The Definitive Bad Action Flick

Rating: 7/10 (27 July 2009)

After seeing "Wanted", you might say to yourself, "that was one good bad action flick." All the essential ingredients came into place: the action, the fling, the sex, and all the other cheesy schmaltz you see in every action flick. The saving grace in this movie that made it all worth while, was the heart-pulsing energy. In many ways it has a similar feel to the anime "Cowboy Bebop" coming to life here with similar characters and familiar situations.
The story is pretty much recycled material that you may have seen many times before. However, it scores points on suaveness, crooked politics, and plenty of macho-inflated chaos that will make any sex-crazed teenage boy's eyes pop and the non-stop adrenaline will keep you begging for more. If you like movies of this caliber than the more power to you, and if you don't that's your prerogative. But after watching "Wanted" you must first ask yourself, was it all worth the while? Well that question depends entirely how see the movie. Me personally I think it has a lot of promise on Blu-Ray high definition. It has that guilty pleasure feel to cure those late-night blues after you've finished a big term paper and looking to blow off some steam. What makes "Wanted" work is the little tidbits to make a movie worthwhile. The implausible encounters, the seductive nature intended here plus all the heart-pulsing action is one to keep you entertained for the next two hours. The drawbacks in this film is that it looks fun, but the honesty in the excitement is dormant, the logic is obviously absent and the relevance is virtually omitted. The thrills are excited enough and with all the chaos happening here, it won't entirely disappoint.
Russian born director Timur Bekmambetov conjured up a pleasing effort and and it shows he has the knack in providing a sense of rhythm. But that gift that he has is still yet to come into good terms of what is a fairly decent flick. If those Hollywood hacks can conjure up a story that's not dependent on cheap thrills or explosions, we may see him one day bag an Oscar in the near future. But for know I guess he'll have to depend on pleasing his audience with pyros ans explosions.
The performers gave me the felling they were having a blast(pun intended)and they showed realism in their stoic expressions and not taking too many gregarious risks. The real scene stealer in this movie is the excellent performance by Angelina Jolie as she stands out pretty much on her own here. Her charm and charisma attracts her audience of all ages, genders and all levels of intelligence. Jolie just makes every one of her complex scenes look so easy, even through all the unbelievable predicaments she's encountered. Never once does she make it look campy. Now there's someone you can look up to.