Review: Wanted

I thought I'd end tonight's streak with a relatively big'un

On seeing the trailer for Wanted in the summer, I, like most others had the impression it was going to be an enjoyable shoot-‘em-up without consequence or surprises. Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie and newcomer Hollywood golden boy James McAvoy, surely they’d never go for anything more out-there than that. Right?

Wrong.

Forget any notions you had of this film before you press play. It’ll serve you well. Wanted follows the story of wimpy, neurotic everyman Wesley Gibson. An all-too-familiar character who kills time at his dead-end accounting job “Googling” his own name (yielding no results) and putting up with a proverbial onslaught of obnoxious co-workers. After a series of confusing, slow-motion events, climaxing in Wesley’s departure from his job (not before smashing a keyboard into his best-friends face. Watch as the various “parts” flying off thoughtfully spell “fuck you”) and joins a secret community of assassins. I don’t want to spoil anything (I really don’t, just wait for the scene with the giant loom) but here is where the plot loses any plausibility or chance of academic redemption.
Wanted is the most curiously bizarre of films. Despite its laughable storyline and, quite frankly annoying protagonist, it’s still able to be pretty damn good. The ropey dialogue is no match for the awe-inspiring train sequence, wherein Wesley and his nemesis duel, their bullets colliding at least thrice before blood is shed. The action is simply astounding, and speaking as a filmgoer who has always been quite unenthusiastic on all-action movies, even I must concede that “Wanted” is one of the coolest, most engaging films of 2008.

Rating: ****
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