand by my claim regardless. Heck, even the internets agrees with me - do a search for "Wanted Matrix" and you'll see loads of people that share this line of thinking. You'll also see a bunch of folks like yourselves that see nothing in common with The Matrix. What's that saying about the doors of perception?
"What's that saying about the doors of perception?"
That the people who compare 'Wanted' to 'The Matrix' haven't seen 'Wanted', and the people who agree with us actually have :P .
Don't make me go dig up a bunch of reviews from others....
You're totally right.
And while we're at it, let's just say that 2 Days in the Valley was nothing like Pulp Fiction, and that National Treasure and The Mummy owe nothing to the Indiana Jones series. Bonus: I've seen all of those!
I've not seen (nor heard of) 2 Days in the Valley, so I can't comment there. And I do agree that National Treasure and The Mummy are a lot like Indiana Jones (National Treasure being the 'traps and clues' portion, The Mummy being the 'action/adventure/archeology' portion). So you're right with those :P . Just not with Wanted/The Matrix :) .
Is the place to say that WALL*E is amazing?
I'll probably see Wanted...maybe for a dollar. I'm ashamed, but I have too big a crush on McAvoy. It's embarrassing. I saw him on The Daily Show the other night and immediately resigned myself to the fact that I will have to sit through a lot of Jolie screen time.
-Whitney
dearjesus.wordpress.com
whitney: A lot of Jolie screen time? Not really. There's vastly more McAvoy than Jolie in Wanted.
I can't believe so many people didn't get the lampoon on the movie poster for Hancock. Its a reference to the Spider-Man 2 poster where the enemy is reflected in his glasses. In SM2, its Doc Ock. In Hancock, its the city he "serves".
All the more unimaginative then, no? Spider-Man's a known commodity, Hancock ain't (even if Will Smith is).
How is it ever unimaginative to utilize parody for the sake of social satire?
Even if the movie isn't great, the satire remains intriguing.
I don't know - if the entire movie is meant to be a satire of superhero flicks, then I agree that it's a good idea. But I kinda don't think that's the case, in which case I think that type of goof be best left to the Superhero Movies of the world. Just because he's an antihero doesn't mean it's a satire. But I haven't seen it yet...
Just saw a trailer for Wanted with the following quote:
Not since The Matrix has an action movie made you sit up and go, "Whoa, I've never seen that before."
Not only are they admitting the similarities, they're encouraging them. But I haven't seen it either...
Your first comment here and you're supporting me. You should comment here way more often, dood...
That trailer came on as I was reading the rest of these comments. Laughed my ass off when I heard the "Whoa," so just had to share it.
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