I recently watched, ' Wired ', for the first time in its entirety. This film has received some harsh criticism over the years, but I decided to see for myself.
The movie begins with JB as a fresh corpse in the LA morgue, and his now disembodied soul, escaping, and roaming the earth, transported by his afterlife taxi-driver-spirit-guide, ' Angel ' (played by Ray Sharkey, in one of his last major film roles, and whose own drug use ultimately led to death himself). The two experience past & present events as observers, ala, " A Christmas Carol ", trying to make sense of the situation.
While simultaneously, Journalist Bob Woodward, on whose book the film is based, is brought in to investigate the circumstances surrounding JB's demise, with hints of the future dramatic forensics of, ' CSI '.
The story cuts back & forth, with shades of the flashback sequences in Milos Forman's, ' Amadeus ', another film about a self-destructive celebrity, and that also showcases performances of the subject, climaxing in a, ' face to face conversation ', between Belushi & Woodward, which is apparently a metaphor for the reporter's attempt to posthumously get inside the comic's head, in order to better understand him.
I get why, ' Wired ', was largely panned, but I think I also get what the filmmakers were actually TRYING for here: Juxtaposing the surrealistic fantasy of Belushi's ghost journey through time & space, vs the reasoned objectivity of Woodward's factual reporting.
And this premise MIGHT have worked, IF the creators had focused more clearly on what exactly they were trying to get across to the audience.
Yet as it is, all we are left with is a series of episodes from Belushi's life, with only the bare bones of continuity; an example of why interesting ideas still need effective execution all the way through.
The movie begins with JB as a fresh corpse in the LA morgue, and his now disembodied soul, escaping, and roaming the earth, transported by his afterlife taxi-driver-spirit-guide, ' Angel ' (played by Ray Sharkey, in one of his last major film roles, and whose own drug use ultimately led to death himself). The two experience past & present events as observers, ala, " A Christmas Carol ", trying to make sense of the situation.
While simultaneously, Journalist Bob Woodward, on whose book the film is based, is brought in to investigate the circumstances surrounding JB's demise, with hints of the future dramatic forensics of, ' CSI '.
The story cuts back & forth, with shades of the flashback sequences in Milos Forman's, ' Amadeus ', another film about a self-destructive celebrity, and that also showcases performances of the subject, climaxing in a, ' face to face conversation ', between Belushi & Woodward, which is apparently a metaphor for the reporter's attempt to posthumously get inside the comic's head, in order to better understand him.
I get why, ' Wired ', was largely panned, but I think I also get what the filmmakers were actually TRYING for here: Juxtaposing the surrealistic fantasy of Belushi's ghost journey through time & space, vs the reasoned objectivity of Woodward's factual reporting.
And this premise MIGHT have worked, IF the creators had focused more clearly on what exactly they were trying to get across to the audience.
Yet as it is, all we are left with is a series of episodes from Belushi's life, with only the bare bones of continuity; an example of why interesting ideas still need effective execution all the way through.