Symphony, With Gun, Redux

[elfs]

How close to The Matrix can you get before you start being accused of being a rip-off? If the trailer is anything to go by, Wanted, a new movie starring Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, and James McAvoy, is going to try and find out. It's a new entry in the John Woo "Symphony With a Gun" genre. (In fact, Morgan Freeman even says that in the trailer, apparently as a nod to Woo: "The gun you're holding belonged to your father. He could conduct a symphony orchestra with it.")

The plot is simple: McAvoy plays a nobody who discovers that his father was the "world's greatest assassin." He goes from being an incompetent schlub to receiving training from The Fraternity, a club of super-powered assassins who exist to be the hands of fate itself, and becomes embroiled in a battle between Good and Evil for the Fate of the World.

It looks to be very pretty, technically proficient, and basically an up-to-the-second Matrix repeat. I mean, Neo was nobody who discovered he was the "world's greatest matrix-walker", received training from Zion, and became embroiled in a battle between Good and Evil for the Fate of the World. Both feature Very Pretty People engaging in indescribable and impossible gun battles requiring more situational awareness than an entire battle troop of human beings, and ultimately the hero must discover something important About Himself to resolve the crisis.

Comments

[raggedrobin.livejournal.com]

It draws elements from The Matrix, to be sure, but Wanted was a 6-issue miniseries written by Mark Millar. I didn't realize it was going to be a movie. :)

[creepingcrud.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I'm still not sure that it will be. :-P

The original series is a combination loveletter to 60 years of comic book supervillainy and an exercise in finding out just how many horrible and horrific things can a protagonist do while still remaining sympathetic. The fact that the movie does not even contain any supervillains (let alone a backstory about why there aren't any superheroes any more) makes it hard for me to really consider it an adaptation.

As for the director's previous work, I found Night Watch to be more interesting than actually good (though I love the books). Still, this might be decent enough taken on its own.

[kenshardik]

I've seen "Night Watch" by the director and it was very original and entertaining. This one? Not so much.

[mundens.livejournal.com]

The trope is older than The Matrix.

Think about it, Luke Skywalker was a nobody who discovers his father is a Jedi, receives training from the Jedi and becomes embroiled in a battle between Good and Evil for the Fate of the Galaxy.

And we all know that George Lucas didn't invent that plot!

[scraun23.livejournal.com]

yes, it's a fairly old plot...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know about the whole Hero with a Thousand Faces bit. But this arc seems to hew too closely to The Matrix, in both story and presentation, for my comfort. I know that John Woo gave us a whole new visual vocabulary with Hardboiled and the Wachowski's just pumped it up more, but really, it's time to move beyond that. 300 did; this one doesn't seem to.

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

There you are, in a long corridor, with a gun, looking to camera. A long way down the corridor, somebody sneaks around a corner, through a doorway, and closes the door.

And you always know exactly which door it is.

And you never chuck a grenade through the doorway first.