If Hostel is torture porn, then Wanted, the latest in a long string of comic-book-turned-action-flick releases, is bullet porn. The spinning bullet sequences littered throughout the film are enough to make any teenage boy's head spin with delight. Or prompt a major headache for anyone older than 14.
Wanted centers around Wesley Gibson (Atonement's James McAvoy), an office drone who ditches the daily grind when he's recruited by an assassin squad named the Fraternity. Turns out Gibson's absentee dad, a former Fraternity member, was just murdered, and according to the group's leader, played by Morgan Freeman, there's avenging to be done.
Gibson's desk job didn't quite prepare him for battle, but thankfully Angelina Jolie is there to save the storyline. She plays Fox, the Mr. Miyagi to McAvoy's grasshopper, and turns him into a skilled killer. In a pivotal scene, Gibson gets an assignment from the Loom of Fate, the woven threads that oddly determine each assassin's destiny, and he learns there's more to his job than was explained. As expected, bloodshed ensues.
Wanted has everything that should be expected from a summer action movie--uncontrollable volume, gratuitous violence and sex, inane dialogue, plot holes, fast cars--and yet somehow still manages to sprinkle in animal cruelty and racism. It's most noticeable and offensive when an Indian woman is shot and killed after the gunman uses her bindi as a target.
Wanted takes its cues from the gravity-defying slo-mo action sequences from The Matrix and rips the angry working-class white male vengeance straight outta Fight Club. The only difference? Those flicks were actually good.
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1. Dawn said... on Jun 25, 2008 at 11:02AM
“Great Review! Keep up the good work! Your descriptions are clear and easy to understand. Looking forward to reading more in the future! You are my new movie guro go-to!”