Age didn't help

Rating: 3/10 (27 December 2016)

"Wanted" is one of those movies I was kinda hoping would be a little better with the passage of time. And after eight years, that's a resounding no. There were a lot of things that were awful about this movie back in that theater seat in '08, but one thing that really bothered me was the story's beat-for-beat ripoff of "The Matrix". McAvoy's reconditioning is more violent than Neo's, but it's all there regardless. It's pretty blatant.
The movie is pretty hard to stomach, even having been reared on a diet of shallow action movies. "Curve the bullet" has gotta be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard, and the movie gives no good reason to accept it. C'mon, if you're going to steal bullet-time, at least give me something to go on; don't just shoot physics the bird.
But even today, "Wanted" is a rotten reminder of how bad action movies could be in the 2000s. It's got that tweaked style that feels more like a bludgeon than a thrill, and a garish look to really seal the deal. To trot out the Matrix comparison one more time, it's got none of that film's artistic sensibilities, which would've helped this go down so much easier.
3/10