Wanted

Going into Wanted, I, well, Wanted to like it. Despite all my reservations, the film was receiving a lot of love from the public, big name critics and my favourite movie bloggers alike. Granted it tended to be qualified praise (“Big and dumb, but perfect blockbuster entertainment!”), but it was enough hype to make me consider that I was being overly critical from the outset. So I entered the cinema with a sprinkling of hope that I would be pleasantly surprised.


And Wanted definitely does have its positives. Director Timur Bekmambetov, responsible for Night Watch, Day Watch and assorted TV commercials, brings a lot of visual and special effects flair to his first English language film. Stand out moments include lead character Wesley’s (James McAvoy) keyboard violence, his panic attack while being abused by his fat cow of a boss, and a running gun battle where Wesley continually has to disarm his opponents to keep firearms in his own hands.

You could also probably say the film is admirable in that it doesn’t pull any punches. Unlike a lot of current releases, which seem to have been toned down to reach as wide as audience as possible, Wanted is R-rated and proud of it. The film is very bloody, the word “fuck” flies around with the same frequency as bullets, and there’s even some simulated sex thrown in for good measure.

Of course this is all in keeping with Wanted’s cynical take, a’ la Hancock, on super powers. I haven’t read the Mark Millar comic on which the film is based, but from digging around online it’s apparent that Wanted the film is a very loose adaptation of Wanted the comic. The essence remains the same though – a young dweebish nobody, slowly being suffocated by a life he hates, discovers that his father was a super powered murderer. The nobody is recruited by the secret “criminal” organisation that used to employ his father, and is taught to harness his own abilities, which he uses for selfish gain.


Probably the most accurate way to describe Wanted is a cross between Fight Club and The Matrix. And that really is the film’s main problem – it just feels so derivative. While the rest of the cinema audience was “oohing” and “aahing” over yet another CGI-bullet collision or ridiculous car stunt, I was rolling my eyes. I couldn’t help it. There’s only so much the “coolness” factor can camouflage before you recognise the thrills are hollow, and the film isn’t nearly as good as those it borrows from.

Performance-wise Wanted is solid if not overly impressive. McAvoy plays against loveable type, although his Wesley is still understandable and appealing enough – when he’s not insulting the audience, that is. Angelina Jolie seems to be in the film purely as eye candy for teenage boys, pulling off stunts while flashing plenty of tattooed skin. Mostly her nearly mute character Fox stands around smirking as she oversees Wesley’s assassin training. Morgan Freeman, meanwhile, has little to do and Terence Stamp is utterly wasted.

Wanted tries hard to be a live-action comic for adults but instead it feels like something concocted by an emo, sexually frustrated 14 year old with some serious abandonment issues stemming from his parents’ divorce.


What probably irritated me most about the film was the way that, much like Fox’s driving, the film is amazingly skilful at avoiding both emotional complexity and much needed answers.

For example, assassins never have to question the morality of their actions. Fox’s back story attempts to explain the necessity of their work, but the targets never seem to be anyone but dubious looking businessmen. Their murders are easy for assassins to commitment, and easy for audiences to witness. Somehow I don’t think that would be the case if a smiling, young mother pushing a pram had been selected for termination. Conveniently though, Fate and Freeman never seems to pick such targets.

As for unanswered answers, why is Fox the only female assassin? Why are all the main operatives of the Fraternity, a centuries old organisation, around the same age? Is the Fraternity’s loom special, or can you achieve the same effect in any textile factory? Since when is binary code such a powerful interpretative tool? And what happened to all the passengers in the train?

Argh.


It’s not only that I wanted more answers, but I could see the missed opportunities. Neil Gaiman’s approach to Fate in the Sandman series was a lot more eerie and interesting than anything presented in Wanted.

As I’ve said, a lot of people have loved Wanted. You may too. I didn’t. In terms of an unconventional take on superpowers, I think I’d take the very uneven Hancock any day over Wanted.