Wanted (Single-Disc Widescreen Edition)
Wanted (Single-Disc Widescreen Edition)
WANTED – DVD Movie As the impresario behind gravity-defying Russian blockbuster Night Watch, it’s inevitable that Hollywood would come calling for Timur Bekmambetov. With a studio budget and an international cast, including two Oscar winners, Timur cooks up a Hong Kong-styled actioner bursting with fast cars and big guns. Our unlikely hero is mild-mannered Chicago accountant Wesley Gibson (Atonement’s James McAvoy), whose father died when he was a tot. Wesley never learned to stand up for himself, and his girlfriend, boss, and best buddy all take advantage until the seductive Fox (Angelina Jolie) rescues him from a sharpshooter named Cross (The Pianist’s Thomas Kretschmann). After which, she whisks him away to a mansion on the edge of tow
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Salt (Deluxe Unrated Edition)
A cia agent goes on the run after a defector accuses her of being a russian spy. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 12/21/2010 Starring: Angelina Jolie Run time: 305 minutesAngelina Jolie confirms her status as action-heroine supreme in the sinewy thriller Salt. Evelyn Salt (Jolie) is a respected high-ranking CIA agent… until a defecting Russian operative declares that she’s a Russian mole in deep cover, launching her on the most delicious chase sequence since the Bourne movies. When the film’s over you’ll realize the motivations for much of what happened didn’t make much sense, but while the movie’s going on the pell-mell pace will brush such concerns from your mind. Director Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games, Dead Calm) has a g
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Action, Action, and More Action,
“Wanted” is a mile-a-second action picture that never lets up. Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) suddenly finds that his life as an ordinary office worker is over. A beautiful woman, Fox (Angelina Jolie), crashes into his life and introduces him to the Fraternity, a secret society of assassins led by the mysterious Sloan (Morgan Freeman). Wesley is informed that his long-lost father was murdered while working for the Fraternity and Wes has been chosen to target the rogue member who did it. Before he can complete his assignment, he must first uncover the dark secrets behind the Fraternity to understand why he was selected and how he figures in its plans.
The main attraction of “Wanted” is the amazing use of CGI special effects, from glass panes shattering as bodies fly through them to bullets redirecting their trajectory in mid-propulsion. Jolie manages to look as comfortable in action flicks as in serious dramas like the recent “Changeling.” She is quite the action babe and easy on the eye. McAvoy, who showed his acting chops in “The Last King of Scotland” and “Atonement” seems an odd fit for “Wanted.” He looks as if he’s doing this one to pay for the new swimming pool. He’s fine in the early scenes as a drone-like worker lost in a huge company, but his transformation into this almost-indestructible super assassin is harder to accept. Bonus extras on this two-disc DVD include an extended scene; behind-the-scenes featurettes on the film’s stunts, visual effects, and origins in the graphic novel; and a making-of documentary.
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|ESCAPISM 101!,
I’m surprised at the number of poor reviews for this film. I have to admit that I picked it up with limited expectations, but once into it, I found it to be a bloody, irresistible ride—for what it is, that is.
This film was spectacular in Blu-ray, appearing almost 3-D, at times. The CGI and audio were equally adrenaline pumping and, although I’m not usually into blood-fest, action films, this one became addictive.
Yeah, the plot was limited, but I found a great deal of enjoyment watching James McAvoy morph from a passive, introverted, office cube-jockey, into a man. One who learned to stop saying, ‘I’m sorry,’ for just about everything. I did find myself mentally repeating, ‘wax on, wax off,’ during some of his lethality training, with difficulty taking his transformation seriously
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Morgan Freeman has been a great addition to so many films, but he often tends to come across with the same acting formula. His abilities were stretched, with this atypical character. Amazingly, he can actually be a convincing ‘bad guy.’ Who knew!
Angelina Jolie’s role was a piece-of-cake for her. She rarely had any dialogue. She was basically eye-candy, for the guys. But, her sultry, sexy, witchy-eyed attributes were perfect for this killing-machine, character. Hmm, I’m scared of her! And, she does angst SO well with those pouty lips, doesn’t she.
So, if you view this movie with casual expectations and are willing to allow yourself the enjoyment of pure escapism and bloody mayhem, I think you will enjoy this movie. Just don’t have too many espressos before watching. You could develop a cardiac arrhythmia
.
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|A very entertaining action flick. The best eye candy for 2008.,
I don’t watch enough action flicks to compare this to as far as ‘depth’ is concerned (and I find people looking for ‘depth’ in action movies about as silly/clueless as these movies are accused of being). But as I understand it, Wanted is based on a comic book (so judge the movie accordingly, please, instead of out of context). Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, and James McAvoy and the rest truly impressed in their respective roles. And Ms. Jolie (or Mrs. Pitt) burnt a hole on the screen with her physicality (clearly she’s no damsel-in-distress) and her deep brooding enigmatic charm. Her best action role to date: as Fox she could kick Ms. Lara Croft’s sorry 4$$ without breaking a sweat. I saw it twice on the big screen and intend to get the DVD (saying quite a lot since I’m not really an action movie fan).
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|Unrated Edition vs. Theatrical Cut Differences,
There are 3 versions of Salt available for viewing, the Theatrical, Extended, and Director’s Cuts. They run 1:39:56, 1:40:58, and 1:43:59 respectively (credit to Interzone_Records for the correction). Here are the major differences as compared to the base Theatrical Cut, e.g. Theatrical vs. Extended, and Extended vs. Director’s Cut. Note, SPOILERS follow below, so read at your own risk. There are a few major, significant differences between the versions.
The Director’s Cut makes the most sense plot-wise, and includes some better character development, in my opinion.
THEATRICAL vs. DIRECTOR’s CUT
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1) Evelyn Salt’s opening interrogation scene in North Korea is longer and more brutal. The soldiers force a tube down her throat and subject her to more intense questioning, followed by several kicks to the abdomen.
2) Extended scene of Orlov training little kids who will be future sleeper agents. As the kids finish a race through the woods, Orlov asks which kid was first, and which was last, whipping the last kid with a riding crop.
3) Abduction of Michael (Salt’s husband) by Orlov’s thugs is shown.
4) Additional scene where Michael tells Salt about a new species of spider that he has discovered.
5) Childhood scene between Salt and Schnaider at Orlov’s training camp.
6) Salt’s husband is NOT shot in the Director’s Cut; rather, he is slowly drowned and Salt is forced to watch. Michael’s death is much more harrowing in the Director’s Cut.
7) Salt kills Orlov with a broken bottle, and the stabbing is shown in more detail, rather than off-screen.
8) Salt’s rampage through Orlov’s freighter HQ is more graphic.
9) Gunfights depict more bullet holes and blood, but nothing overly gory.
10) Winter kills the president in the Director’s Cut, whereas in the Theatrical cut, Winter only knocks him unconscious. I always thought the Theatrical cut never made much sense, because the President would easily be able to identify Winter as the traitor.
11) At the end of the movie, there is a voiceover that subtly suggests that the vice president is actually one of Orlov’s sleeper agents, setting the stage up for a sequel. This voiceover is not present in the Extended Cut.
EXTENDED CUT vs. DIRECTOR’s CUT
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1) The changes listed above in the Director’s Cut are also done in the Extended Cut, with the exception of the differences below.
2) The President is only knocked unconscious in the Theatrical Cut (and killed in the Director’s Cut). In the Extended Cut, Winter attempts to make his way towards the unconscious President, who is being wheeled away on a stretcher, in order to kill him.
3) The biggest difference in the Extended Cut is that Salt doesn’t kill Orlov until the end of the movie. So the entire sequence in the Theatrical and Director’s Cuts where Salt annihilates Orlov’s thugs on the barge is missing.
At the end of the Extended Cut, she is being interrogated by Peabody, where she fakes suicide and is taken to a hospital. She subsequently escapes from the hospital, finds Orlov (back in Russia somewhere), and kills him.
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|Really exciting, well done action flick,
This is a really well done action flick worth viewing. Here’s what’s good with it:
1. It’s full of non-stop action that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The stunts and fight scenes are really exciting.
2. The story has twisty turns and it keeps you thinking. There’s no boredom here, and I felt the plot was close enough to being plausible to keep you interested. Even if the exact program of placing trained children into America isn’t complete realism, we all know that there are spies living as Americans in this country. Just watch the news. It’s a current and relevant theme.
3. The acting is excellent, and the characters, especially Angelina Jolie, show depth. You can’t help caring about what happens to Salt.
While I agree with another reviewer who said that Salt’s husband isn’t shown a lot, I felt he was shown enough to reveal that Salt really loved him. That was what the audience needed to know in order to understand her motives, and to care about whether he lived or died.
I’d definitely recommend seeing this movie, and it’s one I’d own as well.
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|Complex, character driven, action films still exist!?,
Now this is what I’m talking about. Phillip Noyce’s “Salt” is my type of summer movie. First and foremost “Salt” is an action film and it succeeds with flying colors in that regard. But what I really admired about this picture is that it took place in reality. The action was grounded in physics and therefore made it messy, mean and hard hitting. Then we have bon-a-fied movie superstar Angelina Jolie in her best action performance. Where “Salt” also succeeds stupendously is with Evelyn Salt’s characterization, which is complex, dualistic, fascinating and ultimately enigmatic. Jolie thrives in this role which plays to literally every one of her strengths as an actress. You root for her and sympathize with her even though it’s never clear what side Evelyn truly falls into. It’s in this intense dynamic between plot, character and action that leaves “Salt” head and shoulders over films like “Eclipse”, “Clash of the Titans”, “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” and yes, even “Inception”. But also on a side note it’s just plain refreshing to see a film that has Russians trying to take down America, crisp and clean action cinematography and a true movie star like Jolie leading things along. This is classic summer filmmaking at it’s finest.
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