WANTED

English (18SG) 26 June 2008

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Running Time: approx. 113 minutes

Director: Timur Bekmambetov

Producer: Marc Platt, Jason Netter, Jim Lemley

Writer: Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, Chris Morgan

Casts: James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Kristen Hager, Terence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann

Plot: Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) finds out that his long lost father is an assassin. When his father is murdered, Wesley is recruited into his father's organisation and trained by a man named Sloan (Morgan Freeman) to follow in his dad's footsteps. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov.

My Review:

Green Tea says:

James McAvoy may not be the hunkalicious or some dream guy you will probably want to see more in an action-packed movie, not like Brad Pitt. His credits in a film include a faun in The Chronicles of Narnia and a lover in Atonement. When he is to play the leading role in Wanted, I was caught by surprise but rather understandable for a visionary director like Timur Bekmambetov.

WARNING: SPOILERS UP AHEAD!!

(May I recommend you to highlight it if you still want to read this section marked with [...])

[Wanted is a movie loosely based from a comic series of Wanted by Mark Miller, about an ordinary accountant named Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) whom recently had experienced of many panic-like situations, unaware that it was actually a talent that enabling him to achieve super-reactions. His father was killed by a high-profile assassin named Cross (Thomas Kretschmann), whom was trying to pursuit and kill him as well. This is the time when Fox (Angelina Jolie) comes to the rescue and the three involve in a high intense car-chase.

Then, Wesley was brought into an elite society and learnt much the truths about his father whom he never knew or seen since young. He underwent some brutal training under the elite assassin society called The Fraternity, led by Sloan (Morgan Freeman). Well enough, Wesley developed into a deadly killing machine, in order to revenge for his father's death by hunting down Cross. He completed assignment after assignment based on a woven cloth that must be interpreted to give out the names of a selected target, done by Sloan.

Slowly, he confronted Sloan to give him the order to hunt Cross. But it was also revealed that Wesley's name became one of the society's target as well. Wesley and Fox managed to track-down Cross in Eastern Europe and involved in a big scene on the train. Wesley managed to kill Cross when he had the opportunity to do so. Before Cross died, he revealed that The Fraternity had been lying to Wesley about certain things and Cross was actually Wesley's father.

Before Fox was able to shoot Wesley, he managed to escape. He survived the train accident with the help of Perwasky, a bullet maker for Cross. He found out that his father had always been living across the street from his house. He then plots for a revenge after finding out his father's secret room, filled with project paper and interpreted woven cloth with Sloan's name deciphered. When he reached the Fraternity's fortress, he was surrounded by highly profiled assassins and successfully execute his plan. In the final moment, he revealed the truth about the society, but the assassins were putting him in a point gun. Fox helped Wesley to eliminate all of the assassins but Sloan managed to escape. Later, Sloan shown up at Wesley's office where Wesley had returned to his old job as an accountant. Sloan put Wesley on a gun point but was revealed as a decoy. Sloan had been targeted by Wesley who was using mile-long sniper shot and Sloan was killed due to the trap. ]

REVIEW: I have to say that Wanted is a moderately engineered movie crafted with memorable stylish action-packed scenes, but unfortunately having too much forgettable dialogue. It has a stylish element that resembles a crossover between The Matrix, Jumper, Speed Racer and 300. The early pace of the movie is slow to follow but it speeds up after Wesley was brought into the Fraternity. No doubt, this movie is a fast-paced movie with lots of banging and ultraviolence scene. The storyline and plot should have been done better; very predictable and moderately difficult to follow, as some may get confused out of it. Predictable for I have foreseen something is not right about the Fraternity and code-breaking method to retrieve target's name themselves are at my questions. All of the four key characters play well. I would not be surprise by the fact that Angelina is actually only the third billing in this movie after James and Morgan. She is not the lead but offers some appeal and attraction. A total zero to hero kind of theme that make this Summer actioners to offer well to the audience!!

Our Verdict:

Green Tea says:

3.5 stars

Isaac says:

N/A

Lim says:

N/A

Prisc says:

5.0 stars