The English-language debut of Russian director Timur Bekmambetov, whose Night Watch and Day Watch were likewise ricocheting and relentless, Wanted is an assaultive roller coaster of a movie that would be more fun if the violence weren't so nasty, and if the script made any sense.
Adapted from Mark Millar and J.G. Jones' comic book series, Wanted offers the classic fantasy of a loser dude - crummy job, cheating gal, low self-esteem - reborn as an action hero, guns a-blazin' and getting to lip-lock with the luscious-lipped Jolie.
She's Fox, a vixen with "Tears" and "Toil" etched on her alarmingly thin biceps, and she's part of a fraternity of assassins that have been killing people for 1,000 years. Fox and her cohorts - headed by a nattily attired, cliche-spouting Morgan Freeman - are descendants of a "clan of weavers," and while murder is their morally dubious pursuit, they've rationalized it. Their motto: Kill one, save a thousand. They're particular about whom they off, and see themselves as active participants in the "Loom of Fate."
Whatever.
McAvoy's Wesley Gibson gets pulled into this high-class assassination biz because, it turns out, his father was a member of the Order, and Wes has inherited his dad's supersensory skills. Wes thought he was suffering from panic attacks, but actually, when his pulse starts pounding at 400 beats per minute, he can do things, and see things, with astounding precision, clarity and power. So, Wes tells his boss to go stuff her face with doughnuts, kisses Fox in front of his cheating girlfriend, and goes off to avenge his father's death and kill a bunch of folks.
