Angelina Jolie’s Wanted Unveils on DVD
The Angelina Jolie/James McAvoy action flick Wanted comes to DVD this Tuesday. The hit film, which also stars Morgan Freeman, is an exciting, visually refreshing picture from the director of Night Watch, who’s not exactly known for stories entirely based in reality. Bullets curve, assassins drive cars at ridiculous angles and bodies fall freely, and it’s all a lot of fun.
The movie falters in the end as the story hits us with a less-than-satisfying twist ending (and a not-as-action-packed-as-expected climax), but overall, as a mindless action flick, it’s top notch. Based on the graphic novel by Mark Millar, Wanted has a unique blend of comedy and suspense, and the result is an entertaining story and screenplay. The beginning comes off as a mix between Office Space and The Matrix, and if you ever dreamed of such a combination, you’re not the only one.
OK, maybe you are, but it still works surprisingly well.
You can read the rest of my Wanted movie review here; or read on to hear about the DVD features from the 2-Disc Wanted DVD.
The Wanted bonus features are nothing spectacular, both in quantity and quality. The longest featurette is a 25-minute look at the various characters, which is primarily a promotional documentary that provides little, if any, insight into the film. You do get to see some of the green screen work, et cetera, but it’s nothing you haven’t seen a hundred times before. Beyond that, there are a few visual effects featurettes that show more of the stunts and sequences, but again there isn’t anything too in-depth. The most interesting is that of the train sequence; the crew created a moving platform that zooms above a green “train,” to create the sense of movement without actually filming on a train.
My favorite piece of the Wanted DVD is the featurette with Mark Millar. My computer froze near the end, so I didn’t see all of it, but the featurette explores the graphic novel and how it relates to film. That being said, it still didn’t go far enough; it would have been nice to see more comparison between the film and comic, and what was removed or added (I heard there was a character that was literally made of crap that didn’t make the movie?).
The sole extended scene isn’t particularly memorable.
Wanted is a fun movie and will make a good addition to the action fan’s DVD collection, but as far as special features go, the 2-Disc Wanted DVD isn’t anything spectacular.