(un)Wanted

The other day I was browsing for upcoming movies and was pleasantly surprised to see that 'Wanted' is going to be released later this month. Having enjoyed the comic, I couldn't wait to check out the trailer online. Like most men, I'm always happy to see Angelina Jolie on screen. Something about her holding a gun does a lot for me.

The trailer started off well enough and for a moment I thought the story might actually follow the comic but I was wrong. From what I could make of the trailer, it seems to be just another action flick like Mr and Mrs Smith. While that may make a lot of box office sense, I'm disappointed to see the loss of a great opportunity. Let me attempt to explain.

First, a small introduction for those who haven't read the comic. 'Wanted' is a six-part comic written by Mark Millar. It begins with a frame of a girl stripping in front of a guy with the narration "This is my girlfriend fucking my best friend." in a very matter-of-fact way. This is followed by several other panels describing other aspects of his life. The gist of it is that he establishes that he is a typical blue-collared guy who never takes a stand against anything no matter what life dishes out to him.

One day, at a diner, a girl introduces herself and tells him that he's got to come with her. And before he can offer an opinion, goes on to shoot everyone else in the diner in cold blood. Virtually kidnapped, he's introduced to a cartel of hi-tech, costumed supervillains (some from parallel dimensions) who run the world (as we know it) behind the scenes with a mafia-style understanding between the main 'families' who have split the continents between them (much like The Godfather).

The head honcho (The Professor) tells him that his father (who abandoned him long back) died the previous day and left him fifty million dollars in cash. The catch, however, is that to get it, he must spend the next 6 months getting trained to "be a man" and in control of his life. He accepts and begins training. This involves getting desensitised to morals, ethics and basically everything that modern society rests on. Beginning with 2 weeks in a slaughter house to rapes and killing sprees. With a standard weapons drill thrown in, of course. Sound good so far?

Millar dishes it out over 6 issues. The internal politics. The conspiracy. The betrayal. The mutiny. And an abrupt conclusion. Back comes the narrator. And then comes the ending. And though I wish I could tell you that, I won't spoil the surprise. It needs to be read from start to finish. A violent ballet that mixes two cult movies: Fight Club and The Usual Suspects.

While adapting it directly to a film would almost certainly trivialize it, I feel a manga-style anime akin to 'Ghost in the Shell' is called for.