"Wanted" Review: Angelina Brings "Boys Of All Ages To Their Knees"

New York Times:

The money shot in "Wanted," its pièce-de-special-effects-résistance and reason for green-lighted being, appears in the opening minutes of this noisy, ultraviolent shoot-'em-up with Angelina Jolie, her many tattoos and some guys. A man has soared onto the roof of a high-rise where he has laid a handful of others to waste. Suddenly the camera cuts to his face as a bullet exits his forehead in slow motion, his skin stretching forward as the projectile tears through it, going straight for the camera and our already numbed skulls.

Well, that's one way to get the attention of fickle moviegoers, particularly if, like the director Timur Bekmambetov, you've got nothing else going for your big Hollywood debut except Ms. Jolie and a couple of ideas recycled from "The Matrix" and "Fight Club." Mind you, Ms. Jolie has been perfectly cast as a super-scary, seemingly amoral assassin named (wait for it) Fox. Few American actresses, especially those with such pin-skinny arms, can make beating a guy to the ground look so easy and, yeah, man, like fun. With her mean smiley-sneer and snug clothes, her heels and hieroglyphics, she cuts the kind of disciplinarian figure who can bring antsy boys of all ages to their knees or at least into their theater seats.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[Agentlady007]

I don't think Leona would get this much attention if Brad wasn't with her.

[arvay]

Angie's carefully crafted "humanist" image is an effective cover for these murder-themed movies: they'd serve as great recruitment items for the CIA, NSA or death squads. The world needs fewer overstimulated homicidal "boys" and more men and women who think and act as a result of applied frontal lobe functions.

Angie doesn't act, she strikes runway poses and glares into the screen like an over-dramatic adolescent. She' s a mediocrity with large bosoms flung about for all those "boys" to ogle

[devilyousay]

An estimated $51 million dollar take for the opening weekend of a movie with a $65 million budget. The highest ever for an R Rated movie on this weekend.Joilie is the female Will Smith. She and the words"action movie" are a can't miss.

Women want to be her and men want to sleep with her. It's a box office gold combination. And for those who want to debate her merits, forget it. The numbers don't lie. She's worth her $20 million price tag to an industry that decides success in numbers that make the average person's head spin.

[adled]

Negative comments about Angie here are as usual stretched, out of proportion, out of context, and as usual, petty and transparent. Angie is substantial and real. That is the prism I see her actions through.
So if some of you can't see the beauty for the shite that's your problem, your loss.

[mamacat]

Wow! Judging by this picture, remind me never to p*ss off this lady!

[SweetAngie]

Helloooo!

What are you talking about . . . . did you see the movie!?!? She did not act in this movie . . . she only had 3 or 4 lines in the entire movie! What a gravy train that must have been for her!

I do wonder how much $$$$$ she got just to stand there and look amazingly villaneous! And, that she did in a big way! You can't argue the fact . . . she is one amazing looking woman! It just is hard to believe she is the mother of 4 when doing these killer shooting scenes.

I ONLY went to see Jame McAvoy . . . a very, young version of Russell Crowe . . . he is amazing in everything I have seen him in, and this is NO exception! Big star on the rise . . . !!

Other than that, the movie was WAY TOO VIOLENT and the volume was turned way up high - - - thought of leaving a couple of times just for this reason alone . . . but I admit, I wanted to see what was going to happen to McAvoy's character. The special effects were amazing . . . and McAvoy did not disappoint!

[arvay]

Angie's carefully crafted "humanist" image is an effective cover for these murder-themed movies: they'd serve as great recruitment items for the CIA, NSA or death squads. The world needs fewer overstimulated homicidal "boys" and more men and women who think and act as a result of applied frontal lobe functions.

Angie doesn't act, she strikes runway poses and glares into the screen like an over-dramatic adolescent. She' s a mediocrity with large bosoms flung about for all those "boys" to ogle.

[OliverTwist]

Just another vile movie advocating pre-emptive murder?

[clevelandtocali]

Yes, and it looks like lots and lots of fun...

[joeyp404]

And it totally delivers!

[jubo]

For someone who does 'so much' for peace and world harmony Angelina Jolie has a suspect track record of irresponsible roles.

A shame the gun lovers seldom celebrate in a circle.

[inthecolour]

Overrated "actress."

1) She can't act.

2) She looks hideous with her exaggerate­d/cartooni­sh features.

[StephenJK]

You're nutty.

She's got goddess beauty.

[jubo]

A petite goddess at best, a goddessette...

[CKieffer]

I would totally disagree. She has absolutely no torso, her conformation is completely off (head too large, huge hands and feet, enormous jaw).... however, because her facial features are so pronounced, it is almost as if it all comes together. It also helps that she dresses in a way where you never really see her torso. I suspect, however, that the real appeal to her is the sexual vibe she gives off and the "bad girl" image that hovers just under the surface.

I think "goddess" beauty applies more to someone like Charlize Theron where the face and body are all perfectly proportioned and stunning.

[GrandyK]

Angelina is a terrific actress -- top five of her age group -- and she will be till the day she dies.

[kenbomc]

You must be bitter female if you don't think Jolie is hot.

[calpubserv]

“The essential function of art is moral. Not aesthetic, not decorative, not pastime and recreation. But moral. The essential function of art is moral.”

--D. H Lawrence

Violence is the ugliest and stupidest thing human beings do. Its depiction in film is not, as Quntin Tarrantino has argued, merely an aesthetic choice. In the real world the perpetrators of violence are rarely the "good guys", but even when violence is meted out in the name of justice, it still represents a form of failure.

When violence is depicted as "stylish" it is the most obscene thing one could put in a movie.

[mamacat]

Good point.

[FogBelter]

Good God ... that look .... I've seen that look before! On the barista at my local Starbucks when I said I ordered a tall not a grande ... terrifying.

[Posterella]

Thanks for the chuckle! Clever is a good thing.

[ktano0]

That "look" in that scene in the trailer is what hooked me before I even knew the premise. Priceless. Yeah, what a crappy actress...

[MyGuyO]

I don't get it what men see in Angelina Jolie. There are far more beautiful women in the world than Jolie. She is just plain weird and too skinny to be sexy.

[calpubserv]

Ms. Jolie uses her position on the Council on Foreign Relation to advocate for programs and curriculum to reduce violence in the lives of children, but she makes movies that glamorize violence.

Go Figure.

[GrandyK]

Angelina isn't glamorizing the same type of violence that aflicts the children she is advocating for, is she? She is promoting violence against the instigators and supporters of the activities and violence that displaces children in Africa, the former USSR, South & Central America, the Middle East and Asia.

[calpubserv]

“The essential function of art is moral. Not aesthetic, not decorative, not pastime and recreation. But moral. The essential function of art is moral.”

--D. H. Lawrence

Violence is the ugliest and stupidest thing human beings do. It is not, as Quentin Tarentino has argued, merely another aesthetic choice. In real life, the perpetrators of violence are rarely the "good guys", but even when violence is meted out in the name of justice, it still a form of failure.

I'm not saying violence should not be depicted in films. But making it "stylish" is more obscene than any depiction of sex could ever be.

[WestLittleRock]

Just saw the movie. Its not her movie. It's James McAvoy and he holds his own with Ang AND Morgan Freeman.

[aubrey8]

and by the way the movie is bad.

[GrandyK]

Bad? How?

[Posterella]

OK. Just heap praise on a completely misogynist film. If the film treated minorities the way it treats women, all hell would break loose. One of the characters complains that he raped an A-list actress and did not even get that much press for it. Come on. Where are the women's voices on this? Are we back in the dark ages of the "rule of thumb?"

[brooklyncitizen]

The feminists are still mad about Hillary and plotting to get McCain elected.

[Posterella]

Well, some of us can do two things at once.