Wanted: a better movie

I recently caught "Wanted" on HBO On Demand, so I wasn't too bent out of shape about being so disappointed. The thing that got me was, why did I think it would be good in the first place? I remember seeing the trailers during its theatrical run and kind of buying into everything.

That was back in the days (two whole years ago) before I realized that just because I liked comic books and I like movies is no reason to presume I would enjoy a comic book movie. Quite the contrary, actually; most comic book movies in the last several years are big disappointments. I never read the comic that "Wanted" is based on, but I can kind of see how it would work in print: cool ideas, striking visuals, suspension of disbelief. In movie form, it just boils down to director Timur Bekmambetov saying, "Hey, look at all the neat ways I can shoot a bullet coming out of a gun."

And most of those shots do look cool, but they don't really mean much, or else they "mean" something in the sense of, "OK, audience, pay attention to this stunt now because it'll pay off later when we come back to it!" The slow motion, the cinematography, just the whole style of it is flashy but to little impact (unless maybe you're watching it on something other than my modest low-def TV), and this is assuming you're not sitting there yawning, "Eh..."Matrix."

"Wanted" shows us the journey of a schlub played by James McAvoy as he gets sucked into a secret society of assassins with extraordinary skills and knowledge. Perhaps the biggest problem with "Wanted" is it spends way too much time on the journey and the sucking in. We're supposed to identify with his transformation from disrespected office drone to hit man. It might play off as a decent adolescent comic book revenge fantasy (and I mean no condescension when I use the word "adolescent"), but here it plays out like a drawn-out comic book origin story, the likes of which we've see all too often in recent years.

As for me, I've given up on being anything but a schlub, so for me it's far more interesting seeing the fantasy world itself than living vicariously through one guy's entry into it. How does this society work? What is the history of this group and its battles? Some answers are given, but the narrative could--should--spend a lot more time in establishing and exploring this hidden world.

Then there's Angelina Jolie. She looked good in the trailers, but while watching the film, I couldn't help but wonder what happened. It wasn't so long ago that she made a convincing Lara Croft in the "Tomb Raider" movies. Say what you will about those, but Jolie herself was sexy, bad-ass, and credible even while affecting that accent. I would have knocked a guy over just to get a one-sheet poster from one of those flicks (You know, I did work at a movie theater, and I'm pretty sure I did). In "Wanted," Jolie looks thinner, worn, and uninvolved. Her character, Fox, is supposed to be detached, but there's something else going on here. She just isn't credible in this kind of role anymore and comes off like a poser.

Then there's Morgan Freeman. I've been hoping for a while he'd get a big, juicy part in a comic book movie, something more weighty than his supporting role in the Batman series, but this isn't satisfying. By the time he gets his big scenes near the end, it's clear Freeman isn't giving 100%--or we don't seem to be getting it. I don't want to besmirch a veteran with so much talent. Maybe he realizes the plot twists are telegraphed and/or nonsensical so it's hard for the audience to get involved on a story level, but it feels like cruise control.

Really, "Wanted" isn't "about" story. It's about stringing together a bunch of individual scenes and stunts that look good on paper, and maybe even kind of cool on screen. But it's all posturing, trying to be cool without ever becoming cool, and it's an empty experience without the kind of thrills that might make it at least a worthwhile popcorn movie.