Wanted is one of those films in which the fanboys will almost wet themselves very time it is mentioned, whereas us regular people will just look bemused.
Based on a graphic novel (comic book to you and me), this violent, effects laden thriller has mild-mannered James McAvoy stuck in a dead-end job with a no-hoper girlfriend, until he bumps into Angelina Jolie in a supermarket and protects him from a shoot-out. It turns out that Mcavoy is the son of a highly trained assassin who works for The Fraternity, a group of top killers who seem to have super powers, and hidden inside McAvoy's mind is one such power, bending bullets. he is ordered, once to the training is over, to kill the man who killed his father, and is killing the other members of the Fraternity.
So it's a mix of confused story lines, double crossing and special effects as bullets rip open their victims skulls, leading to whoops of joy from the popcorn fuelled audience pumped up on the loud rock soundtrack and the sight of a half naked Jolie.
McAvoy is a good actor and this is his chance to break the big time, but his accent is terrible here and Jolie just looks disturbingly thin. Only Morgan Freeman comes out looking as cool as ever.
The main trouble with this, is that it wants to be The Matrix without the Matrix trappings. As a friend of mine described it...it's The Matrix meets Office Space. It's violence, in a time when violence is everywhere, is so graphic that you do find yourself wondering if the computer game playing audience that this film is aimed at, won't want to try and bend bullets themselves.
It's not a terrible film, just not as exciting and as amazing as some people are making it out to be, and while it's good to see an adult film released during the summer blockbuster season, maybe they could have been more responsible and not glorify violence and gun-play so much.
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