blu rays dvd News | Face-Off: Red vs. Wanted
Face-Off: Red vs. Wanted
Jan. 20, 2012
Welcome back to The Face Off, the brand spankin’ new column here in the Digital Dorm. If you missed the last FACE OFF, we threw Adam Sandler classic comedies Billy Madison and Happy GIlmore against one another. Our verdict was Happy Gilmore, but that means nothing because the real winner is decided by YOU! Again, last week YOUR verdict was completely unanimous and the winner was (DUN DUN DUN...): HAPPY GILMORE!
Today the film Haywire came out to theaters and earlier this week, Taylor Lautner’s film Abduction arrived on DVD and Blu-ray. Both are shoot-em-up action-packed flicks that will get your blood pumping, but if you’re not checking out Haywire this weekend or Lautner isn’t your cup of tea, why not let our two Face Off contenders for this week help you get your action quota.
Going head-to-head this week are two modern action flicks, both based on graphic novels. The contenders are RED and WANTED!
Today the film Haywire came out to theaters and earlier this week, Taylor Lautner’s film Abduction arrived on DVD and Blu-ray. Both are shoot-em-up action-packed flicks that will get your blood pumping, but if you’re not checking out Haywire this weekend or Lautner isn’t your cup of tea, why not let our two Face Off contenders for this week help you get your action quota.
Going head-to-head this week are two modern action flicks, both based on graphic novels. The contenders are RED and WANTED!
Titles
RED is a great title for the film. Simple, straightforward and has hidden meaning to the movie. While you might think that RED simply refers to blood because it’s all about killers and such, it actually stands for something else. RED stands for:
Retired
Extremely
Dangerous
Clever, right? The film title refers to a bunch of retired CIA agents who are just trying to live normal lives after their careers with the agency, until someone stamps their personnel files RED. Like I said, the title is right to the point and fits perfectly with the film.
Retired
Extremely
Dangerous
Clever, right? The film title refers to a bunch of retired CIA agents who are just trying to live normal lives after their careers with the agency, until someone stamps their personnel files RED. Like I said, the title is right to the point and fits perfectly with the film.
WANTED on the other hand, may not be my personal favourite pick for best title for a film. It doesn’t really explain anything about the film. To be fair, WANTED is taken from the title of the graphic novel, but still. I guess if you’re really trying to dissect the film, you could justify the title as part of the assassin’s bounty type thing. Like wanted dead or alive… only the film is about assassin’s, so it’s mostly about wanting people dead. The film title is simple, short and sweet though, so credit to it for that.
Directors/Directing
Robert Schwentke is the director of RED and while he hasn’t done a whole lot of feature films, you’ll probably recognize his name from the Jodie Foster thriller Flightplan or the romantic sci-fi story The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Schwentke is kind of all over the place with his directing and doesn’t seem to have set a genre in stone for himself, which is really good. He seems to be experimenting with his career and I like that in a director. I thought RED was a really fun film and that while it might not be the perfect vision from the original graphic novel, it was a pretty well executed in my opinion.
Schwentke is kind of all over the place with his directing and doesn’t seem to have set a genre in stone for himself, which is really good. He seems to be experimenting with his career and I like that in a director. I thought RED was a really fun film and that while it might not be the perfect vision from the original graphic novel, it was a pretty well executed in my opinion.
WANTED is brought to us by Timur Bekmambetov. You’ll know Bekmambetov’s name from movies such as Night Watch, Day Watch and he’ll be bringing us Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter in 2012.
I’ve read the graphic novel so I can say that Bekmambetov does a pretty decent job of bringing the comic to life. This even might be one of those rare cases where I like the movie more than the source material. While Bekmambetov hasn't done too much as far as feature films go, this isn't about his other work, it's about what he did with WANTED and I really respect what he did with this film.
I’ve read the graphic novel so I can say that Bekmambetov does a pretty decent job of bringing the comic to life. This even might be one of those rare cases where I like the movie more than the source material. While Bekmambetov hasn't done too much as far as feature films go, this isn't about his other work, it's about what he did with WANTED and I really respect what he did with this film.
Cast
RED stars Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman and Karl Urban.
I hadn’t really noticed before writing this up that the films share the very talented Mr. Morgan Freeman. Well there’s another theme for you guys then. Apparently someone likes him a good assassin role. Both movies have amazing actors attached to them. RED’s team seemed to have a lot of fun making the movie. They all had a lot of chemistry together and they just worked really well all in all. The best character in this film though has to be John Malkovich. He MADE the movie for me.
I hadn’t really noticed before writing this up that the films share the very talented Mr. Morgan Freeman. Well there’s another theme for you guys then. Apparently someone likes him a good assassin role. Both movies have amazing actors attached to them. RED’s team seemed to have a lot of fun making the movie. They all had a lot of chemistry together and they just worked really well all in all. The best character in this film though has to be John Malkovich. He MADE the movie for me.
WANTED stars James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, and Morgan Freeman.
WANTED on the other hand has a bit of a strange mix of people. All good actors and they all work well together, but they’re very mish mashed and the chemistry isn’t as strong amongst them. McAvoy’s character from the graphic novel was actually based on rapper Eminem. I’m pretty grateful that they didn’t opt to bring Marshall Mathers back to the big screen in the film and decided to go with McAvoy instead, who doesn’t really strike me as the Eminem type.
WANTED on the other hand has a bit of a strange mix of people. All good actors and they all work well together, but they’re very mish mashed and the chemistry isn’t as strong amongst them. McAvoy’s character from the graphic novel was actually based on rapper Eminem. I’m pretty grateful that they didn’t opt to bring Marshall Mathers back to the big screen in the film and decided to go with McAvoy instead, who doesn’t really strike me as the Eminem type.
Story
RED focuses on Bruce Willis’ character Frank, who is just trying to live a normal life after he retires from the CIA, where he had a very full career. The CIA seems to have other plans though. After somebody stamps his file and the files of his old co-workers RED (see above), men are dispatched to take care of them. Frank seeks out Joe (Freeman), Marvin (Malkovich) and Victoria (Mirren) to help put a stop to the endless gunfire that follows them wherever they go. All while Frank is trying to protect the life of Sarah (Parker), whom Frank unintentionally involved in all of the action.
As far as concept goes, I'd say this is a pretty interesting choice. I don't think too many retired CIA agent movies have been done and this isn't so much a thriller as more of an action-comedy... not a goofy comedy, but more like a dark comedy.
As far as concept goes, I'd say this is a pretty interesting choice. I don't think too many retired CIA agent movies have been done and this isn't so much a thriller as more of an action-comedy... not a goofy comedy, but more like a dark comedy.
WANTED is about assassins. Lots and lots of assassins. Ok, well lots of assassins, but mainly focusing on one. Wesley’s life sucks. He has a crappy job, with a crappy girlfriend and just everything is generally crappy. So when his father passes away, he’s left to inherit everything. Including his father’s line of work. As an assassin. Fox and Sloan seek out Wesley and train him to his full potential in their fraternity.
WANTED is full of twists and turns and the concept to the film is definitely appealing for action junkies. However, while the story is mostly original-ish once you get into the movie, it could come across as something that's already been done before if you knew nothing else about it other than just the synopsis.
WANTED is full of twists and turns and the concept to the film is definitely appealing for action junkies. However, while the story is mostly original-ish once you get into the movie, it could come across as something that's already been done before if you knew nothing else about it other than just the synopsis.
Soundtracks
• “Home In Your Heart” by Solomon Burke
• “I Want To Be Loved” by Muddy Waters
• “Doctor My Eyes” by Jackson Browne
• “Back In The Saddle” by Aerosmith
Other artists included on the soundtrack for RED include Mark Mancina, James Newton Howard, Calibro 35 and Irving Berling.
• “Every Day Is Exactly The Same” by Nine Inch Nails
• “The Little Things” by Danny Elfman
• “Time To Say Goodbye” by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli
• “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” by Rupert Holmes
There isn’t too much else to talk about on this soundtrack except for a couple songs by Harry Garfield.
Entertainment Value
RED’s best feature for me was John Malkovich’s character. He was hilarious and worked so well in the role. He really made the movie for me. Oh, and Helen Mirren toting heavy weaponry. Mirren was incredible and I think I would like to see her star in some sort of assassin movie all on her own. That woman is awesome. And she seems to just get better and better looking over time.
Both of these films deliver exactly what you would expect. WANTED was a little more outrageous and hard to believe as far as assassin flicks go, but it was action-packed and pretty effing enjoyable. How can you not enjoy Angelina Jolie as an assassin? That woman’s best roles are in action movies, in my opinion.
IT'S A TIE!
Well, we’ve put everything out there for you to make your education decision on the films and our verdict came to a tie. These are probably not everyone’s favourite action flicks out there, but they’re both pretty solid and great for what they are. I know a lot of people have seen WANTED, but I’m not sure how many people out there have actually seen RED and if I may say so… it’s definitely worth a watch. It’s more of a dark comedy action-flick and I don’t think you will be disappointed if you go into it thinking about it like that.
If YOU have an idea for The Face Off, like what movies you'd like see go head-to-head, let us know! We want to hear about what movies you think would make for a good competition and you can email those suggestions to stephaniecooke@joblo.com and then check back to see YOUR challenge!
So which movie do you think is better?
POST YOUR FAVE BELOW!
If YOU have an idea for The Face Off, like what movies you'd like see go head-to-head, let us know! We want to hear about what movies you think would make for a good competition and you can email those suggestions to stephaniecooke@joblo.com and then check back to see YOUR challenge!
POST YOUR FAVE BELOW!
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