STARRING:James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Terence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann, Common
RUNTIME:1 Hour 50 minutes
RELEASE DATE:June 27, 2008
RATING:R – Strong bloody violence throughout, pervasive language and some sexuality.
As usual, every summer each movie studio tries to outdo the others, by bringing out its best fare. From the looks of things, Wanted definitely fits the bill. With its slow action footage, including slow motion path bending bullets, this action adventure looks like a take-off of The Matrix.
Wes (James McAvoy) was a dull office worker with no direction, no purpose (‘er, sorry Lionel). After his estranged father’s murder, the very sexy Fox (Angelina Jolie) recruits Wes to be part of the Fraternity, a secret society of assassins. The Fraternity trains Wes to avenge his father’s death by teaching him to use his dormant skills. Sounds more and more like Matrix, eh? Actually, the movie is based on the “Wanted” comic book series by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones.
For his transition from office worker to expert assassin to be effective, McAvoy was transformed from a 137 pound weakling to a 164 pound athlete in about 2 months, through an extensive workout routine that had him ready to puke. Remember, no pain, no gain. McAvoy admits, Wanted was the most physically demanding movie he had ever worked on.
Don’t be late for this one, the action flies virtually nonstop from beginning to end!
