Assault on the Senses

Rating: 5/10 (7 July 2008)

Enough is enough. From this moment on, I declare war on Hollywood's infatuation with slow motion. 'The Matrix' revolutionized the technique nearly a decade ago, and in the years since has literally taken the industry hostage. It became an epidemic with '300', and now there's 'Wanted'. A textbook definition of excess, and a film that's more annoying than entertaining.
An aggravating attack on the senses, 'Wanted' takes an interesting and potentially promising concept and weighs it down with a heavy handedness you can't prepare for. In fact, Timur Bekmambetov's style of direction may very well be a direct testament to this generation's perpetual short attention span. For while there are countless action sequences, adequately mindless and feverishly over-the-top, each one becomes less thrilling and more predictable than the last. 'Wanted' follows a simple formula and never strays, but in the end that comes back to hurt it.
But above all else, 'Wanted' just isn't a very likable movie. The amount of skill involved in the project is undeniable, everything is executed with precision and glamor. But I didn't like the hyperactive camera angles. I didn't like the aforementioned use of slow motion, which became groan inducing after only a few minutes. I didn't like the ridiculous dialogue, James McAvoy's narration most of all. And if I never have to see McAvoy scream in slow motion again, I'll die happy.
'Wanted' makes numerous stabs at putting together a coherent story, each of them unsuccessful. Some mumbo jumbo about fate, and an array of ludicrous twists that'll get eyes rolling in the last twenty minutes. It all seems so un-involving and contrived, I would have preferred if 'Wanted' hadn't even pretended that the likes of Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman were anything but props. Bad ass props, but dumb props nonetheless. Because when the last bullet is fired, what we're left with is little more than another empty Hollywood lackluster that's all style and no substance. Surprise, surprise.
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