Review: ‘Wanted’

The movie geeks all showed out last night for ‘Wanted’, and we all have a great opinion on this flick. Hit the read more to see all of our reviews, this movie will definitely not disappoint anyone! We gave this movie a collective rating of [rating: 4/5]

Scott:

This has to be one of the most entertaining movies since ‘Shoot Em Up’, but this movie was done on a much larger scale. The casting was absolutely flawless… James McAvoy was funny in the humorous scenes, but you could still buy him as a new up and coming bad ass assassin. Oh, and Angelina Jolie was a pure sex kitten! Morgan Freeman turned in a great performance and delivers one of the greatest lines in the movie… “Kill this Mother%&$*er”, it was old school and had perfect execution. The movie stretches itself around a few things that you just have to buy into for the movie, curving bullets, flipping cars, a bath that can heal even the deepest of wounds (knife through the hand) in a matter of hours.

This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat, twists and plows through action craving emotions and leaves no apologies. This movie is like the best one night stand of your life, and when you wake up she is gone never to be heard from again…

4 out of 5

Ram Man:

Buckle up and keep your hands in the car at all times… the thrill ride is about to begin! Wanted, the latest comic-book adaptation, is an action packed… guns blazing… cars flying… adrenalin fest.

Wanted is the story of a group of super powered assassins call “the Fraternity” that eliminates the evil doers and keeps the world from falling into chaos. The fraternity is run by Sloan (Morgan Freeman). When their top agent is gunned down by a rogue agent they must find and recruit his son to avenge his death. Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), an accountant that suffers from panic attacks and has a life going nowhere fast, is the new recruit for the Fraternity. Wesley is literally beaten into shape and trained by the best to kill with anything at hand. He is also trained to do the signature shot, bending bullets around corners to kill someone not in your sight! (Remember, based on a comic-book) His teacher is an assassin named Fox (Angelina Jolie) who takes Wesley under her wing and shows him how to cope with all the killing and prepares him for the main task… avenge your father’s death.

Wanted is full of head-shots and gun battles, but it has some of the best car stunts on film. There are also some twists that you won’t see coming. This is not a Bourne substitute, but if you are looking for a fun and thrilling ride in the theater… Go check out Wanted. After the first hour you will find yourself looking around for bullets coming around the corner at you!

4 1/2 out of 5

Travis:

Timur B [as I affectionately refer to him] has certainly cemented his place in the Hollywood elite of action filmmakers. Not since ‘Shoot Em Up’ have I experienced a movie as shamefully fun and over-the-top while still working marvelously. My only complaint about ‘Wanted’ has absolutely nothing to do with the movie, but with its inevitable success all but eliminating any hope of Timur B returning to make the third and final installment of the great Russian horror “Watch” trilogy. With that said, one would be hard-pressed to find another more action-packed all-out thrilling and crazy “oh my God, did that really just happen” kick a** over-the-top blockbuster bash all summer.

Now, with that said … one word of advice: If you’re a stickler for realism … stay home and watch your “reality” TV, because ‘Wanted’ is not for you. Hey, I’m just being honest …

Based on the comic book series, this movie clearly makes no claims to base its story in reality, instead wearing its graphic spectacular origins on its sleeve. Nearly every element of ‘Wanted’ works on a level of shear excitement and adrenaline. Even in the opening scenes of the film, when we’re first introduced to Wesley (James McAvoy) as a pathetic nobody office drone, the film screams its style out loud for everyone to jump on board because this is going to be one ride we won’t soon forget.

Wesley is “recruited” by Fox (Angelina Jolie) per the request of Sloan (Morgan Freeman), the leader of a super-secret underground coalition of master assassins called The Fraternity. After a brief dose of rather convincing “discussion” as to the nature of Wesley’s connection to The Fraternity, he makes a life-altering decision to join their ranks … followed by a brutal series of training regiments that would make a Navy SEAL think twice. Its true that there’s a lot of action and a lot of it would someday be fascinating fodder for The Mythbusters, but this physics defying collection of unbelievable stunts, gunfights and best of all, automobile chases, works for one reason … Timur B has a fresh and visually alluring style of his own that is a sort of cross between the Wachowski brother’s bullet-time and Guy Ritchie’s eye for angles and composition, but still maintains its own flair and succeeds on its own merit.

4 out of 5

Michelle:

Meet the League of Extraordinary Assassins. Based on the graphic novel series, Wanted, in a frantic opening sequence, throws us into the secret world of a fraternity of super assassins set about to save mankind through a centuries old code. Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman are the nefarious teachers to James McAvoy’s passive nobody. Fortunately for us, we are spectators to the birth of the newest action hero, James McAvoy. His feisty performance will certainly rocket him into movie star status and sex symbol. (yummy!). With its dazzling visual effects, Wanted is the most innovative film on this summer’s landscape and one that should be at the top of your must-see lists. Welcome to the Fraternity.

5 out of 5

ZAC:

Timur Bekmambetov brings Mark Millar’s graphic novel to life in a visually stunning and entertaining film that comes off a bit rushed and short changed on material.
Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is going no where in life. His girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend, he hates his job, and he hates his boss all while having no direction for the future at all. This is in contrast to a member of the Brotherhood, one of which is his father who we see killed after leaping out a window taking out a number of would be assassins as he jumps out one building to another (he makes the jump, it’s a bullet that gets him). Wesley is quickly finds a brash change in his life when he is approached by Fox (Angelina Jolie) who is both recruiting him to the brotherhood as well as protecting him from his fathers assassin Cross (Thomas Kretschmann). The two go on a whirlwind chase around Chicago as they are chased by Cross performing super unrealistic, but stylish, moves in Fox’s corvette all while Wesley is nearly shitting himself. Upon escape, Wesley is introduced to Sloan (Morgan Freeman), the leader of the Brotherhood, who says Wesley has inherited all of his father’s assets and is destined to be a hit man of the Brotherhood. Upon Wesley’s release he awakes as if from a dream but quickly realizes his reality and begins down a path to a life he never thought he had.
The movie from here turns into a traditional origin story as we watch Wesley “train” and learn the history to the Brotherhood, but outside a small tidbit about Fox, the past of these guys helping train Wesley remain a complete mystery. A lot of these characters seem pretty cool as well and it would have been nice to get some kind of background at all on any of these supposed deadly killers.
Another complaint I have is that Wesley gets way to cocky and way to short a time, it’s one thing to be confident, it’s another to think he is the world’s deadliest killer seemingly overnight. This is even more surprising as he is such a pathetic mess when we first meet him. The middle of this film is quite rushed and breezes over any depth or meaning to the story and sticks to the absolute bare bones of what is happening. I feel just a couple minutes of showing his attitude change would have helped the classic training montage work a bit better.
The film is also filled with a number of silly elements that you just kind of shake your head at but have to accept because you are loving that these people can bend bullets and even make them collide in mid-air with their opponents. The loom of fate is just ridiculous, as this loom manned by no one, just spits out the supposed bad people of the world to tell the Brotherhood to kill them. It also must loom large sums of money because I couldn’t figure out who is paying these people all this money. Also, the back history of the Brotherhood, a group of weavers formed a secret society in medieval times to start caring out the fate of the evil. The candle wax healing bath is also quite ridiculous but it works as an effective device to move our characters along as they get this shit kicked out of them.
I should stop stressing the negatives though, as the film is full of many great bits as well. The action is superb and super imaginative with the effects looking solid throughout. There are three action set pieces with each being full of unbelievably and absurdness but you should just sit back and enjoy the visual feast and ingenuity in the scenes. The acting is also very good with James McAvoy showing he can handle the action chops to go along with the acting skills he has proven in his other films. He is believable as a bad ass out of nowhere and is full of intensity while also being very cool and funny when he needs to be; it’s nice to have an action hero with some range. Freeman walks through the motions as Sloan but does the job with class you would expect from him, and when he curses it is just so fantastic to hear in this film for some reason. Jolie does a good job of what she is supposed to do, kick ass and look sexy, and while there really isn’t a romantic plot in the film she gives the film a bad ass killer heroine that you don’t see to often. The rest of the supporting cast is adequate but really have little to nothing to do.
In the end, Wanted is full awesome visuals (got to love slow-mo head shots), great action, and good acting all around. A thin and bit predictable story hold it back at times but the blazing pace keeps you entertained throughout the run time as the film always recaptures your attention if a scene waivers. A very good action film to get lost in for two hours, Wanted is worth seeking out if you are a action junkie looking for a little R-Rated fun over the weekend.

(3.5 out of 5)