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Wanted (2008)

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Overall Rating 64%
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Ranked #428
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A young man finds out his long lost father is an assassin. When his father is murdered, the son is recruited into his father's old organization and trained by a man named Sloan to follow in his dad's footsteps. --IMDb
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Review by Griffinheart
Added: July 7, 2008
"Wanted" is a fast, action-filled movie with an "out there" plot that hearkens back to the first Matrix movie. The kills are plentiful, interesting, gory, and ultimately satisfying. That being sad, it'll be a long time before I feel like watching this movie again.

Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) works a soul-crushing job as an accountant in order to continue his pathetic life of being harassed or looked down on by everyone from his boss to his best friend to his girlfriend. His father disappeared when Wesley was just seven days old, and Wesley's life went downhill from there. He even requires a prescription to combat his frequent anxiety attacks.

Life seems to be getting worse and worse until Wesley is stopped by a beautiful women at a drugstore counter who tells him she knew his father. She goes on to say that his father was murdered the other day, and that the man that killed him is standing at the other end of the store. A shootout between the women (Fox; played by Angelina Jolie) and the assassin ensues. Wesley ends up escaping with Fox to a textile factory where he learns the truth behind his father's disappearance. An ancient order of assassins known as the Fraternity kills individuals to create peace in the world and to save the lives of thousands. Wesley's father was the greatest of these assassins and passed the gifts of heightened reactions onto his son, who interpreted the heightened senses and accompanying adrenaline as anxiety attacks. Unfortunately, Wesley's father was killed by a former Fraternity member known as Cross who is attempting to dismantle the Fraternity by killing every one of its members. Wesley sees his true calling as an assassin and vows to train until he is capable of avenging his father.

The movie flows well: its plot is generally sound and is accompanied by great performances from actors such as Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie. The choreography of the fight scenes is probably the best I've seen since any of the Matrix movies: bending bullets around objects is almost as cool as bullet time. I also had an especial fondness for the weapons used in the film, especially the enormous rifle/scope used to shoot over extreme distances and the apparatus that used a LCD screen to allow a gun to shoot around corners (in a way cooler than current military's use).

However, the majority of the movie feels like a buildup with few mini-climaxes to provide breaks. Everything seemed to go a little too smoothly, even for a movie-based reality. Several plot points were presented with little explanation (Why is everyone so shocked that Cross uses "untraceable" bullets, and what does that even mean?) or with no explanation at all (you'll understand when you see where the assassins get the names of the people that need to be killed). I'm sure the comic that this movie is based on provides a more in-depth explanation of everything, but I felt that there were a few too many holes in this movie's script.

Overall, "Wanted" is a pretty good movie that resembles the first Matrix movie with less plot and more action...which is unfortunate as the plot of the first Matrix was one of my favorite parts and really reinforced the quality of the action. For its strengths, I enjoyed "Wanted", but, for its weaknesses, I'll be taking a long break before watching it again.

I give "Wanted" a 7.5/10.
lostth0ught #1: lostth0ught - added July 7, 2008 at 3:28pm
I haven't seen this movie, but from what I read; it's rather different than the comic book. At least who/what the Fraternity is, what their goals are, etc. There's no list of people to kill, no "untraceable" bullets, no bullet curving, etc.

I still don't know if I should see this or not.
cky2kendall #2: cky2kendall - added August 4, 2008 at 12:39pm
I ended up seeing this last night, and it was interesting. I suppose for an action movie I should just judge it on that, which was very impressive when it picked up. Some scenes were a little odd to me, and the CGI could be seen a mile away. But the last 15 or so minutes really pay off so I can forgive some of it's flaws. Fun movie really.
Crispy #3: Crispy - added November 16, 2009 at 11:45pm
"the apparatus that used a LCD screen to allow a gun to shoot around corners (in a way cooler than current military's use). "

Maybe I missed something but that is military's current use.
Lucid Dreams #4: Lucid Dreams - added June 1, 2010 at 9:33pm
The movie fucking sucked and that was one of the worse endings I have ever seen. 4/10
AttnDefDis #5: AttnDefDis - added August 16, 2010 at 6:25pm
No, this is nothing like the graphic novel. Here's an example: Fox is supposed to be a black girl with short hair, no tattoos and wears a costume complete with ears. She should have been played by Halle Berry, but is instead played by Angelina Jolie.

Despite the movie having practically nothing to do with the comic, I love this movie! I admit that if Angelina Jolie wasn't in it, I wouldn't like it half as much, but it's great. It's eye candy all the way and James McAvoy does such a great job of playing the unlikely hero. Some of the highlights are when he smacks his friend across the face with a keyboard and the broken keys and a tooth spell out "fuck you" and hearing Morgan Freeman say "shoot this mothafucka." Priceless.

I mean there aren't any Oscar winning performances or a deep story line, but I thought everyone did a good job and it was visually entertaining.
axle parker #6: axle parker - added November 22, 2010 at 6:21am
Really awsome movie.. I love the "in your face attitude"
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