Wanted

                  Wanted is a movie that came out in 2008. It was based on a miniseries of comic books also called Wanted. Wanted is directed by Timur Bekmambetov and stars James McAvoy. It made about $341 million in the box office.

                This movie is about a normal guy, named Wesley that is taken into a secret group of assassins called the Fraternity. Wesley is told that his father, which he never knew, was one of the best assassins the Fraternity had. He is told that his panic attacks are actually a rare ability that, if trained, can be turned into superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes. Wesley then gets trained by the Fraternity until he can master his power. He is then shown this special loom that gives out the name of a target that they are supposed to kill. These people didn’t necessarily  do anything wrong, however the loom supposedly sees tragedy in the future and killing these people is supposed to stop that from happening.

                Wesley is sent on a mission to kill Cross, the guy who supposedly killed his father. During this mission Cross reveals that he is Wesley’s real father and the only reason Wesley was recruited was because he was the only person Cross would not kill. Wesley also learns that the Fraternity was nothing more than just paid killers after the leader started manufacturing his own targets. Wesley decides to stop the Fraternity from hurting anyone else.

                One of the coolest things about this movie was how the assassins could curve their bullets. They were able to curve them around cover to hit someone that was hiding. They were able to curve them around a pig and hit the target right behind it. One of the best examples of this was when Angelina Jolie curved the bullet around a circular room killing everyone including herself. She did this because she followed the original code of the Fraternity very strictly and she discovered that everyone’s name, including hers, had come up.

                The assassins in this movie are just incredible. They are able to do stuff that doesn’t seem possible. At the beginning of this movie, one assassins leaps from one skyscraper to the next. While he is flying through the air he is able to shoot and kill many enemies that were in the next skyscraper. The assassins are so deadly and so accurate that they are able to shoot the wings off of a fly.

(Word Count: 411)

Draft Day

                Draft Day came out in 2014 and was directed by Ivan Reitman.  It starred Kevin Costner who played the general manager of the Cleveland Browns. This film grossed about $29.5 million in the box office.

                This movie is about the general manager of the Cleveland Browns (Kevin Costner) deciding what he should do in the NFL draft. He trades with the Seahawks to get the first overall pick so they can get the reigning Heisman winner, Bo Callahan. However Costner isn’t sure that he wants to pick Callahan and looks into why he shouldn’t take Callahan. When the draft starts Callahan decides to pick Vontae Mack who he was going to choose at his original draft spot. Later Costner trades with the Jaguars for the sixth pick. He then trades with the Seahawks to get his original picks back and a punt returner. Costner then is able to get Ray Jennings in the next pick.

                Most of this movie is just people on the phone. However they handle the phone scenes very well. The way they split the screen is kind of interesting. They didn’t just split the screen in half; they brought the people who were talking into the foreground. The place they were talking looked more like a background for them.

(Word Count: 215)

Taken

                Taken is the first movie in what will be a trilogy. It came out in 2008 and was directed by Pierre Morel. This movie grossed over $225 million in the box office. This movie stars Liam Neeson and is often seen as the film that changed his career and redefined him as being more of an action star.

                Taken is about a former spy for the CIA who is played by Liam Neeson. His daughter asks him if she can go to Europe with a friend. He reluctantly agrees even after he finds out that she plans to follow a band all over Europe. When she and her friend get there they meet a supposedly nice guy who asks them if they want to go to a party. Later when Liam’s daughter is talking to him on the phone some men break in and take her and her friend.  Liam then goes to Europe to rescue his daughter. He is told that he only has 96 hours to rescue him before he would never see her again.

                First Liam finds the scout that talked to his daughter but he dies before Liam can get any information from him. Liam then meets with an old friend who doesn’t help him much but does point out where a gang prostitutes women. He then goes there and follows one of the gangsters to a brothel at a construction site. He saves the girl wearing his daughter’s jacket and then asks her about where she got the jacket. He goes to the house she tells him about and finds the person he talked on the phone with. He wounds him and kills all the others. He later tortures this man to discover who they sold his daughter to. Then he goes to the home of his old friend and gets him to give Liam the address of where his daughter was sold by injuring his wife. Liam then goes to this mansion and manages to find to the room where the women are being sold. He recognizes one of them as his daughter and forces the man in front of him to buy her. He is soon knocked out by the owner of the mansion but when he wakes up he is able to free himself and kill everyone. He then chases a yacht where his daughter is being held. He kills the boats guards and the owner of the boat, freeing his daughter.

                Liam Neeson is just awesome in this movie. He plays his role very well. He understands the type of drive that a man would have when trying to save his daughter and is able to portray this on screen very well. In every part of this movie he looks like a man on a mission. He also does very well with the action scenes of the movie. He makes it look just so easy. Taken is a very good reason and I believe that Liam Neeson is the biggest reason why.

                This movie has some very memorable moments in it. There were some moments that were randomly comedic. For example it was kind of funny when the person is running and he thinks he got away and just randomly got hit by a truck. Another kind of funny part was at the end when the man who bought Liam’s daughter his holding a knife to her throat. He tries to talk to Liam and tries to make a deal when Liam just shoots him in the face. One of my favorite parts in this movie is also one of my favorite parts from any movie I’ve seen. It is near the beginning when Liam talks to one of the kidnappers on the phone.

(Word Count: 625)