Wanted (2008) Synopsis:
The protagonist in Wanted is a nebbishy white-collar worker who discovers his father is the world's most evil supervillain. After his dad is murdered, the son is recruited into a covert organization and trained to take up his father's legacy.
Wanted (2008) Movie Review:
Every once and awhile there is an incredibly absurd and over the top film that comes along, but ultimately wins you over with its kinetic and amusing energy. For this summer, Wanted is that film. It may be considered a guilty pleasure for many, but if you throw out the logic and just watch it for fun, it is quite a ride.
The film follows an overworked, isolated, panic-attack engulfed office worker named Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), who is made so pathetic early on in the film that the audience can not help but feel for the guy. This all changes when he meets a sultry assassin named Fox (Angelina Jolie), who informs him that the father he never knew was on of the greatest assassins in the world and was killed by a rogue assassin named Cross (Thomas Kretschmann) with Wesley being up next. Wesley is then brought into the world of The Fraternity, which is a 1,000 secret group of assassins that kill one to save a thousand. Head of the group is the wise Sloan (Morgan Freeman), who informs Wesley that he inhabits extraordinary powers that his father had, which could make him an exceptional killer. Wesley learns that he is not actually having panic attacks that his heart is beating at 400 times a minute, which is a gift that gives him power of incredible accuracy, speed, and movement, such as firing bullets around corners to take out targets. After going through an adequate amount of grueling tests and training, Wesley begins to master the skills and is chosen as the only person in the world that can avenge his father’s killer.
Visual-action guru filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov, who brought us Nightwatch and Daywatch, opens Wanted with a bang and never lets up. The film is exhausting in all its technical wonder, which includes continuous slo-mo, bullets colliding to stop one another, blood splattering, and the path of a bullet being shown from miles away. The visuals of this film have Bekmambetov’s fingerprints all over them; he has a niche for capturing over-the-top ridiculous action moments that come across as cool or engaging. However, without the visual and CGI contributions of the Wachowski brothers with The Matrix, most of Wanted would have never been tailored. Bekmambetov never intends for this film to be taken serious and gives the audience a rollercoaster ride of visuals and action that is striking and complementary.
Wanted was scripted by Michael Brandt, Derek Hass and Chris Morgan and was based on the comic books by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones. Before this film even opened, there were numerous postings on the Internet stating that Hollywood has butchered the comics. After further research, Wanted is really nothing like its comic origin. In the comic, the assassins are really ruthless super-villains in a dark light. The character of Wesley also does some unspeakable things to his targets before he kills them. So revamped from the comic to being a soul-searching violent journey for Wesley, the script is merely a blueprint for Bekmambetov to stage his action sequences. Wesley is given the most depth, with the first twenty minutes of the film following him and his traits. Fox is given a background, but there is not much story behind all the other characters, and plot of the film has been done before. The film also has a soap-opera twist that comes across as reaching at first, but does setup the final showdown of the film. As with the visuals, there are also numerous absurdities in the script, such as the way The Fraternity receives their assignments. Wesley also has a voice-over narration throughout the film that gives more insight to his thoughts throughout, however, the worst choice in the film by the writers and Bekmambetov is when the fourth wall is broken down and Wesley looks at the audience and asks a question. This is reflective of the director breaking more rules of film, but it comes across as dunce.
James McAvoy is getting more profile roles, and he makes the most of his first action role as Wesley. He does struggle with his American accent at times, but he delivers good work in Wanted. Angelina Jolie returns action with her action as the kick-butt assassin Fox, who is covered in tattoos and talks more with her beautiful eyes than her voice. Morgan Freeman plays the usual boss with charisma role that is always nice to see and rapper Common arises as the weapons expert Gunsmith. Thomas Kretschmann is also solid as the rogue agent Cross.
Wanted is a pure popcorn action film for adults that is exciting, bloody, loud, over-the-top, and full of visual flair. Do not attempt to take this film seriously or look for logic in it, it is just a feast for the eyes for the action genre, much like last year’s Shoot’em Up.
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Wanted (2008) review written by: Bailey Henderson
7th October, 2008 
