MORE MOVIES LIKE THIS IS WHAT WE WANT! (My special advanced review of WANTED)

WANTED is everything we WANT from our action movies from now on. Non-stop action, twisting plot lines, no-holds barred attitude, sprinkle it with some comedy and great acting and you get 1 hour and 44 minutes that had me cheering by the time the credits started to roll.

The movie begins by opening up on our protagonist, Wes (James McAvoy), the most disenchanted, cube-dwelling, rat-race accepting drone the planet had ever known. His boss chewed him out hourly, his girlfriend cheated on him and belittled him daily, and his life plodded on interminably. Everyone was certain this disengaged slacker would amount to nothing. There was little else for Wes to do but wile away the days and die in his slow, clock-punching rut.

Then he meets everything he ever wanted in a woman named Fox (Angelina Jolie). After his estranged father is supposedly murdered, the deadly, sexy Fox recruits Wes into the Fraternity, a secret society that trains Wes in how to avenge his dad’s death by unlocking his dormant “powers”, a super rush of adrenaline he feels when threatened that raises his heartbeat to more than 400 beats per minute and allows him to see things as if in super slow motion, thus granting him lightning-quick reflexes and phenomenal agility. Wes also learns about the Fraternity’s ancient, unbreakable code: carry out death orders supposedly given by fate itself.

With wickedly brilliant tutors, including the Fraternity’s enigmatic leader, Sloan (Morgan Freeman), Wes grows to enjoy all the power he ever wanted. But, slowly, he begins to realize there is more to his dangerous associates than meets the eye and as he wavers between newfound heroism and vengeance, Wes comes to learn what no one could ever teach him: he alone controls his destiny.

This movie had everything. Although it started a little slow and dragged at a couple of points, for the most part this movie did everything cinema is supposed to do. It brought up feelings of anger and resentment in my own hum-drum life and I could not help but cheer as Wes took his life into his own hands more and more. You felt that he represented all of us in some way and that made it easy to cheer him on in his quest for vengeance and the truth.

The special effects in the movie were superb, putting the original Matrix to shame. Based on the previews, many were scared that this was only going to be a glorified version of the Matrix and you could draw some parallels to it, but the movie does a good enough job of drawing you in that you do not think of it until long after the credits have rolled. There is a scene towards the end that reminds you of the bank job scene from the Matrix, but only in that the Wanted version completely craps on that. This movie interwove action and special effects successfully on a level rarely seen in cinema nowadays.

A good way of describing this is a movie loosely based on a comic book. The background on this movie of course is that it is based on a Top Cow graphic novel by Mark Millar and although it took a great deal of liberties from the comic, it can be forgiven because the movie was so all-around solid. Taking advantage of the positive feedback of a fellow 2nd tier’s success in Dark Horse’s Hellboy and its coming sequel, it was nice to see Top Cow put out a great movie like this and that hopefully it helps pave the way for other 2nd tier publishers to start scripting their stories for cinema.

In terms of acting, everyone was solid. Although I am unsure if Morgan Freeman yelling “Shoot that Mother F***er!” was supposed to be as humorous as it was, everything else was very believable from him. It’s interesting to see him taking on all these comic book character roles now after winning an Academy Award. James McAvoy played his role well enough that could propel him to star, if not at least cult star status. Angelina Jolie was solid as usual, especially the gratuitous nudity scene where we see her walking out of the Fraternity’s healing spas and we get a full five seconds of her bare buttocks. Fantastic, absolutely fantastic. Common did well enough in his acting debut I suppose, even though he only had about six lines, but that is what happens when you create a whole new character from the original comic script.

Overall, I went into this movie with low expectations because of awful trailer previews and came out surprisingly pleased. I would recommend this movie to anyone because it was all around a great experience with solid acting, awesome special effects, and an engaging plot. I give it 4.5 naked Angelina Jolie butt cheeks out of 5.

-Ray Carsillo