Movies

Wanted Review

Wanted is based on Mark Millar’s graphic novels. Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is a lowly, brow-beaten corporate drone. His girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend, his boss berates him constantly and he has a standing prescription for anxiety medicine. Then, one day, Fox (Angelina Jolie) appears and informs him that his estranged father has just been murdered. Morgan Freeman makes an appearance as the Fraternity’s leader. He joins the Fraternity, an elite group of assassins with a 1000 year old history. He is tutored and trained to be a world class assassin so he can avenge his father’s death.

 

Wanted was directed by the same director who did Night Watch and Day Watch (Timur Bekmambetov), so the action is very interesting, full of cheesy slo-mos and impossible stunts. A solid suspension of disbelief is necessary for this movie. Still, the action is non-stop and very watchable. McAvoy does an excellent job of portraying Gibson as a loser and then following through on his amazing transformation. Jolie does a pretty good job as a badass assassin who can intimidate pretty much everyone. Freeman is a little less believable, simply because most people haven’t seen him in a role like this and he doesn’t sell it very well. I also could have done without the plotline copied from Star Wars to be totally honest. My advice is to wait for the DVD or see it at a second run theatre.