Movie Review: Wanted

Synopsis: Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) finds out that his long lost father is an assassin. When his father is murdered, Wesley is recruited into his father's organisation and trained by a man named Sloan (Morgan Freeman) to follow in his dad's footsteps. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov.

Verdict: A very fast-paced action movie with little character development, except for the protagonist. Storyline was a bit hard to swallow but the twist in the end is quite good. Casting is good, with a few powerhouses like Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman in the mix.

Jolie was exceptional as Fox, Wesley Gibson's mentor. Sizzling hot, full of attitude and exuding a natural grace as a sexy assassin, which is rather reminiscent of Lara Croft.


James McAvoy was believable as the sorry, dorky guy with anxiety issues turned professional assassin (kinda cute too =P).


Morgan Freeman was just alright as the Fraternity's (name of the assassin organisation) head honcho. Nothing to shout about. In my opinion, he was under-used for an actor of his caliber.

However, the action scenes movie are very fast paced and chaotic but the gunfights are a bit far fetched. The idea of curving a bullet's trajectory by merely waving your arm is definitely something new, albeit rather ridiculous, with no proper scientific explanation to back it up. Also, stopping or deflecting a moving bullet with ANOTHER moving bullet, either with the bullets hitting head on or deflecting it from the side!?! [Spoiler Alert!] Given the fact that Wesley Gibson is 'gifted' with an ability to periodically amplify his senses and see movements around him in much slower motion, no normal human being can react fast enough to a speeding bullet, let alone shoot it accurately against another moving bullet! Although this is what makes this movie stand out, the concept is still hard to swallow.

[Spoiler Alert!] There are some gaping loopholes in the plot as well. How the organisation gets its assignments for the assassins is also a bit ludicrous. Trusting 'fate' which delivers the target's names in a secret language found in weaving cloth? Any idea of logic is out the window here. Although Wesley did question about the authencity of fate's decision and justification of the killing each target, the answer wasn't very satisfactory to me.

Overall, this movie is entertaining enough but you really need to sideline logic and the laws of physics while watching this. However, the twist is the end is rather good.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Other: NA