We like our summers hot, that’s for sure. What does that
‘hot’ mean? Hot sun on the beach, the Ocean’s warm water, but well, yeah,
that’s for dreamers. Returning to the quotidian, a hot summer is full of
adventure. It doesn’t matter that it’s only on the silver screen, our emphatic
skills succeed to transport us on adventurous settings in an instant.
Some setting, for example, like the Chicago depicted in this week-end’s premiere,
“Wanted,” shelter of a millennium-old secret society. If it’s secret, then it
means that its organigram includes some goals and relations worthy of
discovering. And if it’s a thousand-old, then it means that the sect developed
an astonishingly long tradition and have become one of the best in the realm.
Isn’t that hot enough?
Let’s start with the warm part first, we’ll get to the
exciting one soon. James McAvoy plays the role of a coy white-collar, named
Wesley Gibson. He is an accountant who just can’t seem to be a man. His boss
treats him like dirt and he accepts it, his best friend is screwing his
girlfriend and he is paying for the condoms, even an ATM makes fun of him. He
depends on some medication to alleviate his panic attacks, meds that make his
already shabby personality even weaker.
But one night, while waiting in line for his prescription
‘candy’, he meets a woman that will turn his world around. Fox (played by
Angelina Jolie – yes, this is the kind of woman to make a world spin) grabs him
from his mundane world and introduces him to the exciting universe of the
hush-hush sect. Wes learns that his estranged father, who left when he was a
baby, was actually one of the best in the Fraternity – which is the name of the
secret sect formed by assassins.
In a “Matrix”-like series of challenges, Fox and the
Fraternity master, Sloane (Morgan Freeman) discover that Wes is the one.
Sado-masochistic procedures, like a ‘spa’-treatment with hot wax to heal
injuries and teaching the art to shoot a gun to make the bullet curve highlight
that ‘this is his destiny.’
A thousand years ago, the Fraternity started receiving coded
messages that contained information about whom to kill to make the world a
better place. The organization has been saving the world since then, its creed
being that it’s better to kill one and save a thousand. Wes’ mission is to find
and kill his father’s murderer, Cross. Only that when Wes outstrips his initial
status quo, there are moments when he becomes a reel-off murderer who is not
interested in how many corpses he leaves behind.
“Wanted” is full of adventures, the blend of
computer-generated sequences and live moments is smooth, and the combination of
high and slow-paced action bits will make your heart need some panic-attack
pills. Car chases, bullets that negotiate corners, crashes and a very flexible
Jolie in action are only a few of the best sequences.
The movie’s impeccable
execution bears the signature of the Kazakhstan-born director Timur Bekmambetov
(who also signed for the sci-fi pair “Night
Watch” and “Day Watch”). The writing crew includes Michael Brandt, Derek
Haas, and Chris Morgan, concocting a plot based on a comic book series (yes,
it’s definitely a trend!). Well, what’s left to say is a single word:
enjoy!
