Matt Damon

‘Wanted’ With Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy Concocts Curving Bullet in Gluttonously Entertaining Blockbuster

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:01:00 -0700

Rating: 4.5/5.0

CHICAGO – With curving, clinking and kissing bullets, “Wanted” indeed does Chicago proud. And Angelina Jolie sells it. And Morgan Freeman is ominous. And in his body of work, James McAvoy – the star of this orgasmic summer blockbuster – becomes a man.

Fox (Angelina Jolie) shoots from the driver’s side of her Dodge Viper in the action-thriller that tells the tale of one apathetic nobody’s transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice in “Wanted”.
Photo credit: Universal Pictures

Many Chicagoans have been keenly aware of the film’s local filming throughout downtown Chicago and Broadview, Ill.

Angelina Jolie as Fox in “Wanted”.
Photo credit: Jaap Buitendijk

After also focusing its filming lens throughout the Czech Republic and Hungary, Chicago’s prominence reigns surprisingly dominant and central to the film’s assassin-based plot of one “apathetic nobody’s transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice”.

James McAvoy is the man of the hour, and in a short 110 minutes, is handed a Hollywood renovation from an initially fear-laden, listless boy to a surgically precise killer who’d give Matt Damon’s character (Jason Bourne) in “The Bourne Ultimatum” a fight for his life.

“Wanted” features Chicago front and center not only in its aesthetics but also central to its high-adrenaline pacing and action sequences. The Universal Pictures film needed exactly this big-city, fast-action feel to haunt McAvoy with the necessary vibrations in his quest to decide who he really is.

While “Wanted” is chock full of innovation – especially in its fight sequences and “The Matrix”-inspired special effects on ludicrously entertaining Hollywood steroids – the film at times still falls victim to the traditional stereotypes of what you’d expect in an assassin action-thriller with an ever-increasing death count.

“Wanted,” which was pushed back to a June 27, 2008 release date from an initial March 28, 2008 plan, won’t accrue the high marks and huge numbers it deserves because of its story alone. This is an outright action fest of sensory enchantment, carnal killing and orgasmic delight.

James McAvoy as Wesley in the action-thriller that tells the tale of one apathetic nobody’s transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice in “Wanted”.
Photo credit: Jaap Buitendijk

While ultimately not blown away by the power of its story as a whole – yes, it can be said “Wanted” is just another assassin film with big names, fancy sequencing and the PR machine in full gear – James McAvoy’s character is an important one many people can relate to. As well, it actually conveys a valuable message.

On the flip side, the “Loom of Fate” is a god-awful plotline decision. A loom in a textile factory that spells out who you should kill and assassins blindly follow the decades-old machine to the bloody death of someone they’ve never met and know nothing about? Cut. Edit. Rewrite. Something else. Just not that.

But like McAvoy as Wesley Gibson, are you also in a dead-end, 9-to-5 desk job that you either just tolerate or actually despise because you have bills to pay even though your passion might be something else entirely that can’t pay your living?

A handcrafted bullet makes its way to an unfortunate target in the action-thriller that tells the tale of one apathetic nobody’s transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice in “Wanted”.
Photo credit: Universal Pictures

Not all of us have the bravado to utter the sure-to-get-fired “death mouth” to the boss. Certainly in the real world we don’t then transform into a crushing assassin and find our calling in offing people. But this is just a metaphor to inspire you to find and live your own calling.

While the plot’s somewhat tired – yeah, yeah: no one can trust anyone, everyone’s out to get someone and one man must learn to rise above them all – first-time U.S. film director Timur Bekmambetov sells the journey as one that’s genuinely inspirational.

The “Wanted” we’re seeing now, though, came from an entirely different origin: comic books.

Not only was the entire “supervillains take over the world” storyline dropped in this “Wanted” but originally in the comic book the story takes place in an alternate present day. Bekmambetov’s “Wanted” strays so significantly from its comic origins that you can hardly tell where it came from.

The premise was for these supervillains to “band together … and use their vast collective powers – including mad science, magic and mind control – to eliminate all the world’s superheroes and rewrite reality in their own dark image.”

Instead – and along with delivering a delicious and indisputably entertaining film – screenwriters Michael Brandt, Derek Haas and Chris Morgan manage to dig down deep and pose one of the more thought-provoking questions a blockbuster has taunted audiences with in some time:

“What have you done with your life lately?”

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More film reviews from critic Adam Fendelman.

It’s a critically important question. On one hand, intended “Wanted” moviegoers have already committed to purchasing their ticket because Hollywood allows us to peer into the darkest depths of our most primal instincts and unshackle the chastity belts of our most sensual fantasies.

But on the other – a side you wouldn’t foresee in a film with the mission to dish out a decidedly raucous ass kickin’ – McAvoy’s pursuit to buck the normalcy of his paper-pushing life and his verbally abusive cubicle boss in favor of something that makes him feel alive shouldn’t inspire us to unleash our literal killer within.

In the subtle subtext of this entertainment behemoth, we are urged to find our own path that transforms our life into one that’s worth living. We are to choose one where waking up and falling asleep every day isn’t all for nothing. Rather than just floating by, it’s time to wake up and be alive.

“Wanted,” which opened everywhere on June 27, 2008, stars James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Terence Stamp, Common and David O’Hara.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

Bourne is Back, Badass in ‘Ultimatum,’ Still Unrealistically Unbreakable

HollywoodChicago.com — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 13:23:02 -0700

CHICAGO – Matt Damon as Jason Bourne never thinks. He just does.

Bourne’s always armed with the right devices and brainwaves to foretell his next move. Should he need a rag because he’s about to rooftop hop in Morocco and his hands need protection from random glass shards, Hollywood obliges.

Matt Damon (left) and Joey Ansah in “The Bourne Ultimatum”
Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures
As badass as Bourne is, though, the film tends to forget it isn’t “Unbreakable”.

Bourne – or, as he learns in “The Bourne Ultimatum,” really David Webb – is no Bruce Willis. He’s human without supernatural CGI. While the character is designed to just be a man, the third in this series especially takes his body to the extreme. There’s no way in hell he’d still be standing at this one’s conclusion.

Matt Damon in “The Bourne Ultimatum”
Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures
Think of Rocky being pummeled by the Russian and living to tell the tale. Bourne shows a little bit of blood, utters a few “ow” growls and always gets back up in his rapid-thinking, rapid-acting prime. This ghost continues to refuse to be found.

That’s forgivable, though, because “The Bourne Ultimatum” isn’t selling you on its realism. If you’ve been following what is now a trilogy, you’ve come to expect intense action, explosions, nauseating camera work and yet another deep look into the CIA’s inner chasms.

Director Paul Greengrass (left) and Matt Damon in “The Bourne Ultimatum”
Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures
Though the story feels as if it’s being stretched ad nauseam to prolong its money-making roll, it’s still fun, I was still looking forward to screening it and I’m still glad I did.

In his three peat, Bourne goes home to steal some answers about who he really is and why he’s so unbreakable. While jumping through lots of hoops and thwarting all the “assets” our secret government has to dish out, he solves his own riddle.

The film, which opens wide on Aug. 3, is left open for an entirely new story.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

‘Lucky You’ vs. ‘Rounders’: Bana is No Norton, Duvall is No Malkovich

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 10 May 2007 16:51:31 -0700

CHICAGO – “Lucky You” undoes what “Rounders” did right.

In the 1998 masterpiece, Matt Damon and Edward Norton exquisitely depict all that is divine about the game of Texas Hold ‘Em for rookies and old hands alike.

“Rounders” is among the best, most accurate and most riveting portrayals of all the delights and dodgy drawbacks of poker.

Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) teaches Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore) the basics of poker.
Photo by Merie W. Wallace and courtesy of Warner Bros.
“Lucky You,” which was initially slated to be released on Sept. 8, 2006, is like watching a staid how-to video. It needed:

A little more Robert Duvall with a bit more oomph.
A little more plausibility in Eric Bana’s character.
A little more of a love story or perhaps none at all.
A lot less Drew Barrymore. Holy hell.
A lot less juvenile instruction.
A much more compelling poker story.

Those unfamiliar with the fanatical human psychology and mathematics intrinsic to no-limit poker wouldn’t appreciate scenes like when the camera graces over various real-life phenoms.

In the film, Johnny Chan and Daniel Negreanu didn’t nab a seat at the final table of the World Series of Poker, which is the pantheon of cash games with the biggest action and the best players. “Lucky You” quietly cast these players and some two dozen others to rub their keen ways off on actors not born with their knack.

Those having played the game fives times, though, would cringe at the film’s professional inaccuracies. Any poker player knows you can’t give or lend money to another while at a table and you most certainly can’t flip over the mucked cards of another player who has folded.

Especially in Las Vegas, you’d get warned and happily ejected. In this film, these moments were casual affairs that weren’t illustrated as improper. Even titling a film about poker with the word “lucky” wouldn’t ring holy to true poker players who will swear the game’s about skill.

Cast because of his mink face and slinky voice, Bana could have been worse and could have been better with a stronger script. He didn’t have enough to work with in a film that develops a love story around a one-night affair with no apparent sorcery thereafter.

If Bana is to win Barrymore’s heart, he “must learn to play cards the way he has been living life and live his life the way he has been playing cards,” director Curtis Hanson – a longtime poker player himself – figured.

“The skills one must develop to be a good poker player are almost the exact opposite of the skills needed to be successful in a relationship,” Hanson said in the film’s production notes. “Deceit – or bluffing – which can destroy the trust needed for a successful personal relationship, is a big part of the game.”

As Barrymore sees Bana for the man he really is and the addiction he truly has, he persists in fumbling back to her. She inexplicably and naïvely takes back a man burdened by romantic entanglements that have been limited to brief flirtations and casual affairs with no promise.

Game on? Sort of.
Photo by Merie W. Wallace and courtesy of Warner Bros.
“[Barrymore’s character] really intends to be careful from now on and try and find … someone who is not going to hurt her. Then, of course, she meets Huck, who is a classic heartbreaker. When he crosses the line, she will not be bluffed or charmed like the other women in his life.”

Is this the same film I screened? Not being bluffed means not taking him back.

Ultimately, I just didn’t feel the love between these two. They lacked chemistry, and rather than convincing you they were a couple who really could be a couple in real life, they revealed the fact that they’re actors working to be something they’re not.

This “love story” was set in 2003 to pay homage to the year poker changed forever. That pivotal year was when Internet poker was exploding and amateur poker players across the world were honing their skills. That was also the year when a camera for a player’s hole cards was introduced.

This entertainment tactic was created for enthusiasts at home to more closely follow the game and learn the nuances of how the masters bet and bluff.

The year 2003 was also when unknown player Chris Moneymaker took the poker world by storm by winning the World Series of Poker. Coming from an amateur background of playing online, his win inspired players everywhere into thinking the feat could be anyone else’s, too.

Hanson says Bana was chosen for the role of Huck Cheever – the son of maverick poker player L.C. Cheever (played by Robert Duvall) – because of his transformational characteristics.

“Like Huck, Bana is a blaster,” Hanson said. “He came at his part full out. He is a true chameleon. Unlike many actors who twist characters to fit their own personalities and characteristics, [Bana] looks at each part as an opportunity to truly become someone else.”

In the film, it is Bana’s strength at the poker table – despite his weakness to live up to his potential – that is traced backed to his distressed relationship with Duvall. The two are always competing and do so dangerously without coherence and with malice.

Daniel Negreanu (left) rehearses with Curtis Hanson (middle) and Robert Duvall.
Photo by Merie W. Wallace and courtesy of Warner Bros.
For instance, they challenge each other to head’s up poker in a seemingly innocent scene in a diner. Of course, a deck of cards is on hand along with stacks of $100 bills. In a matter of minutes, Duvall ends up taking Bana’s $10,000 entry fee into the World Series of Poker.

“Huck is haunted by his father’s reputation in the poker world,” Bana said. “We see his behavior change when L.C. is around. He’s a much more secure player when his father is not around and becomes … hotheaded when L.C. is present.”

Bana is often seen at his local pawn shop. His home has no furniture. He’s always in debt. He’s constantly looking for a couple hundred bucks to “play with the guppies” and multiply his stack. He often does and then loses it all. This compulsion and its inherent realities are familiar to over-the-edge poker players.

Bana even took a bet to run a few miles and finish a 18-hole game of golf in under three hours to snag some coin. He concedes that his real-life golf game is relatively laughable.

“The golf was the most daunting part of the making the film,” Bana said. “My game had usually been of great comedic value to my friends. You could have nicknamed me ‘The Slicer’. Curtis said: ‘You have to swing like you have a four handicap.’ I don’t know how many free golf lessons I had but it was a lot.”

You’d think it’d be more convincing to choose actors actually with a true background in the talents they’re playing.

While Bana and Duvall do a decent job selling you on their skill for the game, many poker players could naturally act at a table better than many actors can learn to truly play poker. Hanson’s leading men don’t come from an intense past with the game.

In fact, Duvall in his initial acceptance of the role jested about whether or not he understood the difference between a flush and a straight. He learned some of the tricks of the trade from Doyle Brunson – a two-time World Series of Poker winner – who served as the film’s poker consultant.

Duvall is solid, as usual, but he’s no Malkovich.
Photo by Merie W. Wallace and courtesy of Warner Bros.
“I really didn’t know if I could do this part because there was so much to learn,” Duvall said. “I wish I could have gotten the script six months earlier … because I almost had to decode it. I did my research and now I understand the game … somewhat.”

If Duvall’s character would parallel the position in “Rounders,” John Malkovich holds the royal flush. Nine years ago, Teddy KGB – despite his iconic Oreo-twisting tell – was a bona fide crackerjack of the game.

While the film meant to instill overarching statements of a father yearning to reach out to his son and a son longing to screw his head on straight, the concepts were left underdeveloped and overshadowed by the footage of learning the game and the time spent playing it.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com