Customer Reviews

Most Wanted [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This film is filled with non-stop action. A marine sharp shooter is convicted for murdering his lieutenant, although it was self defense. The lieutenant had ordered him to shoot a ten-year-old boy in what was probably Afghanistan, and when he refused, he pulled a gun on him and threatened to kill him. The two struggled and the lieutenant was killed. The marine's sense of right and wrong, his outrage at wrongdoing, and society misunderstanding what really happened are played out in the remainder of the film.

After being in jail for five years, the marine is rescued by a secret army squad while being taken by the police to be executed. The commander of the squad tells him, either join us or return and be executed; so he joins. His first mission is to connect with other squad soldiers and kill a man who would be walking with the president of the US's wife. Before he can shoot, a member of the squad shoots the first lady. The squad makes sure that he is blamed for the murder. They publicize his picture and try to kill him so that he wouldn't talk. Why did they pick him for the shooting? Why are they framing him? Why did the squad want the first lady killed? What was she doing that prompted the assassination?

The Deputy Director of the CIA examines what occurred and realizes that the marine didn't commit the murder, but he doesn't publicize what he knows. He also recognizes that there must be a mole in the CIA. Why is he acting as he is? What is he after? Who is the mole? How can the marine prove his innocence? Can he resolve the issue of the murder of his lieutenant?

This movie marked the end of Keenan Ivory Wayans career. Its it bad? Yeah, but that not THAT bad where it could put someone's career on ice. Its your typical action conspiracy thriller but it could have used a rewrite or two to make it somewhat decent.

Sgt. James Dunn(Keenen Ivory Wayans) is sent to prison after accidentally killing a commanding officer. He is recruited by a covert operations unit lead by Col Grant Casey. He is later accused of assassinating the first lady after a mission went wrong. He, with the help of a reporter(Jill Hennessy set out to clear his name.

Obvious problems of this film: plot full of holes and hammy acting. What stops this film from being enjoyable on a brainless fun level is the lack of charisma in the lead role. Keenen Ivory Wayans is a funny comic and has personality up the wazoo(as shown in Low Down Dirty Shame,Im Gonna Git U Sucka and The Glimmer Man) but when he takes that personality away from himself he becomes a soulless woodblock and that is what his character James Dunn is. There are attempts at humor here but they fall flat. Most of the humor in this movie is unintentional. Jon Voight chews scenery like its going out of style. Every time he is on the screen you are guaranteed to laugh your rear off. Him with his silly southern accent and his bumbling neanderthal sidekick score up most of the laughs in this movie.

On the plus side Jill Hennessy, Eric Roberts and Paul Sorvino give some solid performances and some of the action sequences are decent. Its unfortunate that their performances on this bust and not in a movie that deserves it. In conclusion Most Wanted is only good on bad action flick level. Its kind of sad that we know longer see Keenen Ivory Wayans around. He was only in one bad movie while his brothers were in several. Its strange how Hollywood works sometimes. I would have loved to see Keenen in more movies(as long as they're comedy). Stick with The Glimmer Man, Im Gonna Git U Sucka and A Low Down Dirty Shame if you want a good movie starring Keenen Ivory Wayans.

MOST WANTED is filled with such implausible plot developments and cliche characters it would be easy to dismiss it as just another one of those Wayans brothers movies. But writer/star Keenan Ivory Wayans instills such a sincere approach to the goings on that viewers will more than likely get caught up in it in spite of its incredulity. Wayans plays an imprisoned marine who is sentenced to death for the death of his senior officer. On his way to death row, he is "loosed" by megalomanical Jon Voight (in a deliciously hammy performance) to assist in a government sanctioned hit of a drug magnate (Robert Culp). Aha, that's the catch: Voight is really setting up Wayans as the fall guy in the assassination of busybody First Lady Donna Cherry. Wayans teams up with Jill Hennessy (Crossing Jordan) and also entangled Paul Sorvino and Eric Roberts in his attempt to uncover Voight's devious plot. Simon Baker (The Guardian, Ring Two) has a nice turn as a scrupulous journalist and Wolfgang Boddison is a nasty henchman for Voight. All in all, pretty silly stuff but capably done, you can't help but enjoy it.

Synopsis:
In a nutshell, Most Wanted is about a death row, military convict named James Dunn who is recruited from death row to serve in an elite CIA black squad group. The convict is framed for the murder of the First Lady of the United States, a murder he didn't commit. He escapes with his life, then seeks to find the real killer and bring them to justice.

About the Movie:
Overall, this is a mediocre movie. Yet despite that and its plot holes and its fairly unimaginative plot, it can be entertaining in spots. I like this one a lot better than a lot of the action sludge out there, including a lot of the oldies. Of course, it still won't win any award, except maybe a Razzie.

Interestingly enough, Most Wanted stands a career side road for comedian Keenan Ivory Wayans, who's probably best known for his work in "In Living Color" in the 90's. Most Wanted is intended as a serious action film. While there is some humor in the film, it's the action hero variety and not the slap stick brand Wayans is known for. He stars instead as a serious action hero and surprisingly doesn't do as badly as one would expect. While he'll never make a career as an action star, he does pull off the roll, albeit with a lot of cheesy and stagy lines here and there.

The movie co-stars Jon Voight, as very predictably, the villain. This movie, perhaps more than many of the others he's been in, really does reveal what an over-actor he is. Scenes with Voight are almost painful to watch because he so overplays his character that the character becomes a grotesque characature. His over-acting is so bad that he actually was nominated in 1998 in this role for a Razzie for *worst* supporting actor. That's quite a distinction.

The movie also co-stars Jill Hennessy as a doctor who becomes Dunn's unlikely side-kick. In a movie with no female roles except for the First Lady, (who shows up just long enough to get shot and killed) she provides Most Wanted's only female lure. She isn't terrible in her role, but she does very little to make her shine either. Mostly, she's there to add the female element and look pretty.

On the up side, the best played role in the film turns out to be played by Paul Sorvino in CIA Director Kenny Rackburn. Sorvino's solid acting, and charming style help to raise the movie up a notch. It also helps that he's so easy to like. Sorvino provides a nice counterpoint to Voight's horrible and stagey overacting.

Plotwise, Most Wanted isn't really very original. Thankfully, the story moves in a good pace, and despite its predictability and plot holes you could drive a bus through, it still manages to hold your interest throughout. Some of the stunts and special effects are pretty good, and there are a number of action sequences that are a lot of fun (if also a little unbelievable). This one would never get any awards (except a Razzie), but it still can be a fun watch, especially if you've got a bunch of buddies with you to poke fun at it with.

About the DVD:
This DVD comes in a cardboard case, marking it as a budget DVD. The DVD itself is a double sided DVD with both wide-screen and full screen versions included. For the most part, it's an entirely unexciting DVD release, with almost no extra features.

The one exception is the separate music track on the DVD. It allows you to watch the movie without any dialog and just the music. I did watch it that way, just for kicks, and found it fascinating to watch from an artistic standpoint to see how the music was used in the movie. I'm not entirely sure what this feature is good for otherwise, unless you leave the TV on occasionally for background noise.

The picture on this DVD isn't too bad, but I did notice some problems with the sound. I'm not sure if this is a problem with the sound editing in the film itself, or the transfer to DVD. Either way, the sound volume seemed to fluctuate at times, lowering and raising so that I was occasionally reaching for my remote to turn up the volume, only to be blasted out of my chair a few minutes later when it returned to its previous levels. It's not a major problem, but it does lower the overall quality of the release and provides a minor distraction while watching.

Bottom Line is that this is a predictable and unoriginal movie in a budget DVD release (with some technical issues). If you're looking for a cream of the crop action film, this is not the place to look. Still, if you like this type of film, you might like this one. 2 stars.

In a mission Sergeant James Dunn (Keenen Ivory Wayans) disobeys a direct order from a superior, which results in Sgt. Dunn killing the superior in self-defense. When Sgt. Dunn returns to the United States he is sentence to death and is about to be transferred days prior to his execution. During Sgt. Dunn's relocation a group called Black Sheep, with similar background as Sgt. Dunn, rescues him during the transportation, and they are sent on a mission to assassinate a man who is a traitor. However, this is just a front for the actual target, the first lady. Sgt. Dunn is framed for the assassination with his finger prints all over the sniper rifle and Sgt. Dunn's future seems to be very dark. Most Wanted is an action film with poor dialogues that forces the story along and with characters that seem contradictory to their real nature. In the end, Most Wanted provides a flat cinematic experience.

The film used some technology that was exploited one year later in "Enemy of the State". It contains mystery and suspense interspersed with action. The more-than-one subplot presents some unexpected scenarios and keeps one's interest up to the finale where it all comes together nicely. DVD has basic features, menu of play/scenes/bio/setup with an added extra of being able to watch the movie with only the soundtrack playing. You'll probably want to turn on subtitles for that. Good quality video and audio with no noticeable artifacts.

HERE IS ANOTHER OLD SCHOOL CLASSIC. WHEN THE WAYANS WAS IN HIGH DEMAND- THIS MOVIE WAS OFF THE CHAIN. NOW, ITS JUST GOES DOWN IN THE VAULT....

This movie is on par with many other action movies. It won't change your life, but it is a good action movie.

My husband & I were looking for another DVD when a clerk at Walmart told us about this movie. I saw it on Amazon.com and ordered it right away. It arrived quickly and in excellent condition. We loved the movie!

Keenen Ivory Wayans' project, Most Wanted (1997) is an entertaining comic book type action feature, that doesn't aim too high, and delivers adequate thrills and excitement, with touches of off-beat humor. Wayans wrote the screenplay, and co-executive produced the film in which he stars as James Dunn, a former marine marksman in prison and on death row for killing a fellow soldier. Selected for a special mission, headed by Lt. Colonel Grant Casey (Jon Voight), Dunn finds himself on a rooftop with a rifle in his hands, when the First Lady of the United States is assassinated. Setup as the patsy, he becomes the most wanted man in America, when a ten million dollar price tag is put on his head.

Jill Hennessey, at this time best known for her role on TV's Law and Order, plays doctor Victoria Constantini, who inexplicably gets involved in the intrigue because she was shooting video at the time of the shooting. This extremely thin thread draws Dunn and the good doctor together, forming an uneasy team after her home explodes in a fireball. Dunn uses an old military facility as a hideout, and with Constantini's help begins his own investigation, getting on the trail of a cover up of the testing of a vaccine on military personnel.

Running for his life from a throng of reward hungry citizens, Dunn isn't your typical superslick military action hero. Wayans attempts to inject some elements of humor, without sacrificing too much of the credibility his character may have. The film's most impressive action sequence, which takes place on the roof of police headquarters defies reality, as Dunn boldly hurls himself over the edge to escape capture.

Voight is outrageously insane as Casey, overplaying the role to a psychotic extreme. While Wayans may be trying to keep it real, Voight's performance takes most of the believability out of the film. Also in the cast are Paul Sorvino as a CIA director, Eric Roberts as his CIA subordinate, Robert Culp (I Spy) as a drug manufacturer, and Simon Baker (The Mentalist) as a TV news reporter. Sorvino's character isn't very helpful, and the final resolution seems a bit rushed, wrapping matters up in a too neat and tidy fashion. Apparently that is how Wayans planned it, and this promising foray in the action/adventure arena, for whatever reasons, was not actively pursued by the actor in the immediate succeeding years.