Not sure what the movie is Wanted for

Rating: 3/10 (3 August 2008)

I just finished viewing this film, and I must say that I was not very impressed. I may be too judgmental, but here is what I thought about the film from some aspects which I find to be key.
I don't mind a film using language if it's done in a tasteful manner, such as Se7en or Pulp Fiction, but this film did not. It seemed that they were trying to squeeze in obscenities to make the film have more of an edge and appeal to those looking for more of a bad-a appeal, when in reality it only added to the films weak dialog. That brings up the dialog as a whole, which was far below par for what script writers are capable of. Now, I don't expect it to be like a Humphrey Bogart Casablanca monologue, but some amount of effort should be put forth. There were just too many cliché lines derived from a poor attempt at humor.
The cinematography for the film was decent for the majority, nothing very innovative, but average. However whenever the characters were running or in cars, the camera becomes so shaky that you almost cannot follow the action. But while the action scenes are not all well shot, there are some which are pretty cool. I found the concept of curving bullets and shooting bullets out of the air pretty cool, but not necessarily original. I noticed a similarity to this film and several others (e.g. The Matrix and Equilibrium, especially in the scene where Wesley comes through the window). There were other portions which were extremely cliché, for instance when Wesley hits Barry with the keyboard and a word is spelled out using one of Barry's teeth...Granted that most movies require a suspension of reality, Wanted requires its destruction.
There is some sexuality in the film, including two sex scenes in which a male butt is seen and there is enough movement to know what's happening, though nothing explicit is seen. Angelina Jolie's character is also seen completely nude from the behind. Granted that there is no intense nudity in the film, it is something which could very easily have been left out without having the film lose anything. I found it to be just another unnecessary piece added in to give the film more of a bad-a edge and help support the R rating. One final aspect of the film which did not impress me was the choice of James McAvoy for the lead actor. Throughout the course of the film I found myself embarrassed to be watching it because his acting was so weak. In the opening action scenes of the film I was so annoyed by his forced emotions and doing a rather poor job at it at that. But his character did evolve a little bit, by the end he had changed to insisting upon himself obviously wishing that he were the next 007. While I would not want to degrade a great actor like Edward Norton or Brad Pitt to this film, someone like Jason Statham may have been an adequate choice. Over all with the film I'd have to say that the dialog is very weak, the action sequences are cool but over the top by so much that it's hard to watch without laughing, the character development is nonexistent (save for with McAvoy's character which somehow manages to go from Louis Tully to James Bond with no real reason), the violence is intense and over the top, the twist is predictable, the ending is predictable, the language is unnecessary, the sexuality is unnecessary, and the acting is weak (though Freeman and Jolie do nothing awful, they also by no means have performances that are up to par with previous work). I gave the film a 3 because while it is not a good movie by any means it had some moments of entertainment in it, but by no means was it enough to warrant anything higher than a 5.
If you are interested in this style of film I would suggest seeing Equilibrium, The Departed, or Donnie Brasco.
Peace