Wanted

Review By Matthew Rodgers

The fundamental flaw with Timur Bekmambetov’s US debut is that it won’t be what everyone Wanted. It doesn’t change the face of action cimema in the way that The Matrix sent bullettime shockwaves through a stale and repetetive genre in 99, despite employing a lot of the same visual flair, and it doesn’t create and sustain a self-contained mythos that grounds the action with any level of believability. What it does have is a superb central performance from James McAvoy (Atonement), a peripherally seductive turn from Mrs Pitt and some absolutely bonkers, bordering on stupid action from a uniquely visual director. Take out your brain, put in some eye drops and just lap it up.

Meet McAvoy’s Wesley Gibson, you might think you have met before, possibly whilst looking in the mirror; he works nine-to-five in a tedium-breeding office environment, he hates his boss and his best friend is banging his girlfriend, ok so maybe not the last one unless you are extremely unlucky. Unbeknowest to him he is the offspiring of a legendary assassin who was fighting the “good fight” for a secret organisation headed by the mysterious Sloan (Morgan Freeman – Batman Begins),The Fraternity. Tapped up by Jolie’s slyly monikered Fox his entire world is stretched, flipped and completely fucked over for 110mins of beautiful carnage.

Bekmambetov is certainly a visionary with a pulse for action, literally in this case as some scenes momentum is carried by the visual beat of the action rippling the screen and it’s the style that saves the film when the ludicrous nature of fortune-telling sewing machines enters proceedings. A convoluted plot is something that hindered his blockbusting Russian vamp-fests Day/NightWatch and he has made Wanted’s more linear but still completely ridiculous, and if you take the time to blink-and-think then the twists can be seen coming quicker round the corner than the bendy bullet gimmick.

Effects aside the single driving force is a revelatory transformation from the usually suited and booted period player McAvoy into a serious action man. During the films strong set-up, in which the blackly comic tone is established to brilliant effect, he is empathically hilarious as the put upon everyman and it all culminates in one of greatest resignations since Jerry Maguire picked up that Goldfish. After this his wit reamins but he also convinces as a shit-kicking assasin to introduce himself to a completely different and deserving audience.

Unfortunately a malnourished looking Jolie (superb in A Might Heart) doesn’t get nearly enough to do as his Mr Myagi cohort; her quips are slyly delivered and there is a devilish glint in her eyes that’s playfully infectious but she should have been utilised more than simply the poster girl to sell the movie, because what little she does is superb.

There is a line in one of the songs from the effective soundtrack – “I believe I can see the future, because I repeat the same routine” – it’s used to exemplify the monotony of Wesley’s life but could so easily be applied to the film itself, no matter how flash the “bendy bullet” trick is, its overuse becomes repetitive, much in the same way the film does as it rushes through its choppy and sequential non-action scenes.

Wanted maintains a summer of consistent quality fare and could be an interesting franchise with which to follow an interesting leading character, its just a shame that it didn’t raise the bar a little higher than the trailer had indicated.