Dead Or Alive - Who Cares?
I'll probably wait for the DVD, but this is a good review (here the adjective "good" modifies the noun "review;" as to whether the movie itself is any good, read the review).
If slush-brained stylishness is what you crave, Wanted’s got it by the glop. By the time the credits roll, you’ll be jonesing for one of those anxiety pills yourself. Everything on screen seems to be punctuated with exclamation marks. What noise! What flash! What curves! Whatever! Continual bursts of static are necessary, of course, to ensure that your brain remains appropriately gooey throughout. Otherwise you might begin to ask questions — tough questions, like: Why is Morgan Freeman taking orders from a loom? But the film’s pyrotechnical pounding ensures you will not question, only obey. Like a ferocious drill sergeant, it exists to distract you, to pummel you, to weaken your will. Eventually, everyone gives.
The man behind the mayhem is director Timur Bekmambetov. Bekmambetov specializes in adrenal frenzy. Previously he directed Russia’s two biggest films — the ludicrous but thoroughly entertaining Night Watch and Day Watch. He’s a speed freak with a manic streak; by now, his fetishes are clear: sports cars, bullets, trains, and slow-motion — preferably all of them at once. He’s fond of guns too; several of his characters seem to spend more time shooting than speaking (understandable, perhaps; as this is his first English production). Bekmambetov doesn’t care much for the constraints of reality, though. Neither space nor time concern him much; he’s equally apathetic about all four dimensions...
...In the Old West, signs used to read, Wanted: Dead or Alive; the point being that either state is fine. It might do to post those signs in the hallways of theaters showing this film: It clearly doesn’t care about life or death much itself. But then, that’s what sensory-sacking summer blockbusters do — they don’t care, they don’t want to care, and they teach you not to care, either.
Wanted trailer.
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