Wanted [Blu-ray]

There's a Comic In here Somewhere...

Story: 3/5

When a comic book gets made into a film, there is a new expectation by people that it be dark, edgy, tell us something about ourselves, some deep meaning by a writer.  But a lot of us forget why the kids in us loved the joy of comic books.  Over the top action sequences, surprising and often unrealistic twists, and people who had powers or abilities we wanted as kids.

I'm of the belief if you do a Comic book film you go one of two ways: you follow a dark, gritty tone to make it an adult fantasy of how people would interact if they had powers - something like Batman Begins... OR, you go the other direction and you have a film with great action sequences that is built on the way we as kids looked at comics, full of "wow" moments and characters who had the dialogue that resembles how we wished we talked and could present ourselves.  XMen2, Iron Man and Superman (originals) fit that camp.

Wanted struggles to come to some sort of middle.  Amazing technical events, but it skirts the unbelievable in such a way that it tries to sell itself as more a Bourne Identity with Superpowers then either a gritty look at a seedy culture or a great romp with people with powers.

Because of that divide, the tone never really "works".  But that doesn't impact the fact that I can watch and enjoy.  And yes, pat of it is the beautiful presentation of Angelina here, who looks probably the best in this film - one of the three I consider "must watch" works of hers (Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Gia being the other two).  This is a good time film that has flaws.  It's not the worst thing I've ever seen, so the film doesn't lose you.  It just could have used a lot more work.

VIDEO: 4/5

Make no mistake, this is a great looking disc, typical of what I expect from Universal.  The film has a warm color look to it, despite all of the dark scenes, and it presents well.  Black in this film looks fantastic, and the transfer has great clarity in moments where effects on small items, from pens to text on a page to a bullet whipping by really stand out.  The film is presented in 1080P at 2.35:1 ratio.  The encode of the main movie.  The film is encoded at 19.5Mbps in MPEG-4/AVC and looks very good.

 

The transfer is good - though not perfect.  The film exhibits no halos or ringing edge effects, but it also rotates between looking over saturated to flat. I'm unsure if this is the intent of the filmmaker, but as it is, this difference can be pretty jarring.

Audio Quality: 4.5/5

The effects in this film will give your sub a workout.  And the use of the soundfield is impressive, as bullets wiz by from corner to corner, rear to front, and crashes really have impact.  With all of the action going on, you'd worry about being able to understand the film... but the dialog remains crisp and easy to understand. 
 

The soundtrack, scored by Elfman, is a downpoint for me, it gets easily buried under everything else and sounds lifeless.  But this is a minor quibble in comparison to the way the film sucks you in, and when the score needs to rise, it does present itself well.

Extras: 4.5/5

The disc offers an alternate beginning (1080P), cast interviews (beware: TONS of spoilers in these) and a PiP track.  The extras are exceptionally easy to navigate and handle, something I've complained about on other discs.  The presentation of the motion comic, available in tandem with the film or outside, is a fun look at the title.
 

The extras are not overhwhelming.  But they give you some fun material and their ease of access is a major plus.

Summary:  3.5/5
 

This is a wild, often fun and over the top film.  James Macavoy is someone I have always thought was good in his roles, from Shameless on.  But here he really grows as a character and makes the film fun.  I realize this isn't a film I'd go and buy the box set of.  The film itself just isn't that good.  But you can easily find this for less then $10 at many blockbusters, and you can grab it new in some locals sub $15 (I did).  At that price, this is a great value.