Wanted

I typically never write a review on a film that I've already seen more than once, because I insist on the review reflecting my first (and strongest) impression of the film. But after watching Wanted for what must be the 5th or 6th time now, I suddenly felt like writing something anyway, so here I go.

Let me begin by saying, this is one strange film. Strange in the sense that it's literally like a train wreck that you can't keep your eyes off because it's so fascinating to watch. And you almost feel sick with guilt and exhilaration because you're enjoying it so much. Violence never looked so gorgeous before...

Wanted is about a guy named Wesley Gibson, who is such a hopeless, pathetic dweeb that even Google won't return any results when he types in his own name. He is "rescued" from his pitiful cubicle existence by a gorgeous woman named Fox, who recruits him into an organisation of assassins known as The Fraternity, supposedly because they believe he is the only person who can kill the man who killed his father. Little does he know just how drastically his life will actually change once he agrees to join them.

The casting of the film is spot-on. James McAvoy has already proved himself to be a versatile actor and he is very believable as a weak push-over, who finds confidence in the fact that group of trained assassins apparently believe in his abilities. He also makes his character likable and fun to watch, because he delivers it with a sense of humour and you can actually relate to him because his situation is so understandable. Basically, he's just another slave to the wage, looking for a way to break free. This way is initially offered to him by Angelina Jolie, and who could say no to a woman like that... Ms Jolie plays a role that seems like it could only have been written specifically for her. Who else could play a beautiful and deadly assassin who's charismatic and covered in tattoos? She could and would kill you in a heartbeat, and yet you just want...

He's the man alright.

Wanted is loosely based on the comic book miniseries of the same name by Mark Millar. It's directed by Timur Bekmambetov and stars James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Thomas Kretschmann, Common, Terence Stamp and Konstantin Khabensky. The storyline follows Wesley Gibson (McAvoy), a frustrated and downtrodden office worker who discovers that he is the son of a professional assassin when he is saved by Fox (Jolie) from being assassinated himself in a supermarket. Initially he is baffled and out of his depth, but upon meeting the secret "Fraternity" headed by Sloan (Freeman), Gibson starts to undergo training to fulfil his destiny as a "Fraternity" hit-man.

One of the better things about popcorn action movies is when there is a geek coming good and kicking ass. Be it super-heroes or average Joe's finding something extra, having the rise of the meek get tough at its core is normally a winner. So it is with Wanted, the US directorial debut of Night/Day Watch helmer, Timur Bekmambetov. It's not so much that McAvoy's anxiety riddled office worker gets to play guns, sports cars and hang with a lithe Angelina Jolie - it's that he, courtesy of a good source, gets to not care about the killing. The film may not be as dark as the source material, but the essence of it is there with corruption and violence at the core. The story, as bonkers as it is, is simplified into one that features ancient weavers receiving messages depicting targets to be wiped from the planet for the greater good of humanity. Enter the "Fraternity" in modern times, which in the name of good, goes out slotting said targets. Oh but it's not just a case of line someone up in a telescope and pull the trigger, this is more fun than that.

For action movies in this decade, Wanted has few peers. From the intense and brutal training regime that Gibson undertakes, to the number of explosive and inventive sequences that flit in and out of the piece, it delivers pulse raising...