While a great deal of the focus of Netflix and all the other streaming services is on producing new original content, my favorite thing about them has always been that they act as libraries for older movies, allowing me to watch my favorite movies for the 100th time, or allowing me to easily catch movies i missed for the first time.
This week, I noticed that Wanted, a 2008 action movie starring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie, was now available with my Netflix subscription. I remember wanting to see the movie when it originally came out, but for whatever reason, that never happened. I never got around to actually watching, hell, I only watched Jaws for the first time recently, so I took the opportunity to do so, and discovered that it’s a pretty fun action flick, with a remarkably stacked cast. Although part of the reason I loved it may have been all the ways it reminded me of my favorite modern action franchise.
Wanted Gave Me Serious John Wick Vibes
best of the John Wick franchise, and even today, most movies come up short by that metric.
John Wick. It’s not even on par with middle-of-the-road John Wick. However, what surprised me was how much Wanted felt like almost a prototype John Wick, as many of the details of the older film would find their way into my favorite franchise. These connections are almost certainly unintentional. Neither Chad Stahelski nor David Leitch worked on Wanted as stunt performers, but that makes the connections all the more intriguing.
John Wick’s organization is called the High Table. The Fraternity is specifically referenced as being 1,000 years old. The exact age of the High Table is unclear, but it’s been indicated to be even older.
The High Table is actually one of my favorite parts of the entire John Wick franchise. I love the way the movies have built it up over time, the way it has its own currency and even its own hotels. The world-building of Wanted isn’t nearly on that level. This is likely due to the fact that the original comic book source material sees the group as actual supervillains, so the assassin element is grafted on. Perhaps if Wanted had ever received the attempted sequels, things could have been expanded upon in a way to make The Fraternity as intriguing as the High Table.
Morgan Freeman in major roles. Terrance Stamp is there in a solid supporting role, and a very young Chris Pratt is there in a pre-Parks & Recreation appearance. There’s even an actor who would go on to be a big part of John Wick: Chapter 2.
Years before Common would appear in the first John Wick sequel as Cassian, he appeared in Wanted as a member of The Fraternity, simply called The Gunsmith. His role in Wanted is much smaller, but it’s not exactly hard to see that Cassian and The Gunsmith have a lot in… well, common.
Timur Bekmambetov expressed interest in still making the sequel. Perhaps if it ever happens, it can take some inspiration from John Wick.