Angelina Jolie’s Wanted — Movie Review (2008 film)
It’s interesting to think there is a secret society out there controlling the course of human history. This is scary but cool at the same time. It is possible! Come to think of it, the Kennedy assasination and the death of John Lennon both affected history and changed America forever. Secret societies are sure fire fan favorites for any feature film.
Plot
Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is a typical employee working at a dead end job, he has constant panic attacks, an annoying boss with a horrible fashion sense, and a girlfriend who cheats him with his best-friend. One day a mysterious woman named Fox (Angelina Jolie) told him his father who was recently killed. Fox brought Gibson to the Fraternity, a thousand year old secret society who assassinate influential people to prevent bigger problems and distribute power where they see fit.
Fraternity leader Sloan (Morgan Freeman) told Gibson his panic attacks are untrained superhuman abilities which includes bending bullets to travel a circular path rather than just a straight line. Gibson had weeks of training and millions of dollars added to his bank account before he was ready to do assassin work. Things get rough as Gibson tries to find out the true story of his father. He finds out the dark secrets of the Fraternity and Sloan. Does the Fraternity assasinate to make this world a better place or are they just paid assassins who can bend bullets?
The Review
This is a good movie with a great story. The top of the line cast did their jobs well. The movie just lacks big eye-popping scenes that could have made it a classic.
Action Scenes
The tension build up was very good, it really draws you to the story and the characters. However, when you reach the action scenes, the tension goes down a bit. The downside is that all the action scenes were mediocre and looked like a high-budget independent movie. The last act started with Wesley Gibson releasing rats with back pack bombs the exploded all over the place; a scene that was corny but kind of cool. What follows is a really cheesy shootout sequence; Wesley Gibson running across the factory punching and kicking people then catching their guns to shoot the Fraternity members. This scene went on for like an entire minute. It felt like watching a superman scene.
Verdict
Overall, Wanted is not that bad; however, more eye-popping and exciting action sequences could have made it a classic. It could also use a better title; for instance, The Fraternity is catchy if you asked me. It felt like they were holding back instead of going all out. Wanted looked like a Tarantino movie without artistic passion.
Jays Ratings — 80%
Rotten Tomatoes — 71%
Metacritic — 64
IMDB — 6.7 out of 10
Jays Geronca is a dancer, film and tv critic, podcaster, and fiction writer. You can follow him at:
Blogspot — http://jaysgeronca.blogspot.com
Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/jaysgeronca/
Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/jaysgeronca
Twitter — http://twitter.com/jaysgeronca
Youtube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUv9DySpxhaNMprdC7lM_eg?view_as=subscriber
Tiktok — http://vt.tiktok.com/efe2ae/ (yes I do have Tiktok)
