Wanted – Watch out for the Weavers
by Nancy Mathews
I’ve been knitting for eight years and in those years I have tried to prove time and time again that knitters are bad ass. We work with sharp pointed sticks, especially dedicated sock knitters like myself. I have impaled myself with a size 2 and, baby, that hurts.I seem to have taken up the wrong craft, however. You see, weavers are the true bad asses of the world. In fact in the distant past they formed a fraternity of assassins to control the chaos in the world. Damn overachievers.
Wanted is the kind of film you have to check your brain at the door to love. Thankfully, I am very good at that. It is ultra violent, but has a certain dark humor that resonates for the average cubicle worker. I mean, hey, how many of us want Angelina Jolie to show up at the drug store, kidnap us and explain how our long lost dad was the best assassin that every lived and now it’s time for us to step up ? I do, although it’s often Vin Diesel who comes to get me, but I’d accept Angelina. I’m very open minded.
James McAvoy is the office drone who gets to live the dream. They show him that his panic attacks are not actual panic attacks. They are his special talents preparing him for attack. This is probably the most interesting thing in the movie. Doctors say that the anxiety that many people suffer so horribly from is actually the “fight or flight” mechanism gone haywire. Wouldn’t it be fascinating if we were medicating away our superpowers?
James is, of course, suitably skeptical but after a decent show of his talent with a gun and a good night’s sleep, he’s in. Queue the training sequence. Of course assassins don’t train quite like Rocky; instead of beating slabs of beef, they get beat right along with them.
Wanted is pure adrenaline charged action. If for one moment you let your mind get involved, you may fall off the roller coaster ride. If you stay on though, it’s a hell of a ride. I did start the comic series that the movie is based on but by issue 3 or 4 I gave up. I always remember how much I loved that first issue though and I think the movie, while it runs parallel to the comic, hues a bit closer to the idea of breaking out of the box society forces us to live in for the average life.
The ending was pretty satisfying too; mostly predictable, but with just enough twist to leave me saying, “cool” when it all wrapped up. If you’re looking for good acting, strong story and deep thoughts go see. . . well, nothing at the moment, but I’m sure you can rent something. If you just want to hang with some bad ass weavers who know how to kill people in new and innovative ways then go see Wanted. Those weavers sure know how to shoot a gun.
I’m going to go buy a loom right now.
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Nancy Mathews works very hard at masquerading as a grown up to go to work and raise her two sons. Once the sun goes down she reverts to the 10 year old that she actually is. You can follow her plans for world domination through the formation of an army of knitters on her blog, Bronxgirlknits.
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YES! I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and my hubs mocked me cruelly for doing so. I think if you do think about it too much, you’ll lose that suspension of belief. I don’t like Angelina, thought there were so many places her character could suck, but I was pleasantly surprised with the way she played the character, and her character’s ending.
YEAY for James MacAvoy’s bare chest!
I just saw the movie today. I chuckled at the opening, but I too have no trouble checking my brain at the door. That is often why I see movies, to enjoy the fantasy. I find it funny how many people dislike this movie and point to how “unrealistic” it is. Especially when part of what they find unrealistic is the binary code in the cloth. Too bad more people don’t realize that the punch cards used for looms were the precursors to the punch cards used in computers, way back when. Binary code in fabric is more believable to me than bending bullets. It is also interesting that people find the assassin weavers so preposterous. Apparently everyone has forgotten the Valkryies and what their loom looked like. Another thing I see on reviews that people are laughing about is the Loom of Fate, again forgetting mythology and who the original Fates were
. Yea, I’m a weaver and myth buff with no life…
I saw Wanted after reading Nancy’s review, so I knew to turn my brain off (thanks, Nancy!). What irritated me was the obvious contempt for the audience toward the end (similar to the beginning of Jumper). That director puts together innovative and exciting action sequences, but he doesn’t do well with much else.