| WANTED |
 2008 - USADirector: Timur Bekmambetov
- Reviewed by Eric
Not unlike The Matrix (which employed similar special effects to take fight scenes to a mind-bending next level), Wanted concerns an ordinary guy (McAvoy) who works in an ordinary office living his ordinary life—until a hot babe (Jolie) appears and informs him that he’s really destined to be a bad-ass, and she’s going to show him how. And then a lot of stuff blows up, and the camera does lots of impossible stunts until you don’t know which way is up. Credits. Huge smile glued to my face the entire time. Wanted is helmed by Timur Bekmambetov, the Russian director behind fantasy action blockbusters Night Watch and Day Watch. I wasn’t aware of this coming into the movie (and there weren’t any opening credits), but somehow I wasn’t surprised to see most of the names in the closing credits were Russian. There is a special kind of out-of-control Bekmambetov achieves, simultaneously sidestepping and embracing the clichés of American action movies. His crazed ambition is matched only by his ability to improbably pull it off. Consider a scene like the one in which The Fox (Jolie) shoots a bullet that travels in an actual circle, killing a group of people standing around the edges of a round room. I believed it could happen. Or the introduction of some kind of wax bath that accelerates the healing process, to allow the movie to inflict untold damage on James McAvoy and have him looking pretty in the next scene. Sounds stupid. But the movie sold it to me. The movie isn’t about the supernatural, exactly—it’s more like these people have been blessed with superhuman reflexes. But they’re not superhuman. If they get shot, they die. But they can snatch the shuttle out of a loom without blinking an eye. Oh, and speaking of looms, the plot concerns something called the “Loom of Fate” which conveys messages from “fate” about who these assassins must kill in order to most benefit mankind. Yes, the Loom of Fate. Sounds stupid. But the movie sold it to me. Wanted is incredibly violent, yes, and graphic about its death and killings, but somehow it avoided queasiness for me. That’s why it’s so much fun. It’s too real to believe. It’s bigger than real. It’s kind of ridiculous. And I freaking loved it. |
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Wanted is an absolute orgy of violence, flashy camerawork, Angelina Jolie looking gangsta, and James McAvoy’s gorgeous blue eyes that you could just go swimming in. I’m just saying. If you need anything else in your summer action entertainment, Wanted might not be for you. But I never wanted it to end.
