WANTED

A frustrated office worker tired of his dead-end life suddenly is faced with the news that he is really the son of a legendary assassin, and is drawn into the secret society that bred his father. The film stars James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman.

Now that Hollywood has accepted the comic medium as a viable source for great stories and interesting characters the queue begins. The source material for WANTED is an adult graphic novel(later turned series) about a society of assassins and the emotionally challenging lives they lead. The movie unfortunately has very little in common with Mark Millar’s grungy tale.

At times like this I wish the script was straight out of a comic book. The dialogue was very preachy. Some movies that rely on voice-over end up giving a running commentary as things occur. This takes away from the journey of discovery the audience is on. The characters needed to stop ‘saying’ what they were doing, and take Nike’s advice; ‘just do it!’ I did expect more from writer Michael Brandt who words filled the screen in the recent stylish western 3:10 TO YUMA.

The cinematography is somewhat active, but it gave nothing new. This is the very reason Russian director Timur Bekmambetov of NIGHTWATCH, DAYWATCH fame was chosen to helm this film. The action is very vivid, with long actions continual sequences. But the overuse of slow-motion does get old as it’s clear he depends on this gimmick to progress the film. The look of the film is nothing new, and has been done better by prior successors. In fact the look of WANTED seems to a resultant sordid lovechild of a gang rape of MATRIX, SHOOT’EM UP and TRANSPORTER.

Considering the acting talents in this movie, I did expect more than the unemotional and stiff followings of the cast. Angelina Jolie, while weighing less than the guns she carries in the film, simply can’t stop winking and smiling at the camera. Someone forgot to tell her she was on a film set, not a runway catwalk. She has more poses than a issue of playboy. No one is in love with his own voice right now than Morgan Freeman, that being said the man could make a dvd instruction manual come to life. But he’s just playing the typical role of mentor (or helper) that he usually does. Even making him swear was simply to make sure the audience is actually listening to his long drawn speeches (as that is the man’s substitute for talking). Despite the thin material James McAvoy was able carry himself and the film. Since he has shown us what he can do with serious material(ATONEMENT, LAST KING OF SCOTLAND), he is showing us that he can be taken seriously as a surprise action star. I for one can’t wait to see his next fight sequence.

The story revolves around Wesley a boring, complaining office chump who has no hopes, dreams or ambitions. This is all too familiar as we have met this same character in FIGHT CLUB, MATRIX or even OFFICE SPACE, but all those movies took the character on a more original and entertaining twist than WANTED. As Wesley is rescued by the skeletal remains of Angelina Jolie, who inturn introduces him to Morgan Freeman, who is in typical instructional tuition-master form. The superpowers, whose source is never explained, is when some people have the inborn ability to make bullets turn in mid air, and have lighting quick reflexes. The other noble cause the society enforces is the magical selection of whom to kill, for the betterment of humanity. The fact the weaving threads are used to select names in such a modern time is an immature attempt at ‘spirituality’ in a movie shouldn’t even say the word. Even the slight surprise turns in the story simply make your shrug your shoulders apathetically. And the ending is truly a twist of micro proportions, just like the movie, leaves one feeling quite unaffected.

The directing can’t be blamed too much because this is exactly what Timur Bekmambetov became popular for; slow-motioned, long edited action sequenced. He did what he was asked to do, and this being the Russian directors first English feature, I’m surprised the cast understood when he shouted “cuuut!” I did feel he didn’t know how to get the best out of his actors, cause clearly everyone was giving quite a mediocre performances(with the exception of McAvoy). He hasn’t shown he has anything special to offer Hollywood, but apparently the Russian audience disagrees.

There is no doubt with the limited success of this movie there is an audience for this type of action exhibits. But I do feel that some justice must be done to graphic novels if they are going to use them as the backbone of a film. There is very little creativity in any of the main elements(story, action, dialogue etc). End of the day the producers at Universal knew exactly what they were doing in making a simple film with sufficient action and enough style to keep sales alive. It is a forgettable film, and in the hands of a better director with some effective writing could have been a fun summer hit.

TEASER

RATING: 2 COCONUTS

D.M Pieries