Hancock.

It's the superhero season...
It's a superheroic year actually, thinking about it...
And it's a good thing to realise that the quality of that wave is quite consistently good!

Hancock is an original character, which is a good change. The approach it adopts, using a sort of Superman that would have totally lost focus is also quite fresh.

It is carried very convincingly by Will Smith, portraying a surprisingly multilayered character.
That's the movie's biggest surprise actually: it turns out to be actually quite intimate and touching, without shying away from superheroic spectaculars...

It also uses an excellent twist and on that I have to say that I'm impressed in the advertising campaign that doesn't give it away... I always get annoyed at those trailers that give most of the film away.
I remember coming out of Golden Eye thinking "well everything was in the trailer". That's really annoying... That didn't happen here and to do so they had to refuse to cash in on a very famous (and talented and beautiful) actress appearing and having a central role in the story... It's brave! I like it! :)

So based on all these positive comments, is it the best superhero movie ever made?
Well I have to say it isn't.
This is mainly because, to me, the movie lacks a "real" villain. A superhero must have a nemesis. Ironically, the way the story turns out and the very reason why it is original, prevents this.
So in a sense it's a shame, but in another it's actually an asset... Strange.
Maybe I'll see it again and actually get a bit more enthhousiastic.

But somehow this time I didn't get my fix. Not completely.

Yet, don't be turned off: it's a worthy movie, well done, well acted and original in it's own right!
In these times of remakes and endless adaptations, it's something that has to be valued!

Wanted.

When 1st I heard about Wanted by seeing the trailer in the cinema, I thought that this could be a fun summer film. Something like the Bad Boys 2 or the Shoot'Em Up of the year. A movie fun yet dumb.

And it surely is fun.
It is an ultimate gunfest, with a 4 star cast. That's what the trailer promised and it delivers in style. But it also has a compelling story and it is a really angry and anarchic film.

It's a joy to see great actors taking part in that kind of projects because it gives so much weight to the characters. With Morgan Freeman, it goes without saying. Angelina Jolie is charismatic as ever. But also (and more importantly) James McAvoy (yes the one from Atonement!) who has to carry the metamorphosis of the main character...

It's one of those examples where everything comes together to give something that is more than the rest of its parts.

And I do believe that if Fight Club would be an action movie, it would be Wanted. And it's not a light thing to say as fart as I'm concerned, as Fight Club is for me up there amongst the 10 best films ever made.

Just in terms of style, it boasts some effects and camera moves that Fincher wouldn't be ashamed of... You get some crazy car stunts and a new milestone in gun fights scenes with the final showdown... I don't believe to have seen such an inovative use of slomo since Matrix.

And it also got it all. The cool concepts, the mythology, the scale, the crazy set pieces...
And it's so angry!
It's a good old kick in the balls (although rethorical). A middle finger held up high.

I read on AICN a review of 300 that said "If you watch this movie and go into a Taco Bell, and say to the cashier, “I need some extra sauce packets” guess what? You’re getting twenty sauce packets because your face will punch him in the brain.".
Well that's the effect Wanted had on me. Same as Fight Club actually (although I might be laboring the point... As a side note, I'm not saying this is better than Fight Club... They're 2 very different movies, but they share themes...).

It's so good to see a movie like that, I cannot believe my senses...
If there hadn't been No Country For Old Men earlier this year, I would have screamed "BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR" without a second of hesitation...

With The Dark Knight and Hellboy 2 still to come, the competition for the spot will be tough I expect...