Wanted

Angelina: We want her

It's got action and guns and a secret society of super assassins. It's got Morgan Freeman being stately, Angelina Jolie being sexy and James McAvoy stepping up to the A-list as Hollywood's unlikliest action hero.

It's got effects and visual flourishes of the sort you'd expect from Day Watch and Night Watch helmer Timur Bekmambetov.

And it's all based on a series of graphic novels that, I'm told, were something else.

That then could be the key to getting the most out of this gloriously insane movie. Those who worshipped the original comic books / graphic novels (is there a difference? do I care?) will no doubt have very strong opinions on how Wanted the movie stands up.

For a neutral like myself? Wanted is about as much fun as I've had in the cinema this year. And last year. And, while we're on the subject, the year before that.

It's excessive, violent, ludicrously over-the-top and it'll leave you sweaty, shaking and clapping like a violent Teletubby shouting 'again! again!'

James McAvoy starts the film like Mr Tumnus and ends up as a Terminator, and you'll believe his transformation entirely. He plays Wesley Gibson, an office drone with a life that's falling apart.

His boss is a bitch, his 'best friend' is sleeping with his girlfriend, and he's got anxiety issues. Did we say life? Frankly it barely qualifies. He is then the least likely person to receive the news that his estranged father was the most super-assassin in a group of super-assassins, and he's just been, well, assassinated.

Wesley thus inherits everything, from the several million dollars in assets to the guns and, as it transpires, the training. He will be the next super-assassin and the man charged to take out his father's killer. But there might be a few more slayings before he gets to that target.

And that, dear filmgoer, is only the first hour. The film then goes off in completely unexpected directions, adding surprising depth and twists where most would have added explosions.

It's beautifully paced with equal focus on the set-up and the action. The performances are better than you'd expect. And the whole package will leave you thrilled, knackered and giggling like a schoolboy.

Entertainment with bullets, balls and brilliance, Wanted is what you've always hoped summer movies would be like.

5/5

This review was brought to you by Screenjabber.com

share this story: