WANTED

Jeri Jacquin, Movie Maven

Opening in theatres this Friday is ‘DayWatch’ and ‘NightWatch’ Russian director Tim Bekmambetov first American film with “Wanted”.

This film is the story of 25-year-old Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy); an average joe with panic attacks who thinks his life is one pathetic event after another. He sees everything closing in on him with nothing but more dissatisfaction just around the corner.

His girlfriend is cheating on him, his boss is the most annoying person on the planet and everyday it’s the same old routine. That is until Fox (Angelina Jolie) comes into his life. From the moment these two meet his life shifts gears and Wesley is on the fast track, but to where?

He meets Sloan (Morgan Freeman) who says that everything Wesley believes in is wrong and that there is a hit on him, by the same man who killed the father he never knew. That is his first introduction to the group. Fox and Sloan offer him a chance to become someone completely different by teaching him to have fast reflexes and the agility to be anyone but the old Wesley.

Sloan eventually confides in Wesley that The Fraternity is a secret society of trained assassins and that his father was a member and it cost him his life. This society is ancient and live by a code to carry out death orders given with no question and now Wesley has a chance to follow in his father’s footsteps.

But not everything Wesley learns is the truth, and the one thing he must discover for himself and that is he alone controls his own destiny.

FINAL WORD: McAvoy is getting very good at playing the hapless role. His roles as Mr. Tumnus, the faun of Narnia, Tom LeFoy in ‘Becoming Jane’, and his role as Robbie Turner in ‘Atonement’, show his bankability. His most memorable role for me will always be as Dr. Nicholas Garrigan in the Oscar nominated “Last King of Scotland”.

Jolie’s role, although commercially big, really isn’t. This is slightly reminiscent of her ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ role in that she’s good at crazy-driving-gun-play.  Freeman as Sloan is his usual sharp presence and full of surprises.

Terrence Stamp has a small role as Pekwarsky, a bullet maker with a few secrets of his own. Also, Thomas Kretschmann as Cross, Lorna Scott as Janice and Kristen Hager as the girlfriend.

A downside might be that this is a violent film in many ways. There is plenty of action but be aware there is high profanity mixed in. The plot also isn’t always clear as the story unravels which can be a little irritating.

Originally “Wanted” was a six series limited comic book by Top Cow Productions written by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones.

TUBS OF POPCORN: I give “Wanted” three tubs of popcorn out of five. There is plenty of action in this film to please the teens and younger audience. It is definitely not for children.  The special effects have a Matrix feel and the slow motion action will be appreciated.

So fasten your seat belts and get ready to choose your destiny!