Movie Review: Wanted
Wanted is another movie in a long line of comic book adaptations. It is brought to you by Timur Bekmambetov, the director behind Night Watch and Day Watch, two films I caught on DVD. His ability to fill the screen with so much mayhem carries over brilliantly for this adaptation.
James McAvoy kicks some ass. His character, Wesley Gibson, is a loser working in a cubicle until the sultry Angelina Jolie enters and changes his life. He joins The Fraternity, a league of assassins, and changes his life forever. That’s the story in a nutshell. If I had to compare this to another movie, it’d be a combination of Shoot ‘Em Up, Fight Club and The Matrix. That’s saying a lot, because I liked all three of those movies. The story isn’t quite as deep or amusing as Matrix or Fight Club, but there are some very welcomed similarities throughout Wanted that make it enjoyable.
The actors do nothing new here. There were a few surprises though. McAvoy handles the action role really well. Morgan Freeman mails in the same performance we’ve seen him give over and over again, but uses some more colorful language this time around. And Angelina Jolie is hot. I don’t know if it was seeing all those tattoos down her back as she got out of a tub, or if it was watching her wield a shotgun while hanging out the front window of a car with her legs spread apart steering and bracing herself while speeding down a highway shooting at the bad guy. Either way, she was a joy to watch.
This is a violent movie. I have no issues with that. It’s rated R and for good reason. It’s a movie about assassins trying to kill other assassins. It has to be violent and bloody to make any sort of sense. And Timur does it all with style. The car chase scenes are so over-the-top, it may seem a bit unbelievable. And that’s where the film may lose some people. It’s not quite as crazy as Shoot ‘Em Up, but it comes close. Who wants dirty realism in their popcorn flicks anyway?
I walked out of the theatre satisfied. It was an orgy of mayhem that delivered on the thrills. I’m not so sure as to how faithful an adaptation it was, but I had fun. Don’t expect the next Matrix. This isn’t nearly as deep. But if you want to see an action movie in the same vein as 300, this is your ticket.
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I’ve wanted to see this since I saw the trailer and the entire time I didn’t expect to be overly thrilled with it, just entertained. It seems I’ll get that.
Colin Devroe on June 28th, 2008 10:13 am