Wanted

The first red flag was raised with the opening line of the movie: "A thousand years ago a guild of weavers formed a fraternity of assassins." Nothing good can come from something that cheesy can it? Don't judge a book by its cover! "Wanted" is so unreal in being over-the-top, and very unrealistic, that it is, surprisingly, an explosively entertaining experience.

In my mind, "Wanted" is a cross between "Fight Club" and "Office Space". Yes, that is possible. James McAvoy stars as Wes, a lifeless cubicle-dweller at work by day in a lost-cause of a relationship with a girlfriend who is hooking up with Wes' best friend. In his narrative, Wes calls out his boss for the ego maniacal witch that she is. Still, he could never bring himself to say it out loud. Wes is Peter Parker before he gets bitten by the spider. Enter onto the scene Fox (Angelina Jolie) who, after saving Wes' life, explains to our antihero that he has the blood of a killer running through him. Not only that, but he needs to go with her to learn how to develop this skill.

From here we watch as Wes gets beaten, stabbed, and thrown around by his trainers. Overseeing all of this is Sloan (Morgan Freeman), a mild mannered guy who hands out names of people to be assassinated. The names come from the Loom of Fate. Here, again, is a place to suspend your beliefs and just go with it. Sloan not only explains the fraternity of assassins to Wes, but divulges the fact that Wes' dad had been recently killed. Only Wes can kill his father's killer.

That's pretty much the plot line. Try not to think too much into it. What is amazing is every action scene. If someone jumps out a window, we not only see the glass break but we see every shard of glass envelope his body. When a bullet goes through someone's head, the director rewinds the scene to make sure we caught every drop of blood coming out of the body. Did I mention there is a lot of blood? This is one where you just sit and watch things unfold without thinking too much. There are scenes so unreal that you might laugh but still want to see more.

McAvoy is perfectly cast as the unknowing assassin-to-be, and Jolie is captivating as his tutor. There is a twist or two that keeps you guessing, but that's as much as I'll say. For as cheesy as the opening line was, the final line, which I can't repeat here as this is a family-oriented review, might just be the best line of the year. As the credits rolled, I "Wanted" more. I give it an A.

"Wanted" is rated R with a running time of 108 minutes.