Wanted

Synopsis

Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy, Atonement & The Last King of Scotland) is a anti-anxiety pill popping, timid account manager who  allows himself to be walked over by everyone. He is broke, corny and has a sorry, mundane life. All of this changes the day he meets a group of assassins who help him discover his special gift for killing, the fate of his absent father, and a tradition of killers that is generations in the making.

Review

Loosely based off of a comic book miniseries by Mark Millar, Wanted is very action packed, hot saucy, over-the-top, crazy, adrenaline charge deserving of a serious hand clap. It's also extremely violent, bloody, nasty, and ratatouille like. If you've never seen the animated movie Ratatouille, just know it has thousands of rats. Yes. I think the movie should be called Fraternity of Assassins or something like that. Wanted as a title just didn't do it. I guess it doesn't matter because the movie payed dividends—my ticket and popcorn investment wasn't wasted. Sure, Wanted is unrealistic. This flick isn't designed to be real. It's design to entertain and be visually titillating. Enjoy.

We've got Wesley Gibson, (Mcavoy) a pathetic account manager who sits in a little tiny cubicle (oh how I know about the cubicle) as his supervisor, queen barracuda herself torments him. His so-called “friend” & co-worker is messing with his trifling girlfriend and the Wes never ever sticks up for himself. Just the epitome of spinelessness. He is quite comical because early in the film his voiceover cynically narrates how he’s feeling about everything and everyone in his life as he goes through the motions of just existing.

BAM!

Along comes Fox (Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt's Boo) who flips the story on it's head with action times action + one. Angelina is my girl, but I have to tell her, Mama looks way to skinny in this flick. Hopefully she will keep the baby weight on for a few months. Anyhoo, Fox puts Wesley on about his destiny and then the bullets start flying. I swear the first action scene in the grocery store—which was then taking it to the streets—lasted about 20 minutes. But the scene basically tells you what the movie is about—explosive, unbelievable but cool action, crazy stunts, timely comedy and sharpshooters. The only thing missing from that scene are the rats.

Quick shout out to Common—doing the movie/rapper thing very well! Not many men can pull off the bald/beard look successfully.

Once Wesley meets the team of oddball looking assassins Fox is part of, he is forced to realize his super human powers by shooting the wings off of flys. It's in his genes. The leader of the Fraternity or some may say Dean of pledges, or Pledge Master Sloan (Morgan Freeman, The Bucket List) lets him know his Father was the disreputable hit man of their Fraternity. And, of course Sloan wants Wesley to get on board and take his rightful place in the Fraternity following in his daddy's footsteps. Let the hazing begin. I think this Fraternity's letters are WYA -- Whoopa Youa Assa. If these people were on a college campus, they would definitely be kicked off and their chapter would be suspended indefinitely or join the UFC.

Wanted had some great twists and the reinvented Wesley was cheered on by me and others. This movie makes you think about your job and life, whether you are happy with the way you are living, or what direction it is going in. I was amused to the very end which the ending...mmm mmm mmm was hilarious.

Huh? A hilarious ending to a violent movie? Yep—just give it a chance and you’ll see how Wanted pulls this off.

My Rating ~ 4 Reels

Average Rating ~ What's Yours?