Wanted

The viewing of this movie led to an interesting discussion with a friend about whether movies should have some sort of moral center. It moved to a discussion about whether or not people who enjoy a movie with no moral focus can be bad people for just enjoying a movie that revels in gratuitous violence, extremely filthy language and dirty sex. Because in the end, Wanted is a movie without a single redeeming quality in terms of the human condition. Wanted is a movie that says violence is sometimes the only way to get things done. That is the entire story. Of course, that is what the preview looked like, so anyone who saw it and was shocked at how violent it was, probably wasn't paying attention to the previews.

After a crazy opening sequence involving a guy leaping buildings and killing 5 people before getting his own head caved in with a crazy sick bullet, we meet Wesley Gibson( James McAvoy). Gibson is an office drone who hates his job and his life. His boss is a disgusting overweight woman who is cruel. Gibson's girlfriend is having an affair with his best friend and he has crazy anxiety that he deals with by popping pills. One night it all changes. He meets the unbelievably sexy Fox(Angelina Jolie) and his whole world flips on its axis. He learns his father was a skilled assassin and he learns that his anxiety is really his adrenaline that is so hyper that he can actually see things before they happen and he can slow time down, essentially. At first Gibson is unsure of it all, but as soon as he shoots the wings off of the flies, he is hooked. He goes through an assassin boot camp, learning how to curve bullets, use knives and all kinds of other assassin skills. Sloan(Morgan Freeman)is the assassin leader and he tells Gibson that they kill only who was fated to die. (Don't concern yourself with the loom of fate nonsense). Gibson is supposed to kill the man who killed his father and in doing so learning that he meant for greater things than we are.

Wanted is the slick, disgusting, vulgar and crazy movie The Matrix would have been if it wasn't concerned with religious overtones. I know that sounds bold because it makes it seem like Wanted is better which, of course, it isn't. McAvoy is very good as the schmuck at the start and makes an effortless transition to a hardcore bad ass. He is poised to be a big name who is capable of doing the small drama and the big budget action. Jolie is the sexiest she has ever been on screen. She is obviously having an absolute blast playing with the big boys and big guns. She has some of the coolest action stunts and she has this slight grin on her face the entire time. Freeman, in a part tailor made for Sam Jackson, turns Sloan into a wise, but wily old vet, but hearing Freeman say "MF" is kind of odd. You just don't expect it from him, which is maybe the point.

As far as action goes, Wanted packs a serious punch. Many of the cooler stunts were shown in the preview which was kind of disappointing, but the climax made up for all of it. With a 20 minute brilliantly choreographed action sequence featuring Gibson throwing, catching and firing no less than 15 guns is dazzling and the slow motion effect captured everything perfectly. As the rooms fill with smoke, dead bodies, bullet shells and blood, Gibson weaves his way through an intense warehouse shoot out that seems out of those crazy 90s action movies. Unlike the 90s action movies though, Wanted is working with Matrix like camera work and 360 degree spins and stopping time, rewinding time and speeding time to create a nearly perfect action sequence. When you add to that an awesome train shoot out and subsequent crash, an awesome knife fight and a brutal shot to the face with a computer keyboard, you have a great action movie.

The main problem is the too involved plot. I am not one who usually likes when there isn't enough plot in a movie, but here I complain that there is too much story. The twist is pretty easy to see and the while the final 10 minutes feature two amazing sequences, the end is actually illogical, which of course, is a minor complaint in an over-the-top movie. It runs at around 2hrs which is far too long for this kind of movie and I can think of about 10 to 15 minutes that could have easily been chopped off, but as soon as you see one bullet kill like 8 people, you kind of forgive the rest of it. The end of the film left a lot of people cold as the last final lines appear to be mocking all of us, but I found it to be interesting. What we are left with are questions about what exactly is taking control of your life? Sure, Gibson seems to have control of his life, but he is a crazy killer who is a slave to revenge, so is he really free? Are we less than he is because he can curve a bullet? Who knows?

Does enjoying the hell out of Wanted make me a bad person? Have I contributed to the downfall of the universe? I have no idea. That is not for me to answer. I do know that in real life, violence frightens me and guns scare me, but in the movies, Wanted is pure escapism entertainment. Essentially nothing in this movie can really happen, which is what makes it okay. Bullets cut through air too perfectly to really be curved like they are in the movie and assassins rarely look as sexy as Angelina Jolie, I assume, but that is the joy of Wanted; it is a movie that is so unabashedly over-the-top madness that there is no way to truly take it seriously. Thank god for that!

Final Grade: B-