Wanted (2008)

If anyone has seen director Timur Bekmambetov's Nochnoi Dozor (Night Watch) or Dnevnoy Dozor (Day Watch), then you will know that although the stories didin't always make perfect sense, but boy, did they look absolutely wonderful, with some absolutely amazing effects to boot. Well, his latest movie, Wanted, does make a lot more sense even if it does stretch the boundaries of plausibility even further. Oh, and yes it has some of the most breathtaking scenes I have seen in a long while. Wanted is eye candy for the 21st Century delivered with a shot to the head.

The backstory of Wanted is that apparently 1000 years ago a group of weavers decided to form a secret society of assassins called The Fraternity to help retain balance in the world, because, that would be a natural career step of course. And so, over the years they have hidden away taking out whomever is required. Ok.

Back to present day and we meet a member of the Fraternity who is hunting down a former member who has left, and gone rogue so to speak.

Skip forward a little more and we join up with Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), an average Joe who gets shat on on a daily basis in his present job, by his girlfriend and by his best friend. He suffers from anxiety attacks, and is a self proclaimed pussy. And...before you know it he is approached by Fox (Angelina Jolie), and is informed that his father, who walked out on him as a baby, was an assassin and that Wesley also has the skills required to be one too. Ah yes, I forgot to mention that members of the Fraternity aren't normal everyday assassins. No, these crazy feckers seem to have almost superhuman skills; one of which is being the ability to bend bullets in mid-air.

Anyhoo, the Fraternity want him to join up with them so that they can train him so that he can go out and kill the rogue member. Cue non-stop action, violence, bloodshed, chases and other such coolness.

To go on about whether or not Wanted is realistic would be just pointless, this is just an all ot over the top ballet of bullets composed by an incredibly talented Russian. There's no other way to describe the onscreen action other than poetry pure and simple. It's not always believable; how can this society be secret when they are destroying half of the city? But damn it all to hell it is a fun ride!

At times predictable, in terms of the plot and character development, whereas the rest of the movie will continue to stun you throughout. It's surprisingly bloody, there's plenty of foul language, Jolie's butt, wonderful set pieces and one of the finest shoot-outs I have ever seen. Extra points are also given for the inclusion of Nine Inch Nails on the soundtrack.

If movies such as Crank or Shoot Em Up pumped your nads then you will love this. Just imagine those crossed with The Matrix whilst John Woo called the shots, and you might get a rough idea of what to expect.

There are flaws galore, the biggest one being the total waste of Terrence Stamp, I just can't be arsed to go on about them as I just had too much fun watching this ridiculously over the top movie. Suspend your disbelief, throw all rational thought out of the window and sit back and enjoy the ride, because it is going to be a bumpy one.

Wanted is a quite terrific action flick that demands you turn all reason off and just enjoy the carnage that is up on the screen.

Rating 3.5 stars (out of 4)