WANTED IS A GREAT SURPRISE

Wanted is the most crazy expectation defying films I've seen in a long time. Everything about the way this movie was marketed screamed "Made for USA Network Movie". I went to see it solely based on the "well at least Angelina Jolie is hot" factor, and boy was I wrong. It's one of the more cleverly psycho violent humor movies I've seen since Fight Club. I've actually read the film described as Fight Club meets The Matrix, and that's not a bad way to describe it.

First of all, James McAvoy is great as our confused misunderstood hero, Wesley. He's an accountant that suffers from anxiety attacks and he narrates his miserable existence with every bit of pathos as Edward Norton was able to as Fight Club's Jack. His is not unlike a completely unfunny version of Office Space. Any minute you expect him to rip open his wrists with a stapler remover. It all changes one evening when he's caught in the crossfire between Angelina Jolie and Thomas Kretschmann (who had previously given us a superior underrated performance as the ship captain in Peter Jackson's King Kong remake).

As Wesley runs away Jolie slams her sports car into him with the passenger open, and it swallows him into the seat as she wipes out drives away. What follows is one of the more kickass car chases I've seen in recent memory as she jumps over a police barricade by flipping on top of a bus, then vaulting off its roof Dukes of Hazzard style.

Turns out, Wesley's been chosen to join an secret team of assassins that's been meddling in world events for the last 1000 years. His anxiety attacks are actually a power that lets him warp his perception of reality that lets him react quicker, dodge bullets, and even curve them. This is a skill that makes for some kickass shootouts that often involve combatants deflecting shots taken at them by blasting them out of the air with their own pistols.

There's lots of fun twists and surprises that I won't go into, but I recommend this movie whole heartedly. It's clever, action packed, and full of scenes you won't soon forget. I wish more films were this good.

-Robert Berry
rberry@retrocrush.com