Because a whiny rapist protagonist who breaks the fourth wall to tell the audience this is what he looks like when he's fucking you up the ass is gonna sell like retarded superbaddies named Fuckwit and an evil poop monster...which such a film would have also had if strictly adapted. Which is to say not at all.
Personally I preferred the movie...but then I've found the comic gets less enjoyable with every read.
It took me exactly one read of the comic to want absolutely nothing more to do with it, so that's impressive. I remain amazed that the comic was ever published, let alone adapted.
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There is no "a" in "definitely"! tygertyger does not happen to be Satan, although he could possibly be an underling. - UberGnome, after meeting me for the first time The good selection is thanks to tyger though, and as a show of thanks he's allowed to choose one person he wants to have banned. - UberGnome again, showing the benefits of good customer service TygerTyger's Canadian? ... No wonder he's such a bright mind and no doubt handsome chap. - The Formless One, displaying incredible perspicacity
It was great eye candy, and that's exactly what I was expecting.
Right on.
Anyone who's a fan of Night Watch and Day Watch - the visuals, at least, which were badass, if not the films as a whole - will get a kick out of Wanted. The train crash and Wesley's run-and-shoot through the textile mill were worth the ticket price all on their own for yours truly.
The comic? Eh. I could give or take it... It's hard to get into when the main character is such a fucking reprehensible twit, but there are some clever bits. (I'm not afraid to admit that "I don't fuck goats, I make love to them" is a damn funny line.)
Huh. So this was a comic book? I haven't seen it yet, but since I don't plan on seeing it at the theaters, I wouldn't mind if someone explained the basic plot to me. The trailers all reminded me of some weirded out hybrid of Fight Club and Remo Williams (society assassins, recruited to become one of their best, etc). However, while I very much enjoy those two movies (especially Remo Williams), I don't think I am terribly interested in their bastard love child. So if that's not what the movie is, what is it?
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Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant
"It's Cthulhu, you don't get bonuses for stunting!" - Yog-Sothoth.com podcast of "The Haunting"
"It's heartwarming to know that even as I type this, Kevin Siembieda is already cutting and pasting that one section on medieval polearms and swords into his game about futuristic robots and aliens." -- Slortar
Huh. So this was a comic book? I haven't seen it yet, but since I don't plan on seeing it at the theaters, I wouldn't mind if someone explained the basic plot to me.
Spoilers ho! (Though this is actually relatively spoiler free, I don't want to ruin it for anyone.)
A group of assassins called The Fraternity work for a mysterious higher power working through the Loom of Fate, which tells them who to kill via code in order to make the world a better place. One of these assassins goes rogue and starts off by killing the only member of the Fraternity better than him.
Wesley Dodds is the son of the murdered assassin. He's a regular schlub in a dead-end job with a bitchy boss, an asshole best friend, and a girlfriend who's cheating on him with the asshole. He's also inherited his father's near-supernatural ability to kill.
Wesley is recruited into the Fraternity to kill the rogue assassin and embrace his destiny. Much badassery ensues.
Anyone who's a fan of Night Watch and Day Watch - the visuals, at least, which were badass, if not the films as a whole - will get a kick out of Wanted. The train crash and Wesley's run-and-shoot through the textile mill were worth the ticket price all on their own for yours truly.
Seriously? The bit in the textile mill at the end had me out and out groaning. Put aside the fact that he has no reason at all to kill all these people. These are people who think they are doing good but have been suckered. No, wait, they were mean to the little twit so, as things go in adolescent male fantasy, he has to kill them. Forget that for a minute. James McAvoy does not have what it takes to pull the scene off. The look on his face could best be described as...constipated. Decent enough actor, can not pull off 'bad-ass rage' or whatever they where going for here.
Well more power too you if you enjoyed it them. I just can't take 'turn off your brain' films any longer and thus feel an urge to warn others who might feel likewise. It is worth noting that out of the six of us who saw the film together I was the only one who disliked it so take that for whatever it may be worth.
Spoilers ho! (Though this is actually relatively spoiler free, I don't want to ruin it for anyone.)
Thank you. That gave me enough info for my level of curiostiy. Maybe I'll go ahead and see it when it hits the dollar theater since you say the visuals are worth the time.
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Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant
"It's Cthulhu, you don't get bonuses for stunting!" - Yog-Sothoth.com podcast of "The Haunting"
"It's heartwarming to know that even as I type this, Kevin Siembieda is already cutting and pasting that one section on medieval polearms and swords into his game about futuristic robots and aliens." -- Slortar
Seriously? The bit in the textile mill at the end had me out and out groaning. Put aside the fact that he has no reason at all to kill all these people. These are people who think they are doing good but have been suckered. No, wait, they were mean to the little twit so, as things go in adolescent male fantasy, he has to kill them.
Yeah, that's where most of the adaptation's problems come from.
In the comic, the protagonist is a whiny little prick who uses the undeserved power he's been handed to rape and kill his way through the most grandiosely pathetic adolescent male power fantasy you can imagine.
The movie takes essentially the same character and tries to convince the audience that he's the good guy.
Hollywood has always had problems withe distinction between "hero" and "protagonist".
I thought Wesley killing everyone made perfect sense.
The entire organization had become corrupt. Fox realized that, and that's why she sided with him and killed herself and the rest of the inner circle at the end.
Also, Fate had decreed that the Fraternity must die. Either because it was corrupt, or because it was no longer the proper instrument to do Fate's bidding. Sloan refused to obey Fate and kill himself and the rest of the Fraternity, so Fate made sure that Wesley would be found, trained, betrayed, and survive to kill them all.
At least that's how I read it. Thinking about the film as if Fate is a force that controls the Fraternity, rather than is controlled by it, makes a lot of it work better.
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