Wanted

The guy who sat next to me at my screening of "Wanted" (no, we didn't go together; apparently in the summer in new york, movies are always sold out, even a month after they come out) is the kind of moviegoer I usually hate-- every time there was an "oooh" or "ahhh" moment, he would literally ohh and ahh (peppered with the occasional "Oh, shit!"). Well, by the time James McAvoy is shooting other bullets out of the air, this guy was unable muster any more amazement. "Wanted" had beaten him.

That's what's fantastic about the movie-- it's a summer blockbuster in the turest sense of the genre; explosions, sex, glitz, glamour, and guns. In a summer where it's competition (Iron Man, Dark Knight) is keeping it clean enough to earn a PG-13, Wanted goes balls-to-the-walls the whole time, giving us a litany of curse words and a glorious shot of Angelina Jolie's supple, well, butt, on it's way to an unabashed R rating. Good. Let the blood flow, I'm not eight years old. Let's fuck some shit up.

It's ironic that the movie is the American Debut for Russian director Timur Bekmanbetov (say that three times fast), because the movie is the epitome of the loud expensive hollywood blackbuster, a truly American art form if there ever was one. The screenplay is clearly written by a couple of fellows familiar with their Syd Field, as it plays by all the rules for hollywood screenplays. It doesn't try to reinvent the genre, instead happy to work within it, hitting all of the required cliches with such a lack of shame that we in the audience are able to simply enjoy what is essentially a nothing-new-under-the-sun journey.

Simply put, it kicks fucking ass, doesn't apologize for it, and has just enough tounge-in-cheek that you feel like the movie was as much a guilty pleasure for the filmmakers as it certainly is in the audience.

James McAvoy is great at playing a nobody who gets to live out a fantasy that is decidedly delicious; the world's best assassins are going to train him to be an assassin. Awesome. It's like Harry Potter for alcoholics. McAvoy squeezes a ton out of this role, managing to pull off the neurotic "before" stage, the giddy "during" stage, and the serious "after" stage of his training. He speaks to the audience in voiceover that unabashadly shatters the fourth wall, but it's sucessfull because it cues the audience in, saying "yes, we know, it's all over the top. That's the point. Come on, it's fun!"

Angelina Jolie is, if possible, even sexier than usual. Maybe it's something about a woman with a gun, or maybe it's that big chase scene where McAvoy is clearly looking up her skirt as she leans out over the hood of the car, steering with her high heels and shooting with her antique pistols. Whatever it is, she carries an air of coy superiority that absolutely works here.

The story isn't as bad as you'd expect, either. There's a legitamite twist at the end of the second act that I didn't see coming (though that could be because I was drinking jack and coke the whole time-- definitely the kind of movie you want a few drinks for), and a couple of nice little vignettes right at the end that keep you on your toes enough that you can simply enjoy all the cool shit blowing up.

Speaking of the cool shit blowing up, I feel compelled to say that the action sequences in this movie are totally unparalleled. The Dark Knight should be taking notes, as every set piece (and oh, there are several) in this romp is perfectly executed-- you always know where everybody is, what they're shooting at, why shit is blowing up all over the place. Add to that some of the sharpest CGI effects I've ever seen, and you've got fight scenes that pop off the screen like a comic book. There's a stroke of scriptwriting genius that allows this. The number one problem with movies where people chase each other with guns is that either people have to be bad shots and miss each other a ton, or the scene will be over in a few shots. By giving the characters this supernatural control over their bullets, the fights take on a precision unparalleled in movie gunfights.

Basically, this movie is everything a summer blockbuster should be. Fun, funny, sexy, thrilling, loud and fast. Maybe the films "morals" leave something to be desired, and don't expect to see much character development, save a little from McAvoy, but hey, if you want to see some fucking badass shit, this movie is for you. Totally worth the $12 to see it on the big screen, too.

(Final Note: If you have ever lived in or are familiar with Chicago, you're in for a treat. This movie makes use of the cityscape in a way that the Dark Knight simply didn't even try too. The scenes on top of the L train are awesome.)

SCORES:
James McAvoy: 8/10
Angelina Jolie: WillYouMarryMe?/10
Writing: 7/10
Directing: 8/10
Effects: 11/10
OVERALL (not an average): 9/10. (I can't give it a 10, I'd reserve that for something a little more 'important', but I'd say that's just a limitation of the genre. There's very little to quibble about here.)