Hero Wanted (2008)

An action-packed slog

A Brilliant Conflict

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Being that they do so much direct-to-video stuff, it's hard to remember that both Cuba Gooding Jr., and Ray Liotta are award winning actors! Hero Wanted is one of those direct-to-video films. It follows the story of a man who tries to live the righteous life, but even the best of people have their breaking point. This was a really interesting story, with some unexpected twists and turns. It was a pretty good film that really fell under the radar. The story was great and the acting was top notch, but the way it was filmed really left a lot to be desired. The film is frequently jumping months ahead or to a flashback, without any notice or footnotes, it made parts of the film very confusing. There were also a couple of pretty big plot holes, that added to the confusion. This is by no means a classic, but the acting was terrific, the action was pretty cool, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Liam Case is suffering the tragedy of losing his wife in a terrible car accident. He is a trash collection man who tries to drown his sorrows in the bottle. One day Liam happens to be close to an accident in which a young girl is trapped in an overturned car that is burning. Putting his life in danger, he rescues the girl and his action is noticed by the media.What follows is a story in which Liam decides to make himself a hero to attract the attention of a pretty bank teller, Keila. For that he has enlisted his buddy Swain, a bad choice. Unknown to Liam, Swain tells a low life, Lynch, of Liam's plan to plan a "fake" bank robbery so that he will appear to be the young woman's hero when he went after the bad guys, but the heist turns sour, derailing the original idea."Hero Wanted" is an action film in which the violence is right on the viewer's face. Brian Smrz, the director, shows an affinity to the genre. The basic problem with the film is the screenplay by Chad and Evan Law. The basic premise is far fetched and it doesn't make sense most of the time.Cuba Gooding Jr. is a likable actor, who unfortunately deserved better. Ray Liotta, who has done much better in his career, is relegated to a supporting role that also will not add anything to his resume. Jean Marsh, Norman Reedus, Kim Coates, Tommy Flannagan, Christa Campbell are seen in minor roles.

Well, first of all, I must tell, I used to like Cuba Gooding Jr's acting in his early films. (You may remember the movie called "What Dreams May Come".) Unfortunately, in the last some years he had too many too bad roles what ended with ridiculous performances (Just remember "Daddy Day Camp" or "Norbit"). He might have been burned out or just exhausted, or else his agent should have been fired in time, I do not know. However, He is back now! In this movie ("Hero Wanted") his performance is well-thought, believable, and matured. It grabbed me at first. Unfortunately, the director chose the 'cheaper' way, meaning more action and less internal struggling, but the first half of the movie is pretty enjoyable, and time to time good right timing is. The twists are quite good in the first half of the movie, unfortunately, it becomes more predictive, and because of the "B movies" action scenes, the movie turns to be slow and boring. Nevertheless, Mr Cuba Gooding Jr acts pretty good all over long, skipping his typical 'faces'. The cast is more or less a good choice (and Mr Ray Liotta's character could worth a whole -but another- movie). All in all, it is worthy to watch, if you like a returning 'A movie' star in a 'B movie'. (And I liked him very much.)

Ray Lotta never ages,,nor does his acting..Cuba Gooding Jr. is superb in this intriguing and non stop action show.No marketing done on this one...WHAT A SHAME,,,,Great acting, Great story.BEST SINCE GOOD FELLA'S We never took our eyes off of the film.Good work and hats off to the actors we have missed with such professionalism, excellent acting,,,excellent story.Cuba Gooding Jr, Ray Lotta, Irish speaking actor with scars,,,so many that made this real life show,,,You will miss one of the best action of the year shows, not to mention your heart strings pulled apart.Thank you Actors wish I could see more of them in movies,,,WHAT PRO'SWILL BUY THE MOVIE FOR MY COLLECTION Jane Wood Pryor, Oklahoma