rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States, Germany; 2008
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov; produced by Jim Lemley, Jason Netter, Marc E. Platt, Iain Smith; screenplay by Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, Chris Morgan
Starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Terence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann, Kristen Hager
2007 gave us 'Shoot 'em Up' as the mindless popcorn entertainment action film. 2008 brings us 'Wanted', a film where bullets can be curved around obstacles, cars can perform athletic tricks, and assassins can jump 'Matrix'-style. Based on a comic book by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, this is the kind of nonsense I want from my mindless action films.
James McAvoy is recruited by Angelina Jolie to join in the "fraternity of assassins", being lead by Morgan Freeman. Since McAvoy is a great loser even he himself thinks they have the wrong guy. Not true: his father was one of the greatest assassins that ever lived and now they need the son to kill his father's killer. After some resistance he starts his training - which is basically about getting beaten up really bad - and before he knows it he's on his first mission.
After a short introduction the film falls from one action sequence into the next, only pausing to get the plot moving on. The film could have done with less story, but I guess the comic book needed to be followed. The action is great to look at, and the film knows it is basically about that. To make its target audience happy it even contains a scene with almost-nudity from Angelina Jolie.
Not too many words need to be used for recommending 'Wanted' to the action fan. It is entertaining if you are in to these kind of things. It is very well made, and three reliable actors finish this job well done.