wanted review…

wanted, the movie, is entertaining as popcorn flicks tend to be — lots of action, a plot full of holes and requiring large amounts of suspended belief. it stars morgan freeman (deep impact, batman begins), james mcavoy (the first chronicles of narnia, atonement) and eye-candy angelina jolie (you should know who she is). it’s a star-studded cast for a movie that’s the equivalent of the modern tall tale.

wesley gibson (mcavoy) leads a boring life trying to please his boss, fighting off panic attacks and going through the motions as his girlfriend cheats on him with his best friend (played by stiffler look-alike chris pratt). gibson gets a life when the fox (jolie) reveals his “destiny” after saving him from an agent (cross played by thomas kretschmann) gone bad who formerly worked for an organization called the fraternity –a group that takes its orders from a mysterious loom — yes, a loom(link). sloan (freeman) gives gibson a chance for revenge by giving him the order to kill cross, the man accused of killing his father. cue training montage as unlikely everyman becomes killer extraordinaire.

the action is ridiculous. wounds heal within hours, cars flip over on command, and everything you learned or ignored in your physics class goes out the window — characters shoot bullets instead of each other. wesley’s reluctance to kill is put under jolie’s hypnotic spell — the story of her family’s death becomes wesley’s motivation to put aside every thought in his brain that’s screaming, “are you serious?”

the names of the characters are connected thematically. cross takes on an organization working for fate (the loom that guides the moves of the fraternity is based on the fates of greek myth(link)). the organization recruits wesley, who in turn becomes a harbinger of free will when he learns the horrible truth (i won’t ruin it for you).

surprised that wanted, based on a lewd comic book, is an action movie with a strong religious theme based on the theology of john wesley? i was. religion aside, wanted is fun, stupid and this year’s appetizer for the upcoming release the dark knight. as an end all, be all action movie, it surely lacks, but as a warmup to an upcoming release that’s already been hailed as the best comic book movie made, wanted is the salad to the summer’s real meal ticket.

2.5/5