A few years back some one in hollywood picked up a graphic novel and said, “Gee, this would make an amazing film!” Ok, that probably happens a lot in hollywood, but on this particular occasion they picked up a graphic novel titled WANTED. If you’ve seen the film starring Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, and James McAvoy, you still haven’t actually seen a film based on the graphic novel Wanted.
See, the film does indeed take its cue from the graphic novel in so much as the lead character is named wesley and his father was murdered which prompts him to take up with his former employers to hunt down the person responsible. Other than that though, the stories and characters are completely different.
I understand why the graphic novel wasn’t used as a blue print. The graphic novel was filled with homophobia, rape, drug use, thrill killing, arch villains and super heroes. Aside from American audiences being too sensitive for some of the content, the graphic novel’s main character was unrepentantly evil. No American audiences would willingly cheer for a guy who has no socially redeeming characteristics.
That’s the thing about hollywood. They are business men and women and want a return on their investment. They actually want people’s asses in the seats in a theater when they release a film. I get it. The thing is, they really should have changed the name since they changed so much of the story. The story in the film is so far removed from the story in the graphic novel that it is really two completely different ideas.
Don’t get me wrong. I liked the movie. It was fun, entertaining, and action packed. Angelina, despite being thirty to forty pounds under her most attractive weight, was still nice to look at and Morgan Freeman was at his subtle best. It just really isn’t the Wanted I actually wanted. Some day hollywood executives won’t be afraid to pull the trigger on films just because the content is too graphic. That day just isn’t today.