The fraternity

Rating: 6/10 (20 November 2009)

Wesley Gibson is a loser. We watch him at work, where his bossy supervisor, Janice, loves to make threatening demands at Wesley because he is not performing. One day Wesley meets a mysterious woman, Fox, who will change his life forever. Fox is a member of the highly skilled group of assassins that called themselves "The fraternity". These people have been operating since ancient times. Now, they want to get Wesley into their fold because unknown to him, he has a history with the organization.
The fraternity will train him in all aspects of their deathly trade. The organization, led by Sloan, has a way for reading secret messages that are encoded to old woven fabrics. Whenever the time arises, one of the members will be sent to get rid of that enemy by whatever means. Wesley is finally sent to do his first big assignment in Europe, but there is a big surprise when he finds out who is this person he has been sent to kill.
Timur Bekmambetov, who has made a name for himself in action films, is in charge to bring this comic book adventure as a big spectacle for his adoring fans. Based on the stories by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, and adapted for the screen by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, this is an almost all-special-effects movie. David Brenner, the editor was probably a busy man during the post production of 'Wanted' because of all the intricate stunts the director favored.
'Wanted' borrows liberally from other, better made movies. A lot of them come to mind, but we are not going to talk here about them. Best thing in the film is the cool appearance of a tattooed Angelina Jolie, who is the woman in charge of training Wesley and who takes him under her wing. James McEvoy has some good moments as well. Morgan Freeman is the head of the group doing a role he probably knows by heart now.
To say the plot is implausible, at best, would be giving the film makers more credit than they are due. We loved the restorative bath where Wesley recuperates from his wounds. (Was it wax? We'd love to have one of those right now!) Best advice for anyone that wants to see this movie is to just go for the ride and have a nice ride. Not recommended for the feint-hearted, though.