Friday, June 27, 2008

Movie review: Wanted

By Alex Bentley

Wanted

"Wanted" tells the tale of one apathetic nobody's transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice. Twenty-five-year-old Wes is the most disaffected, cube-dwelling drone the planet had ever known. His boss chews him out hourly, his girlfriend ignores him routinely and his life plods on interminably. Everyone is certain this disengaged slacker will amount to nothing. There is little else for Wes to do but wile away the days and die in his slow, clock-punching rut. Until he meets a woman named Fox. After his estranged father is murdered, the deadly sexy Fox recruits Wes into the Fraternity, a secret society that trains Wes to avenge his dad's death by unlocking his dormant powers. As she teaches him how to develop lightning-quick reflexes and phenomenal agility, Wes discovers this team lives by an ancient, unbreakable code: carry out the death orders given by fate itself. With wickedly brilliant tutors-including the Fraternity's enigmatic leader, Sloan-Wes grows to enjoy all the strength he ever wanted. But, slowly, he begins to realize there is more to his dangerous associates than meets the eye. And as he wavers between newfound heroism and vengeance, Wes comes to learn what no one could ever teach him: he alone controls his destiny.

Source: Cinema Source

• Showtimes and more on Wanted

There are some films that you hope will have intricate stories, fleshed-out characters, and interesting dialogue; Wanted is not one of them. From the first scene of its trailer (and the film itself), Wanted sells you on its promise of hyper-fantastic action – think The Matrix except without the alternate reality explanation.

So it’s actually somewhat of a letdown when Timur Bekmambetov, a Russian director best known for the Night Watch films, working from a script by Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, and Chris Morgan, dedicates a significant portion of the film to exposition. Wanted is based on a comic book series, and many of the best scenes are lifted directly from the book’s panels (a la Sin City). However, it’s when the film veers away from the comic book (and it apparently differs significantly) that it gets into trouble, struggling to come up with a coherent story when it should be focused on the over-the-top action.

Hmm, where have I seen this before?

The story follows Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), an ordinary office drone with a severe anxiety problem. His life is interrupted when Fox (Angelina Jolie) accosts him one day, telling him that his father, a man he doesn’t know, is an expert assassin who had just been killed. Wesley is now expected to join The Fraternity, a group of highly-trained killers, and avenge his father’s death. The Fraternity includes mostly no-name actors except for Gunsmith (rapper Common) and leader Sloan (Morgan Freeman).

Wesley is put through the paces of training, normally a fun and exciting sequence in any comic book origin film when the hero (or anti-hero, as the case may be) learns how to use his abilities. The problem in Wanted is that the sequence is extended well beyond its “good by” date. That leaves precious little time for Wesley to test out his skills in the field before the film moves on to its main purpose. It would’ve been nice to see Wesley enjoy himself a little before becoming all troubled again.

Angelina Jolie as ... um ... uh ... what was I saying?

The action scenes do live up to their promise when the audience is treated to them. The opening sequence is probably the best of the film, although it does feel almost exactly like a similar scene in The Matrix. Twisting bullets, flipping cars, exploding heads -- Bekmambetov goes all out when he feels like it. The biggest problem is there are not nearly enough of the action scenes and the ones we do get often feel greatly truncated, as if they’re saying, “We’re just going to tease you with what we can do.”

McAvoy is fine as Wesley, although it’s a bit odd to hear an actor with a distinctive Scottish brogue talking with an American accent (and a good one, at that). Jolie plays to her strengths – she’s brooding, tough as nails, and sexy as hell. Freeman may seem out of place as the leader of a group of assassins until you consider that he’s played a bad guy before in Nurse Betty and Lucky Number Slevin.

It’s a bit odd to actually be advocating that a film ditch the talking and play up the action and CGI more since I’m usually on the other side of that argument, but every film should know what it can and can’t do. Wanted should’ve been a straight-up, no-brainer, guns-blazing, car-crashing, popcorn extravaganza. The fact that it doesn’t take full advantage of its advertised strong points makes it a minor disappointment.

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