Who, exactly, Wanted a Matrix rip-off?
By Burbanked on Jun 5, 2008 in Movie Marketing 101, Movies, Terrible Twos, Trailers | 1,084 views |
I’m sort of amazed by the fact that a lot of movie sites are featuring this new trailer for the Angelina Jolie/James McAvoy actioner Wanted without offering comment on its many, seemingly directly influenced, The Matrix-like story elements. And when they do mention it, they often come across like the comparison is a positive thing. Because I see this trailer as something so derivative, so bankrupt of originality that it just cranks up all of my irritation and frustration with most of the product coming out of Hollywood.
Here’s just one example of why “derivative” is a bad thing. Let’s take a little bit of story exposition as it appears in the Wanted trailer and compare it to its closest narrative cousin from The Matrix.
The Wanted trailer starts out like this, with McAvoy’s character narrating in voiceover:
This is the mind-numbing black hole I call a job.
And this is me, Wesley Gibson.
Nobody.
Like everybody else, I just keep waiting for a lotto ticket out of my boring existence and into a life that means something.
Okay, so did you get that? He’s bored. We know this because he’s Googling himself and - oh! - also because he tells us he’s bored. He tells us that he wants his life to mean something. He TELLS us that he’s a nobody. So did you get that?
In The Matrix, we get to experience Neo’s dulled existence when this guy says:
You have a problem with authority, Mr. Anderson. You believe that you are special, that somehow the rules do not apply to you. Obviously, you are mistaken. This company is one of the top software companies in the world because every single employee understands that they are part of a whole. Thus, if an employee has a problem, the company has a problem. The time has come to make a choice, Mr. Anderson. Either you choose to be at your desk on time from this day forth, or you choose to find yourself another job. Do I make myself clear?
Now Mr. Bossman’s speech is somewhat wordy and clichéd, but look at all the layers of information he’s providing here:
- He’s giving us insight about Neo’s character - and unlike the expository narration in Wanted, this isn’t Neo telling us about Neo. It’s someone ELSE providing the info, suggesting something important about Neo’s true self - that he doesn’t yet know his true self. Gibson in Wanted, by his own admission, already KNOWS and STATES that he’s desperate for his life to change. So why should we be surprised when that’s exactly what happens?
- He’s given us subtext. He’s talking about the corporation, but his meaning is a thinly veiled description of the Matrix itself. Neo doesn’t know or understand this - and neither do we, if we’re seeing this for the first time - but it goes to explaining Neo’s state of mind that something. just. isn’t. right.
- He serves as foreshadowing for how Agent Smith will address Neo later, which helps set up Neo’s sense of rebellion. It gives Neo something else tangible to fight against, as opposed to a solitary, inward-facing conflict such as Gibson’s sad little self-Googling.
Look how much heavy lifting that little speech accomplishes! And then the Wachowskis go even further to show Neo’s disenfranchisement - through purely visual, cinematic terms - when they give us this shot:
And I’ll be honest with you: this is one of my favorite shots in the whole movie because of how simple and surreal it is. Having been dressed-down by his boss, late to work, filled with confusion and melancholy, Anderson sits there in his spartan cube, staring at a blank computer screen! It’s pretty stunning, really: simple, emotional, intriguing, compelling - all in one shot and there we are feeling an investment and empathy for Neo’s character.
Wanted certainly has a nice visual style and some fun, over-the-top action setpieces, but with each of its 82 trailers I can’t shake this feeling that we’ve seen all of this before. The filmmakers have brought some flair to the table, but not really anything innovative - so why do so many seem excited by this same old thing?
Dedicated screenwriting 101 here: From an interview with Harrison Ford on the MTV Movies Blog in which the inevitability of another Indiana Jones movie is mentioned:
How do I get out of this? I love going to the movies with my boys, opening up their minds to the great pleasures of cinema and all that, but this is a hard one. Please help me: do I suck it up and just go, or can anyone out there provide me with a plausible, kind-hearted, permanent way out? (
© Copyright
Ray | Jun 5, 2008 | Reply
WANTED is basically THE MATRIX with curving bullets instead of bullet time.
Burbanked | Jun 5, 2008 | Reply
So why do you suppose that so many people seem to think that this is a GOOD thing?
Adam Ross | Jun 5, 2008 | Reply
I think it’s funny how we’re supposed to believe that a Google search for “Wesley Gibson” turns up zero matches. When I do a search like that (with no quotation marks, like him) it turns up 513,000. Could it be that Wesley Gibson is not a very unique name? I would believe it if his name was Leif McKittrick-Johnstone, but not something generic like Wesley Gibson.
Craig | Jun 5, 2008 | Reply
You’re right on every single point. It’s the same story, possibly told with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. However, it still feels like they’re trying to do some new things visually. In Wanted, I still see glimpses of visual originality and inspiration that make me catch my breath.
Look at the guy breaking through the glass with the shards outlining his body (clear rip off of the opening of Matrix 2, but possibly visually cooler?).
Look at the sunroof stunt in the latest trailer - brilliant… never seen that move before.
Even the scene in previous trailers where Jolie “scoops” McAvoy up in the car without slowing down is a new one.
I’m not saying that Wanted is not a copy, but you have to admit there are moments in there that would even make Keanu say “whoa.” I’m just hoping we haven’t seen them all in the trailers.
Burbanked | Jun 5, 2008 | Reply
Adam: I think filmmakers have to be very careful anymore about depicting something that the audience can readily replicate - and then make fun of - like that. It’s kind of like titling your movie “The Happening” and just waiting for the ridicule and the puns to start rolling in - but really, who in their right mind would do that?
Craig: without a doubt, there’s some fun visual stuff going on here, but I share your fear that the multiple trailers are giving it all away. That sunroof stunt is kind of nifty, but now we’ve already seen 1) the setup where the guy’s got bulletproof glass, 2) the guy giving McAvoy a smug look, 3) the stunt where the car flips and 4) the sunroof punchline.
What’s left? The bloody, spraying headshot, I’d guess, which is the least novel thing in the whole sequence.
Carlo Conda | Jun 5, 2008 | Reply
Old news.
By old news, I mean the whole derivative thing that’s destroying the movie industry.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this movie began as an innocent “Man wakes up to his destiny and walks in the footsteps of his dead father.”
But then execs and whatnot got their grubby paws into the pot and insisted things like:
“let’s get a black Morpheus-esque guy, because people like it in The Matrix”
“let’s have that Trinity-esque guy be a girl instead, and make her played by Angelina Jolie… and show her half naked!”
“The Matrix had pivotal bullet-time scenes. We gotta have some too! Maybe the bullets can curve like a baseball! Americans like baseball, right?”
“Neo meeting Morpheus was really deep. We’ll have something like that, where our version of Neo must become superhuman too! Maybe our version of Morpheus can… hold on a second, guys.”
*smacks an annoying fly with a newspaper*
*Fellow executives drop their mouths as a light bulb appears over their head”
Burbanked | Jun 5, 2008 | Reply
Sounds like you’ve got a closet development executive living inside you, Carlo.
Carlo Conda | Jun 5, 2008 | Reply
Take that back.
Liz | Jun 6, 2008 | Reply
This is going to be like Ultraviolet and Aeon Flux - pretty obviously the same film, but it won’t stop people from seeing both.
Alexander | Jun 7, 2008 | Reply
Completely agree, this certainly does look like The Matrix, version 5.0. McAvoy’s Neo, Jolie’s Trinity and Freeman’s Morpheus.
Might still be vaguely fun, I guess.
James | Jun 10, 2008 | Reply
“why do so many seem excited by this same old thing?”
That’s the 64,000 dollar question. If you find the answer, let me know.
I’m just as curious as you are.
internet gangsta | Jun 24, 2008 | Reply
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I’ve been doing some googling myself trying to find someone who would point out what seems so blatantly obvious! The casting, the plot, the cinematography… the first time I saw a trailer for this movie I honestly thought it was a joke. Then I got pissed. (as a Matrix fan). Every reviewer should be nailing this movie on its mimicry (really, it’s PAINSTAKINGLY obvious), because it’s NOT a good thing and we should all hope it never, never, never happens again.
Christian | Jun 30, 2008 | Reply
Wow thank you… I am glad someone feels the same!
Saint | Aug 23, 2008 | Reply
This film was all about Timur Bekmambetov.
If you want a Matrix comparison: He’s the white rabbit, follow him.