the perils of experimental medicine . . .
Added 8/23/2009
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.
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Most Unwanted
Added 6/11/2009
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.
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Most Wanted
Added 7/7/2008
Not the best film I have ever seen. I love a good adventure, with lots of action and this film has a lot of action. Not the best Keenan Ivory Wayans film I have ever seen, but it was definitely something I will watch again. It was a good buy.
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IVORY COASTS THROUGH THIS ONE
Added 10/4/2005
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.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Most Wanted
Added 9/30/2005
To be honest I never heard of this movie before and about two weeks ago I hapen to see the end of this movie on TV and I really like it. I search for the movie and I bought it. I would recommended to everyone.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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