Bohemian Cinema By Jonathan Pacheco

“Wanted” (2008)

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov

Satisfaction:Neutral Tags: Action, Thriller, James McAvoy, The Matrix

Ten minutes into Wanted, I couldn’t believe that James McAvoy wasn’t a household name. He’s been in recognized films but his roles were never in the conversation; Atonement was a vehicle for its two female leads and The Last King of Scotland was Forest Whitaker’s Oscar resume. Yet in Wanted I saw a bankable American star in McAvoy. Funny, relatable—this was a side of the actor that I hadn’t seen very often. I get the feeling that if this movie makes a good amount of money, we’ll be seeing more of McAvoy in mainstream Hollywood, and I consider that to be a great thing.

As a sort of neo-Neo, McAvoy plays the cubicle drone Wesley, a man so pathetic that a quick Google of his name pulls in zero results. And that’s not mentioning his chronic panic attacks, which, as displayed on film, are almost cool enough for me to crave his condition (almost). Wesley’s work life is nothing we haven’t seen before in films such as Office Space, but it’s these scenes that slingshot much of Wanted’s gleeful attitude. The film’s sense of humor eventually fades, but at least these office scenes got the ball rolling.

As I discovered during Wanted’s first big sequence (also the film’s most entertaining), the movie has no delusions about itself: it’s not subtle, and the only card it hides is the number of times it’ll throw your high school Physics book out the window—not necessarily a bad thing, since I hated Physics. If absurdity and embellishment bother you, then save your money.

We’re treated to the basic “super-hero plot” as a “Fraternity of Assassins” kidnaps Wesley, tells him he has special abilities, begins his training…. The original graphic novel features a group of super-villains rather than assassins, and creator Mark Millar has stated that he sought to create an anti-Spider-man, anti-Matrix origin story. Instead of a hero who takes his newfound power and uses it for good, Millar wanted a character who would use his powers for selfish reasons—and be okay with it. So you shouldn’t be surprised at the fact that Wanted is either oblivious to the hundreds of innocent casualties that its characters render, or it just doesn’t care. This would be fine except that the film pretends to care. Why else would it provide us with an entire flashback that explains how “killing one life could save a thousand”? The philosophy is used to soothe the conscience of a would-be assassin who, a few scenes later, plays a huge part in the deaths of hundreds of off-screen innocents. I suppose if they’re out of sight, then they’re out of mind.

Comparisons will and should be made to the first Matrix film; Wanted borrows a lot, from style to plot to story structure. For better or worse, it feels like a laid-back version of the Wachowski film, as if it were made by less-geeky people who didn’t take their Anime so seriously. You get a much more relatable story, but you also get some loosey-goosey moments and a few shoddy effects along with it. There are times when Wanted would have benefited from taking itself a little more seriously instead of going for the easy laugh, but a part of me thinks that’s part of the film’s charm. These guys are just here to have fun.

But then we start dipping into the notion of “mindless entertainment,” an idea I have a problem with. True, there are movies that are there just to blow things up and give you a good thrill, but…even the staunchest of popcorn flicks feels like it has a point—even an elementary one—doesn’t it? Coming home after watching Wanted, beyond all the laughs, cool kills and bending bullets, and after the story had concluded, I couldn’t help but wonder what the point of everything was. When we talk about movies being a pure exercise in style, I don’t think we literally mean it, but like 300, I’m afraid that Wanted flirts with literally being an exercise in style.

So I’m a little conflicted. Am I or am I not okay with movies aiming low? Doesn’t every film have the opportunity to be better? Isn’t it kind of lazy to just settle for being a popcorn flick? Or is that acceptable? I know that every once in a while I don’t feel like thinking too hard; I just want to see stuff blow up. I know this is normal, but is this right? Or is this something we’ve accepted because we’ve been conditioned by so many films like Wanted?

I’m powerless to raise Wanted’s standards, but it might be time for me to raise my own.