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His name : Wesley Gibson.
Wes
(James McAvoy) slowly crumbles within his office cubicle, his
confidence destroyed daily by his boss, his girlfriend pounded nightly
by his best friend, his life plodding along towards an uninspired and
long awaited conclusion.
That is, of course, until he meets a sexy assassin named Fox (Angelina Jolie)
who informs him (amidst a supermarket gun fight) that his estranged
father has been murdered... oh, and that dear old Daddy was the world's
greatest assassin.
Without warning (and a rather enticing cash
injection of $3 Million into his bank account) Wes enters into "The
Fraternity" (an ancient secret assassin society) that trains Wes to
avenge his dad's death by unlocking his dormant assassin powers, which until
this point, he has mistaken for anxiety attacks.
There are twist
and turns aplenty - as well as a plethora of gun fights, fist fights, knife
fights, train fights, loom fights and car explosions. In fact,
not
since The Blues Brothers
has such little respect been given to the welfare of the motorised
vehicle.
Wanted
really is a fun popcorn epic. Pushing aside the fact the film serves an open
invitation to inspire a new generation of schoolyard shooters, the
out and out silliness of it all can't be ignored... just enjoyed.
The
cast are excellent, with Jamie McAvoy delivering a hilariously likable
performance which will no doubt make him the next call on any directors
list... on the off chance Shia LaBeouf is busy.
Angelina Jolie is gorgeous as
always, needing to do little more than flash those puppy dog eyes in
order to intoxicate the audience (the gratuitous bum & back
shots
don't hurt her stocks either...).
But the real find here is
Morgan Freeman casting aside his "serious actor / loveable older patron of the community / narrator" persona,
taking on a role that would normally be Samuel L. Jackson's bread and
butter.
Yep, the entry price is worth every penny if only to hear
Morgan "Shawshank Redemption whimsical-old-man"
Freeman utter the phrase:
"Let's
shoot this Mother F**ker right here"
Never has hearing the F-Bomb dropped in surround sound been more enjoyable than this! DVD EXTRAS
As expected, there are quite a few different versions of this
floating around - from super duper special editions to the bare-bones
economy versions. More often than not, forking out that extra $10 for a
second disc isn't always justified - let's face it - how often are you
really going to watch "Behind the Scenes of Wanted" unless it has footage of Jolie's shower?
With that in mind, the 2 Disc Edition of Wanted
has some excellent additional tidbits. There are a few Alternative
Endings (which are always good value for the movie nerds inside of us
all), the "interesting once but never again" featurettes which look at
the stunts and the guns on set plus an interesting look behind the
visual style of director Timur Bekmambetov (good value for all student
film makers out there). The real drawcard for most die-hard fans will be the inclusion of the "Living Graphic Novel" in one of the Wanted
graphic novels are brought to life with narration, sound effects and
'living' panels of discussion. A similar thing was done on The Incredible Hulk DVD to great effect - so for those who are into that sort of thing, it's a welcome inclusion.
A DVD that will really find it's second life on Blu Ray, this is Friday Night movie making at it's best.
Conclusion:
Movie 80% Extras: 70%
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