Movie Review: Wanted (2008) by Jason

The Essentials

Title: Wanted (official site)
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov
Written by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas
Running Time: 1:48
MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody violence throughout, pervasive language and some sexuality.

The Plot of Wanted

An apathetic young nobody finds out his long lost father is an assassin, and has just been murdered. The son is then recruited into his father’s old organization of assassins who will train him to follow in his father’s footsteps and avenge his dad’s death.

The Story of Wanted

25-year-old Wes (James McAvoy) was the most disaffected, cube-dwelling drone the planet had ever known. His boss chewed him out hourly, his girlfriend ignored him routinely and his life plodded on interminably. Everyone was certain this disengaged slacker would amount to nothing. There was little else for Wes to do but wile away the days and die in his slow, clock-punching rut. Until he met a woman named Fox (Angelina Jolie). After his estranged father is murdered, the deadly sexy Fox recruits Wes into the Fraternity, a secret society that trains Wes to avenge his dad’s death by unlocking his dormant powers. As she teaches him how to develop lightning-quick reflexes and phenomenal agility, Wes discovers this team lives by an ancient, unbreakable code: carry out the death orders given by fate itself. With wickedly brilliant tutors – including the Fraternity’s enigmatic leader, Sloan (Morgan Freeman) — Wes grows to enjoy all the strength he ever wanted. But, slowly, he begins to realize there is more to his dangerous associates than meets the eye. And as he wavers between newfound heroism and vengeance, Wes will come to learn what no one could ever teach him: he alone controls his destiny.

The Review of Wanted

Summer popcorn movies were invented for the sort of sleek entertainment provided by this film and Wanted was created to be a summer popcorn movie.

Director Timur Bekmambetov took elements of the graphic novels by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones and combined the story with film elements from The Matrix, Fight Club, and Shoot ‘Em Up to create a wildly outlandish but unapologetically graphic action flick that takes the viewer on a roller coaster ride of mindless summer fun.

James McAvoy does a wonderful job as the narrator/protagonist upon around which the story revolves. When we first meet him, Wesley Gibson, is the ultimate nobody. A self-performed Google search of his name turns up exactly zero matches (if you do it, it’ll turn up over 3 million). He’s living the most moribund life one can imagine. Wesley works in an office he hates for a boss he can’t stand. His girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend and he suffers from what he thinks are anxiety attacks constantly. His life sucks.

Everything changes when he meets a beautiful stranger named Fox who tells him his father, who he thought died the week he was born, actually only died the day before. Almost from the moment they meet the action begins and never ends.

If you go into this film thinking this will be some kind of “realistic” type of action movie then you’ve got another thing coming. This film is based on a comic book series and there are some very “supernatural” or “superhero” type elements in this story. If you go in with an open mind, expecting some very strange and wonderful things to happen you’ll probably get exactly what you’re expecting.

I found considerable fault with the story line itself. There was little enough of it as it was and the little plot and story they worked in to the film didn’t make a lot of logical sense when you started thinking about it. Still, it was an interesting story idea and the film was fast paced enough that they didn’t really give us enough time to think too much about the problems with the logic a group of assassins who get their targets from the threads of a magic loom (have I said too much?).

The direction was incredible and I could find little fault. Timur Bekmambetov undoubtedly launched himself into the upper echelons of action directors with this effort and the reward will be well deserved. The action sequences were intense and well executed. The special effects were excellent.

I found that Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie didn’t really have a lot to do in this movie. I’m sure their names and faces (or other body parts as the case may be) helped sell a lot of tickets this weekend and will continue to do so, but their roles were completely secondary and could have been played by any number of actors with the same or similar results. It saddens me to say that, of course, about the amazing Morgan Freeman, but this was not one of his more memorable performances.

Someone to keep your eyes on in this film is Wesley’s best friend Barry played by Chris Pratt. If you know Pratt at all it’s probably from the WB’s “Everwood.” I always liked him on that show and he does a great job with the small role he has in this film. I’m predicting big things for this guy. I think he’s going to be a star sooner rather than later.

So anyway, I thought Wanted was a lot of fun, but nothing to take too seriously. You’ll leave the theater thinking it was a blast, but the more you think about it the more you’ll realize how many problems there actually were with the screenplay. Still, it’s the kind of movie that’s just intriguing enough to make us want to know what they’re going to do for the inevitable sequel and how in the world they’re going to pull it off after the ending to this one. You’ll know what I mean when you see it.

Watch Wanted If…

You want to have some mindless, bloody, violent fun that doesn’t require too much emotional investment or logical reasoning skills…or if you want to see Angelina Jolie’s really skinny booty.