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Buy This Blu-ray Disc Now By Clicking On
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I’m trying a new format here with this review so I
invite feedback from anyone with an opinion of this new possible review format
that will hopefully make many Blu-ray and DVD reviews faster in the New Year.
Thank you.
WANTED: Blu-ray Disc, Universal
Studios Home Entertainment, MPAA Rating: R
Starring James McAvoy, Morgan
Freeman, Terrence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann, Common, and Angelina Jolie,
Directed By: Timur Bekmambetov, Running Time: 110 minutes, English DTS-HD 5.1
MA, Spanish and French DTS 5.1, English SHD, French and Spanish Language
Subtitles
WANTED is based on the Top
Cow® graphic novel series by Mike Millar and J.G. Jones. It deals with a secret
society of assassins that descend from a guild of weavers that discovered one
thousand years ago a binary code within very fabric they weaved that enabled
them to keep balance within the world by identifying who should be killed to
save a thousand lives. How a group of weavers discovered a secret binary
language and figured out what it meant since the code only reveals names and how
their order is able to perform seemingly impossible stunts is never explained
fully nor is the messenger who sends the messages ever mentioned other than it
being fate. A thousand years later, an office drone is recruited into the secret
organization after being told his father has been killed and he must be the one
to train and kill the murderer, a rogue member of The Fraternity.
What follows are a series of lessons
like how to defy the laws of physics and bend your body in impossible directions
while driving or riding the top of an elevated train as well as shoot bullets
that can curve literally to reach their desired target and shoot the wings off
flies without killing them. Somehow exploding mice play into this mish mash too
that quite frankly might work in a situation like The Matrix or with
supernatural beings in some dark fantasy, but simply put are completely
unbelievable and do not offer the slightest bit of suspension of disbelief
especially when one hears James McAvoy’s terrible attempt at sounding remotely
like an inner city Chicago native. They would have been better off with letting
him keep his Scottish accent for this film since McAvoy is otherwise a talented
and likeable actor. Angelina Jolie looks like one of the Ring Wraiths when one
puts on the One Ring and views their true form in The Lord Of The Rings.
I mean if the camera adds pounds to someone, the only thing that goes through my
mind is how much skinnier she must be in person! Casual viewers will see the
ending coming a mile away with this movie and only action film junkies who
don’t care about character and story will enjoy this film since it is little
more than a series of set pieces for special effects gun fights and stunts as
well as explosions.
While I have never read the graphic
novel series, I had a suspicion that the source material was better than the
movie and based on the high definition extra value features that include a
featurette on how the graphic novel was adapted for the big screen and a
collection of motion comics depicting scenes that were reproduced for the film,
I was more than surprised by the amount of changes made in the nature of casting
as well as the fact that I still think after seeing this that what works in the
book doesn’t work nearly as well in the film. The film itself looks and sounds
great with a 1080p widescreen (2.35:1) high definition aspect ratio presentation
coupled with a lossless English DTS Digital 5.1 High Definition Master Audio
Theatrical Surround Soundtrack. The soundtrack in particular impressed me
because though I never saw WANTED on the big screen, I felt this audio
captured the feel of a real theatrical experience beautifully to a point that
while I’m not a fan of the film, I think Universal Studios Home
Entertainment’s Blu-ray Disc edition of WANTED is among the best
soundtracks out there on Blu-ray Disc in general at the time of this writing and
truly great for audiophiles to check out. French and Spanish Language DTS 5.1
Soundtracks along with English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired and
French and Spanish Language Subtitles are also encoded onto the Blu-ray Disc as
options.
Blu-ray Disc exclusives include the
BD-LIVE feature MY CHAT, which allows multiple users to comment on the film
while watching at the same time on their respective players and the U-Control
interactive features that provide motion comics scenes to be seen and compared
to the live action sequences and multi angle camera takes. Also exclusive to the
Blu-ray is an alternate beginning that I wish was integrated into the movie
because I think it explains certain elements related to the Fraternity visually
better than the exposition Morgan Freeman’s character gives in the film. The
other HD features include cast and crew interviews, stunt and effects
featurettes and a profile on the Director and a video game making of short.
There are also Easter eggs like cheat codes for the game and if you scroll down
in the features section and click “Assassins Code” and type in the binary
numbers 01010111 and 01000100, you’ll
have access to additional featurettes.
An
extended scene and a bonus disc DVD containing a digital copy for iPod, Mac and
PC users in standard definition wrap up the bonus features in this Blu-ray Disc
edition. WANTED is available on Blu-ray Disc now at retailers on and
offline courtesy of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2008 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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This Blu-ray Disc Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!