Action trash, and not particularly good action trash at that

Rating: 1/10 (21 July 2009)

PLOT (or lack there of): a jerky, mean spirited loser whom we are meant to embrace as an everyman protagonist (McAvoy) is plucked out of his unhappy, depressing life (which includes a crappy job with an annoying boss, a bitchy, unfaithful girlfriend who cheats on him - with his knowledge - with his douche bag 'best friend') by the mysterious Freeman, who reveals that McAvoy's character is the son of a highly skilled, practically superhuman assassin, for his fraternity of superhuman assassins who base their kills on mystical messages of sorts from a loom, trained (make that repeatedly beaten up) by Jolie. But there is more to it than meets the eye. Or not.
I admit to having not read the original comic book that this was based off of, so I can only judge the film for what it is - action trash, and not particularly good action trash at that. Besides the over the top absurdity, the soulless clichés, the plot holes and ridiculous 'action' scenes, there's not one single likable character in all this mess. As I stated before, the main character played James McAvoy is a mean spirited jerk from the get go, and by the end of the film he is no better personality wise than he was before. Yes, it is established that he's had a crappy life, but that alone does not redeem his inherently unsympathetic behavior throughout the film. Even anti-heroes need to be vaguely likable in some way, and McAvoy's Wesley simply fails at that. Angelina Jolie sleepwalks through her role as the sexy assassin who takes McAvoy under her wing, and both she and Morgan Freeman deserve better than this. How Freeman even allowed himself to get involved with this nonsense is a mystery (good thing he was also in "The Dark Knight" around the same time).
To call the film style over substance would be an insult since the 'style' is so poor it doesn't begin to hide the lack of substance. You'd be better off watching "Lethal Weapon" or "48 Hours".