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Review by David DiMichele

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There is a line of dialogue that is as sharp, lethal and beautiful as all of the extreme violence in Mark Millar and J.G. Jones’ comic book-to-movie adaptation Wanted: “He can conduct a symphony orchestra with a pistol.” Russian-born director Timur Bekmambetov does exactly that in stylish fashion to produce a creation that’s the zestiest and sexiest movie of the summer. At the risk of having his movie fall into the fringe of mindless action and pointless shoot-'em-up sequences, he nevertheless weaves a gut-wrenching story where the action scenes double as pristine pieces of adored art work.

We become involved with a miserable office worker named Wesley. As each day passes he becomes more of a drone. He’s played with an emotional vigor that goes through the roof by James McAvoy who, in his first action film, succeeds very well after playing a totally different character in last year's Atonement. Dealing with the ignorant fat lady who is his boss and who always tries to provoke him at his most vulnerable point ( a raging anxiety that leaves him in a state of panic), to coping with his best friend who also doubles as Wesley’s girlfriend’s sex toy, he really needs a revelation to happen to him. And by God, that is just what he gets. His revelation is also the movie's revelation as Angelina Jolie shows up. She plays Fox, a member of the Fraternity, a thousand-year-old secret society of assassins who kill bad people by The Loom of Fate (don’t ask). She informs him that he is of the bloodline that runs through the Fraternity. It turns out that his father, a skilled assassin, took a bullet in the skull from a man named Cross (Thomas Kretschmann just oozes cool) who now lurks the streets of Europe and preys in the streets of Chicago (like Terminator).

After finding all this out, Wesley stops acting like the timid shit he’s always been. He grows balls. Well, I guess anyone would, especially when Jolie’s Fox walks with him into his girlfriend’s apartment and lays a big wet one on him in front of her. That scene sparks a wave of jealousy that reaches out into the audience and makes us wish we were McAvoy. Geeks rejoice, and be on the look out for Fox in your local grocery store.

As Fox takes him to meet Sloan, the leader of the Fraternity (Morgan Freeman playing a wise God-like figure once again) he’s told he’s being hired to take out Cross to avenge the death of his supposed father, but only after he completes a couple of other hits first, which are given to him by the Loom. Two of these hits are the best scenes in the movie. One involves him and Fox standing on a speeding train ready to snipe a man inside a building, with the camera tracing the path of the bullet, and the other involving a side by side car shoot out but done to beautiful Italian music. Remember, Bekmambetov is more about art than the thirst for blood.

Now if you think you can just walk in to a society of assassins because your father was one of them and start kicking ass, you’re bound to be in for a rude awakening. Wesley undergoes brutal training supervised by Fox which involves having him tied to a chair and beaten senseless by other members (rapper Common rocks), being sliced with knives by a butcher and learning how to curve a bullet out of a gun. After a day's work is done, they cool him off in a iced bath tub only to wake up and do it all over again. This is so that he can learn to control his anxiety, which turns out not to be anxiety at all, but a trait that all the assassins of the Fraternity have.

The trait is used to slow down time in the eyes of the beholder. Bekmambetov pounces on this and levitates the movie far above the normality that we have been accustomed to in recent action movies. In fact, he ascends into a class of movies whose groundbreaking images have been imitated by many - The Matrix anyone? There is more flash and flamboyance than blood and gore (remember that computer keyboard?) From Jolie sliding under a bypass on top a speeding train to a beautifully crafted suicide that comes when the rug is pulled out from under you in the denouement, Wanted crackles like fireworks even as it raises heavy questions - “What did he do that he deserve to die?” - and supplies a product that isn’t stale. You leave exhilarated and energized with saliva drooling from your mouth.

Film Rating: *** 1/2 out of ****

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Comments (6)

Pure popcorn

This movie kicked all kinds of ass!! What a perfect summer flick. This is the movie that dreadful pile of crap Shoot 'Em Up "wanted" to but didn't have the balls to be. Great review!

Jeremy , June 29, 2008 | url

Awesome review!

I just got to watch this, agreed with what you've said here in this awesome review, as always. thanks David!

jedmed , June 29, 2008

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i already saw the trailer, think this movie will become more popular than the Lara Croft series....

torasham , June 30, 2008 | url

Not Sure

I'm not too sure if I'll go see this or not. If I have time on a Tues night (cheap night), I might see it at the cinema. If not, then I'll rent it on DVD.

Sizzlingpopcorn.com , July 01, 2008 | url

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as much as I enjoyed Bekmambetov's Night watch and Day watch, this one was just really annoying. I think it was more of the script I had problems with. Great review, though.

Freelance , July 02, 2008 | url

good review

Hi this is the first time i see this website and i think i like it -but- i have a question: what is a good review? Just tell the story word by word and thats it? i think not.u just tell the story and spoil the movie for the people who hasnt seen it yet and thats it.u add something like:great action or beautifull music or somthing like that but stil its not a review.What u have to do in a review is to analyze the movie in diffrent aspects like:directing-story-editing-script writing-main idea of movie-the effects that movie makes on the people who will watch it-acting-music-history and thoughts and style of director and writer in general-why people like or hate this movie(i mean what the society wants and what things happen in the society and people that make them like or hate this movie-if people like it,finding the reason why they like it and what makes them like it)and many other things,and if this happens we could say thats a review and its a good one. i hope i cleared my point.thx

Sina , August 09, 2008

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