Movie Review: Wanted

Despite the ridiculous spectacle I was not able to enjoy myself during this movie and find it hard to recommend. I could tell from the movie’s first introductory text setting up the plot that it might be horrific. Seriously an ancient society of weavers/assassins that keeps evil in check. The name of the society is…the fraternity? This struck me as unimaginative. Why couldn’t the writers or whoever it is that came up with this story think of a cleverer name? I don’t know something like Red Octagon or Fox Vomit. I’m totally not taking credit for the later name…I saw it in an Unchartered Zone video on youtube. Fox Vomit is one of the band members of Vomit Gun. These weavers/assassins also get their targets from a mystical loom that communicates through binary code. Do I have to explain why this is dumb? I think my main problem with this movie is its main character, Wesley Gibson, who is portrayed by James McAvoy. The problem with Wesley is that he is a loser. Throughout the movie the audience is supposed to see him transform into a badass. This is really hard for me to swallow especially when I think back to part of the climatic scene: when he runs. He runs like someone who is uncomfortable with this type of strenuous activity. His face contorts into all sorts of pain filled expressions. The sort of expressions that I would imagine someone would make when they are simultaneously suffering from a severe case of the runs, and hemorrhoids. All the while he might have run twenty yards. Maybe the fraternity should look into some sort of strength training as well as some cardio? I’m really not sure the full details of their training…I know it involves beating the trainee to a pulp (I found this hard to watch), but that doesn’t seem to be working…at least not in this case. I strongly feel that action heroes should look like badasses when they are in action hero mode. I guess I’m saying that I could possibly see a movie about a loser who becomes a badass, but this one is poorly done. I mean aren’t most action heroes alpha males. Maybe McAvoy just hasn’t been around enough and exposed to this type of movie enough to pull it off. He’s by no means a Statham, Jackson (Samuel L. not Joshua), Cage, Stallone, Willis…I’m sure there are more we could add to this list. With all this being said, I’m not exactly sure what I think about this movie…Cage or Statham could have made it a movie I would have thoroughly enjoyed no matter how ridiculous it was. In fact, as far as their movies are concerned the more ridiculous the better. I do like their serious work as well…don’t get me wrong. They are great actors.