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"Wanted" Footage Ripped The Top Layer of Our Eyeballs Off

We got to see a special preview of footage from Wanted, a super-assassin movie based on a comic book by Mark Millar (creator of Marvel's Civil War series), and starring Angelina Jolie as a scary, tattooed killer. Director Timur Bekmambetov couldn't be here, but star James McAvoy was able to answer a bunch of questions. First, however, let's talk about 5-minute clip we saw, which was full of eyeball-peeling action and the only example I have ever seen on film in which there is a combination of upskirting, spicy-handed shooting, car-chasing, and head-in-thigh-pincer action.

The scene takes place early in the film, before James McAvoy's character Wesley joins a secret cadre of super-powered assassins who are trying to alter the fate of the world by killing off people who might interfere their plans to dominate the world. He's a working stiff in a supermarket when suddenly a grim, tattooed, leggy Fox (Jolie) comes in and starts having the world's coolest gunfight with some random dude. There's intense bullet-eye view stuff (watch the bullet as it zooms through an entire supermarket shelf of cereal!) and lots of very loud firepower. Eventually she rescues Wesley from the fight, pulls him into her ultra-slick sports car, and we're treated to a zoomy truck vs. car chase — the bad guy (or is it the good guy?) has stolen a truck full of bobbleheads and is trying to run Fox and Wesley down.

Fox uses a forcefield power, and we see Wesley developing his superpower of perfect aim when he manages to shoot a bullet that curves around her head to get at the bad guy. But the best part is when Fox wants to shoot at the bad guy while still driving. She knocks out the windshield, sits on the dashboard, and lets Wesley upskirt her while she shoots with both hands upsidown. Imagine this: grumbling car noises, flashes of Jolie's thigh, pouding bullet sounds, shot of Jolie's lovely feet in high-heeled shoes on the steering wheel — yes she's DRIVING while smashing Wesley's head between her thighs and giving us crotch shots and shooting.

Did I mention that I'm excited about this movie?

After the clip, McAvoy came out and blushed and Scottish-talked his way through a bunch of questions.

On what the writer of the original comic book thinks:

"Mark Millar has seen the film and likes it."

On whether there will be heroes and villains in the movie:

"There are no supervillains. We are all questionable figures. All the good guys are doing things that are really questionable. They're assassins. They're killing people and we don't know if it's for good reasons or not. It's all to do with fate."

On acting in big-budget American flicks after doing small UK films:

"Acting in a picture like this is so physical, lots of physical work. Plus acting. I think to myself, wow I'm going to have to climb that and then I have to cry. Which do I focus on more?"

7:56 PM on Fri Feb 22 2008
By Annalee Newitz
5,793 views
15 comments

Comments

  • Did I mention that I'm excited now, too?

  • The first two issues of the 6-issue series were excellent, but then, while I enjoyed the rest, it didn't quite follow through to my satisfaction.

  • this movie has NOTHING to do with the comic. they abandoned the entire superhero premise. its just a movie about assassins . with crappy matrix bullet time.
    but the jolie crotch shot has me intrested. im not trying to be crude. im just being honest , as what i have seen of the special effects in the trailers hasn't impressed me. it might end up being one of those movies ostensibly based on a book , but that really has nothing to do with the book.

    like STARSHIP TROOPERS .

  • @antimatty: "this movie has NOTHING to do with the comic."

    Frankly, in this instance, I count that as a positive.

  • Okay, so I'm not buying this whole 'She's a super assassin" stint.

    Let me make sure I'm understanding this right. She's some sort of super-assassin. She knows in this hit, she's going to be dealing with some other super asssassin with super-powers and heavy artillery.

    And she shows up in heels and a skirt?

    Seriously?

  • @Evdor: And she shows up in heels and a skirt?

    that's because she's a *super* assassin.

    honestly, i saw this trailer a while ago, and didn't connect with the fact that it was evern remotedly based on the comics - which, haveing read this better description of the plot, pretty much confirms that it's nothing like the book.

    this is, imho, both good and bad. the comics suffered a bit from Mark Millar's "look how edgy i write" syndrome, which does not affect *all* his work, mind you, but this one especially so. That said, the premise of the book was excellent, and it's a shame they seem to be avoiding it.

  • Ok.
    I just watched the trailer they have on Apple trailers and w000t?
    It was badly edited and showed me just a mish-mash of "cool" posturing, gadgets and bullets.
    Now, I have no problems with gadgets, bullets and a seekrit organisation of assassins, but c'MON? Also, Morgan Freeman? Really?
    I'm getting to be so tired of Mr.Freeman that the mere hint of his mature-as-oak voice spouting profoundisms gives me a rash. In the brain.

    Maybe yous guys saw a clip where the continuity was way better, but from what I've seen I can only go "meh".

  • I don't think film adaptations have to be accurate to the source material to be enjoyable. As long as you can hit a on some of the right notes, it can end up alright if not a little disappointing. This will probably negate any validity my comment might have, but I actually liked the Starship Troopers movie.

    That said, I loved WANTED (the comic). I thought it was a clever concept. I thought the "look how edgy I write" fit the tone and point of the story entirely. To me, it was an original take on a story told from the villians' point of view, made brilliant by the way it handled it's allusions to comic mythology and history.

    I think it could have survived toning down certain elements of the original material. And I think you could even omit entire plot points... but I don't think (from what I've seen in the trailer) it can survive the reworking of its core concept.

    People were disappointed in Starship Troopers when they dropped the power armor. If they had also dropped the military theme and civilian/citizen commentary, it would have been unrecognizable. I think dropping the super-hero theme from WANTED is more in line with the later, the story could have survived if Wesley and the gang never actually suited up in costumes. I don't think it will live up to is source material having dropped the super-hero mythology.

  • I'll see any movie with Morgan Freeman in it. The most disappointing was the recent _The Contract_, which was just OK.

    I just watched the trailer, and I'll definitely go see it. I was disappointed that Angelina didn't have "fox ears", though.

  • "Upskirt" became a verb when? ;)

  • I'll join the cries of "do not want" above- especially after viewing the trailer. Good ol' rooskie Timur knows himself a good visual, but he's incapable of stringing together a coherent plot or any semblance of characterization.

    And the first tolling of the death knell was the casting of Jolie. Mrs. Smith Pt. 2.

    Millar created a mostly entertaining comic. I sure hope they paid him well so he can go write something else decent for this "in name only" adaptation.

  • What I want to know is why they're even bothering to say it's based on the comic. Given that the story is almost completely unrelated why not just claim it's an entirely original work. Less likely to tick off the people who liked the comic that way, and they won't raise any sure-to-be-disappointed expectations.

  • the comic book is just soooo.....gah, i have no words, i don't know that i'd want to watch a movie of it, so the fact that this movie is nothing like the comic books makes me happy

  • Here's the puzzling thing to me. If the film makers are dropping, in my opinion, key components of what made the comic so original (regardless of whether or not you liked the source material) then why even call it "Wanted." Why not just come up with a whole new movie/idea and go from there? Seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

    Don't get me wrong, I love Timur's visual style and it would've fit great with a movie like "Wanted" but as Han Solo said, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

    Also, seems telling that Millar says he "likes" the movie rather than "love" it. Doesn't sound like a resounding endorsement.

  • Having never read the comic, I can safely say that I will not be whining about how unlike the comic it is when I go see it.

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