Wanted

This was a cool little number, though not as dope as it tried to be. Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, and newcomer James McAvoy (never heard of him until now) star as members of a secret society of assassins known as “the fraternity.” McAvoy is Wesley Gibson, a disaffected twenty-something whose life is one monotonous and miserable blur. His girlfriend is screwing his best friend, his boss is a bitch, and to top it off he’s a wuss who suffers from panic attacks. So yeah, his life pretty much sucks - until the day he is recruited by the fraternity.

Jolie is Fox, a member of the fraternity who swoops into Wesley’s life and turns it upside down. Morgan Freeman, well you can just call him the boss. The fraternity transforms Wesley into one of their own, and it was riveting to see the metamorphosis take place. There are lots of bullets and blood, and just some generally ill-looking stunts and action sequences. There’s good character development, and McAvoy was believable as the weakling turned ruthless killer. Angelina is badass, always. She can play this type of character in her sleep, so she wasn’t stretching with this role, but it was a good one. Morgan Freeman is a legend, he always comes correct. Common also had a small part, so good for him. I have no complaints about the cast. My only criticism of Wanted is that it felt a little self-aware. I think there was a conscious effort to make the movie seem fresh, irreverent, and different. I was reminded of Ed Norton's character in Fight Club while watching some of the early scenes depicting Wesley's life, though of course Wanted is definitely not in the same league as Fight Club. And don’t get me wrong – the movie was dope so it obviously worked, I just think it tried too hard in certain parts. I don’t know. I’ve reached the point where I’ve stopped making sense so I’ll wrap it up :-). Overall, I’d say you can’t really go wrong with Wanted. It was entertaining, action-packed, and even had a few twists and turns along the way. Good $hit.