To be honest, I wasn't really impressed when I saw the trailer for Wanted. Curving bullets, high-speed car chases, and Angelina Jolie can only mean another action-packed, mindless summer Blockbuster. Strange, though. The more of my friends who went to see it, the more I was hearing what a really cool movie it was, and the more I desired to see it for myself. Unfortunately, my plans kept falling through to see it with various friends, but I finally got the chance last week with friends from my college's Anime Society. Did it meet my initial pessimistic expectations? Eh, yes and no.
From the beginning I could tell that Wanted had quality to it. I knew it was based off a comic book so the content was already there, whether or not the original source was good. The first few scenes did a great job of creating interest and forming questions in my mind as to what was going to happen next and how these things were even possible in this world. The acting was solid and the special effects were cool, albeit kind of overdone at times.
As the movie progresses, so do the action scenes and special effects. Bullet curving and car chases are frequent, as are other spectacular feats of human ability. All very cool. If there's any reason to see this movie, it's exactly the reason I was so quick to condemn it in the first place - there's lots of action and it adds up to a Blockbuster, but it works. Plenty of adrenaline and excitement, tasteful even for me.
Where this movie falls is when it comes to explaining how or why this action is taking place. As I'm sure some of you have feared, the bullet curving isn't really explained. In fact, most of the amazing feats are simply passed off onto a special ability of these characters that, in my opinion, should only account for a heightened awareness of sorts. At other times, training these abilities in the movie consists of a sped-up montage that makes you wonder how much time has really passed and how they could skip so many steps.
But alright, so let us grant that these people can do all of these incredible things. Why are they following their course of action? Without going into too much detail, the basic premise involves "an elite group of assassins," who choose their kills based on a method of reading fate more or less. But where this came from is vague and convenient, and I'm not really sure how it's fate if they can be either successful or unsuccessful at the task. And I don't understand why the main character changes his mind so quickly and with such determination throughout the movie.
The entertainment value is up there, but timeless quality is lacking. In the end, I think I went in there with too high of expectations, but that's not to say that it's a bad movie. It isn't, and the cool scenes are a testament to that. But if you've heard that it's great all around, I'd have to call it overrated. Beyond the sketchy story-line, though, I think there is something to be said for the simple underlying message that's evident from the last words the main character speaks: "This is me taking control of my life." I think that's an important theme to respect.
