Wanted: Movie Review (2008)

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, written by Michael Brandt, Derek Haas and Chris Morgan, 110 minutes, rated R

Timur Bekmambetov’s new live-action cartoon, “Wanted,” suggests that Angelina Jolie might want to consider changing her first name to something that doesn’t recall visions of halos, harps, or the heavens.

Let’s offer a suggestion: Scarylina Jolie. Trust me--after watching this movie, that comes a lot closer to the mark.

Based on Mark Millar and J.G. Jones series of comic books, the film is the quintessential summer action movie. It’s ridiculous, it’s pumped with impressive action, it doesn’t take itself seriously, it’s more fun than most will expect, and it achieves exactly what it sets out to accomplish--in this case, being a non-stop, bloody ride.

For the hard-core action fan, there’s plenty to recommend here, from harrowing car chases through the streets of Chicago to disastrous train derailments in Europe. Those seeking a violent summer blockbuster will find an orgy of just that here. As a gimmick, the movie offers a doozy--the ability to shoot a gun in such a way that it curves a bullet’s trajectory. This proves especially helpful when, say, you have a foe hiding behind a slab of beef and can’t get a straight shot to kill him. What to do? Just throw yourself into the shot and curve the bullet so it hits its target.

Life over. Onto the next gunfight.

About the plot: James McAvoy (“Atonement,” “Penelope”) is Wesley Gibson, an anxiety-ridden putz who hasn’t come close to living up to his potential. He’s saddled with a difficult girlfriend who is busy steamrolling over him, a sleazy best friend who is sleeping with Wes’ girlfriend, a cruel boss who loves to torture him, and a job he hates. What’s to live for? Apparently for Wes, little more than all those calming drugs he pops throughout the day.

But one day, when he’s buying those drugs at a pharmacy, into his life comes Fox (Jolie), an intimidating, hard-looking hottie with tight, sinewy arms, at the end of which usually are loaded guns. That certainly turns out to be true the first time they meet, when they fight a fallen member of the Fraternity who is trying to kill them. As for the reason why the man wants them dead, let’s just say it has something to do with the murder of Gibson’s father, an assassin he never knew.

What’s more important here is the film’s secret Fraternity, which Gibson learns is an ancient organization of weavers-turned-assassins (seriously) headed by the humorless Sloan (Morgan Freeman). All want Gibson to avenge his father’s death, which allows for Gibson to become a changed man--though not without going through hell to get there.

The film’s chief conceit is that it never lets up--the movie slips into overdrive at the start and continues to barrel forward--through walls, through buildings, through whatever gets in its way. Echoes of “Rocky,” “Fight Club” and “The Matrix” movies are laced throughout, with Bekmambetov also embracing elements of the superhero genre in that “Wanted,” at its core, is about Gibson’s transformation from punk to powerhouse.

Toss in unexpected flashes of wit, game performances from all involved (especially Scarylina, who obviously came to have fun), and you have a movie that wedges itself firmly into the ongoing chaos of summer movies with its own derivative brand of gun-toting fun.

Grade: B+