Wanted -(D) So you go into this movie expecting mindless fun, and the 'mindless' part comes through, well enough. So, 'fun'? No. Well, Angelina Jolie as eye candy is okay, and James McAvoy as Put-Upon Everyday Schmo Who Discovers He's the Heir to A Super-Secret Fraternity of Assassins is pretty enjoyable. The problem is when movies like this try to make a moral point, which in Wanted's case is like a drunk giving you a lecture on temperance.
I understand it was originally a comic book, with the premise being that the assassins were thinly-veiled versions of mainstream comic book villains. So, dropping the comic-book connection was a smart move. What bugs me is the tone of this movie, which seems like it was written by fifteen year old boys who get pantsed in gym class, play lots of D&D, and physical contact with women is but a pipe dream. (Jolie, in particular, comes across as pointedly sexless.)
The film's directed by Timur Bekmambetov, who did the 'Daywatch' trilogy in Russia. (It's warmed-over Buffy-the-vampire-slayer pop mythology.) He gives the film a flashy Wachowski/sub-David Fincher look which I guess goes with the ultra-violent storyline. (I have to admit, there's one sequence which gave me a sadistic chuckle. McAvoy smashes a co-worker in the face with a computer keyboard, and the flying letters, plus a dislodged tooth, spell out 'Fuck you' for the viewer.)
So we get about 110 minutes of corkscrewing bullets slamming into skulls with lovingly rendered CGI, improbable stunts, plot holes you could drive a space shuttle loader through (For instance, the assassins get their kill orders from a loom, which their leader, Morgan Freeman decodes. Turns out he's been taking money to deliver the wrong kill orders. Wouldn't Freeman's behavior cause the loom to spew out more kill orders to fix the wrong kill orders? Like Freeman, for instance? And- aw, crap...) in what's a R rated popcorn movie. Fair enough. Then McAvoy, after shooting Freeman in an another elaborate CGI shot- the slug goes through a donut hole- turns to us and gives us a monologue about how we should break out of our ruts, shake off the chains of our oppressive lives, and live for ourselves. His final line to us is, "What the fuck have you done lately?" Well, if defining my individuality means murdering people because a scrap of linen told me to, I'll stick with being a wage slave, thank you.
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