By TAYLOR VAN ARSDALE Special to the Daily Press
IF YOU HAVEN’T YET FALLEN IN LOVE with James McAvoy (“Attonement”) just wait till you see him portraying “Wesley” in “Wanted,” director Timur Bekmambetov’s flawless adaptation of Mark Millar’s graphic novel (also starring Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman) for you surely will. And if you haven’t felt like you’ve seen a great summer action movie since “Die Hard” — this one’s gonna blow you away.
The gist: McAvoy is a small cog in the wheel of corporate America — formerly an “Account Manager” newly dubbed an “Account Service Provider,” justifiably mystified as to how his new title will somehow foster better client relations — whose boss, Lorna, is a phlegmatic, pig of a woman (I once worked for the same hideous person, only her name in my “day-mare” was Henriette) always harping on him for his lack of follow through, his inability to complete the “standardized reports” and general malaise.
Add on his “condition” — panic attacks, or what he deems them to be (temporarily quelled by copious amounts of medication), a co-worker who’s made him a cuckold with one heck of a lousy girlfriend, and you have a worker ready to go “postal.” That is until he’s found and saved by the Weaver’s — a group of age-old assassins simply called “the Fraternity” whose special kinetic abilities are fostered by their enhanced adrenaline systems.
McAvoy’s recruited by Jolie and summarily begins rigorous tutelage on how to fight with knives, take punches and “bend bullets” — which means he can shoot directly at a target and the projectile will curve to avoid objects in it’s path.
McAvoy’s performance as an apologetic assassin-in-training is beyond reproach.
His hesitancy to rise to meet his destiny is never forced nor labored; and you will root for his “everyman” character, delight when he gains the courage to defy his boss, rebuke his co-worker, regain his self-respect and temper the killer within. And then there’s Jolie … though she’s got top billing in the flick’s poster, this is clearly McAvoy’s vehicle.
Her’s is the cherry-red Dodge Viper in which she tears up the streets of Chicago. She’s terrific, as always just don’t look for her in the sequel. Common (who I just adore as both an artist and a humanitarian) is in far too few scenes. Bekmambetov’s directing is superb. He has crafted and redefined, hands down, this summer’s blockbuster.
Note: You won’t want to miss the train sequence and the exploding rats. Oh sure, there are some implausible situations, and questions whose circuitous answers will leave you pondering, “Wait. How can that be?” but with McAvoy to guide us through the plot, and Bekmambetov at the helm, who cares? Opens in theatres today.
TAYLOR VAN ARSDALE is a writer/producer and movie reviewer for the Daily Press. She
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 27, 2008. Read the original PDF.