Repetition can be used effectively in experimentalist
filmmaking, but it’s not usually a reliable tool for a
balls-to-the-wall action director to employ. Wanted is
proof-positive of this unfortunate fact; the movie fills up
110-minutes worth of space by providing viewers several
deviations of essentially two main action scenes. Audiences get
to see lead James McAvoy beat up a bunch of times as he trains
to tap into his skills as an ass-whooper—he’s part of a
semi-genetic line of assassins who have a secret organization
that his recently shot-dead father belonged to—and then watch
him whoop ass a bunch of times as he reaches proficiency in the
field. The exercise can get tiring. And it’s a shame, too,
because Wanted’s repetitive passages sometimes lead the
viewer to realize how utterly simplistic and derivative the
movie just is.
Had the picture run a half an hour less, clocking in at a
petite eighty minutes and eliminating all redundant excess, it
likely would’ve been a spectacle. In terms of sustained
stylistic power, director Timur Bekmambetov’s approach is
rock-solid; in his hands, Wanted has all of the gravitas
and tonal-command it needs to sweep viewers away when it has
fresh material at its disposal. But when Bekmambetov adheres to
the movie’s convoluted script—adapted from a comic book by
Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, and Chris Morgan—the result is
mediocre. Instead of merely blindsiding viewers with
adrenaline-pumping action-segments and manic narration by McAvoy,
the director provokes in them the realization that they’ve seen
all the material before (just in a slightly different form) when
their minds begin to wander during reiterative segments.
Repetitive or not, however, Wanted certainly isn’t
all bad. The movie does boast its fair share of distinguished
assets: McAvoy’s strong force as an actor, supporting actress
Angelina Jolie’s sensuous looks, a very clever third-act twist,
and the best-staged car chase of the 2000s thus far. I may not
be able to fully recommend the film in its entirety, but I
certainly recognize the fact that one could do a lot worse as
far as summer blockbusters are concerned.
-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews
Review Published on: 7.2.2008
Screened on: 6.29.2008 at the Regal Oceanside 16 in
Oceanside, CA.
