Just how far can bullets really fly? In the world of the new film 'Wanted' not only do bullets reach their targets over incredible distances, but reality is completely thrown out the window. That's okay if the world turned out to be dreamed up by a computer like 'The Matrix' series, which Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov lovingly copied in his previous fantasy films 'Nightwatch' and 'Daywatch'. For his American debut, Bekmambetov makes the mistake of establishing rules in a world where anything is really possible. As interesting as it sounds, all of this is a little too familiar: A computer nerd not only discovers his true heritage, but that he has the unique ability to control the directions of bullets and does so with the help of a beautiful new partner and a philosophical black man as a mentor. Sounds like we are right back in that artificial world controlled by greenish computer code, but I assure you that's not the case.
'The Matrix' was indeed a comic book film, but unlike 'Wanted' it was an original story inspired by various ideas. This film takes its inspiration from Mark Millar's brutal comic series about a mild mannered office drone who becomes an assassin. British native James McAvoy is quite likable and convincing as an American living a boring existence lost amongst the various cubicles at an insurance company. He's bored, but also content with his anonymous lifestyle, always Googling his name for zero search results and knowing full well that his best friend is sleeping with his girlfriend and not giving a damn about it. McAvoy's life gets turned upside down when a skinny girl, who looks like Angelina Jolie, rescues him from a mysterious assassin. She too is a trained killer and it turns out so was his father as he learns that the man who abandoned him at birth was one of the world's top assassins.
As the leader of a group of assassins known as "The Fraternity", Morgan Freeman reveals to McAvoy that his father was murdered the day before by the same man who just tried to kill him, rogue operative Thomas Kretchmann. For hundreds of years the group has preserved the balance of power by eliminating various targets with their unique skills. McAvoy not only shares the unique abilities of his father to slow down time in his mind or curve bullets, but has the potential to be an even greater assassin an Freeman invites him to join up. All that's missing are sunglasses and an offer to take the red or blue pill.
McAvoy agrees to take the red pill from 'The Fraternity' and under the tutelage of Jolie and various others, undergoes rigorous training that will desensitize him to violence and pain. He's also schooled in the art of gun and knife play and after your typical training montage is not only ready to kick ass and avenge his dad's death, but looks well oiled, tanned and buff like a Levi' jeans model. The question remains that though 'The Fraternity' appear to be dealing out their own brand of justice, has McAvoy chosen the wrong side to fight on?
Like the comic, 'Wanted' has an intriguing set-up as well as an entertaining visual style. Bullets not only suddenly burst in slow-motion through the heads of their targets, but the scene rewinds to show us where they originated. The CGI gags, don't just involve bullets, but in comic-book style they include acrobatic moves by speeding cars as well as one satisfying moment where McAvoy shatters someone's face with a computer keyboard and the flying keys spell out "F*ck You" in mid-air. The filmmakers made the mistake of keeping the set-up of Millar's comic and throwing out the rest which is a shame. It would have been a gutsy move on their part to produce a film with completely immoral characters where the main protagonist became an assassin not to improve the world, but embrace violence for his own selfish needs and maybe one day rule it. The whole assassin angle sounds cool, but there are just too many silly elements to top it off.
Freeman and his gang get their list of targets from a binary code found in the weaving of a fabric produced at their textile factory headquarters which is as stupid as it sounds. As battered and bloody as McAvoy gets, his various wounds heal in no time flat thanks to a bath in a Nestle white chocolate liquid that when dried gives him a Han Solo in carbonite appearance. Forget about his ability to slow time, curve bullets or shoot the wings off of flies, McAvoy also seems capable of superhuman strength and surviving a plummet down a mountain in a wrecked train car. Plus the guy can hit a target from a great distance that feels like the length of Manhattan. Reality has been completely thrown out the window, yet we're given Freeman in 'Easy Reader' mode to explain the physics of all these acts through boring exposition.
It also doesn't make sense why McAvoy would be so eager to avenge the death of a man that he not only never met, but left him and his mother when he was a baby. Oh I know why, because there would be no story if he wasn't. (As if there was a story.) Plus its a little tough to root for these guys when their actions get so many innocents killed, especially in that train sequence high in the mountains.
I've barely mentioned Jolie, because she's barely noticeably in this film and its not just because of her anorexic appearance. Her performance is not only flat, but there's no development of a relationship between her and McAvoy. Forget about romance, if there was any, it ended up on the cutting room floor; the two leads share no chemistry whatsoever. She appears to bond better with her eye shadow than with McAvoy, whose performance is the only one worth seeing in this film.
Despite feeling that 'Wanted' is stupid, ridiculous, over-the-top and an insult to my intelligence, I was surprised to find that I walked out of the film wearing a stupid grin. Maybe laughing at the film more than with it left me entertained or maybe I was amazed that Bekmambetov was given so much money for his American debut and fashioned such an eye candy video game. With all of the summer releases, it is a nice change of pace to get a brutal hard R-rated movie for the summer--especially one where rats are used to deliver explosives or the hero blows a donut hole through a bad guy's head and not only proceeds to run and carry the body, but shoot anyone in his path through that hole. (You have to see it to believe it.) Surprisingly, 'Oingo Boingo' vet and Tim Burton collaborator Danny Elfman's musical score did nothing for me, but a new song he recorded call "The Little Things" is not only a catchy tune, but captures the tone of the picture. 'Wanted' is basically 'The Matrix' with extra violence, insane visuals and a nonsensical story. But they do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
