“W” Is For Wanted

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a-z challenge, action, april, bend, blog, bullet, cinema, death, drama, film, freeman, jolie, mcavoy, meme, movie, review, smurfin the web, thriller, wanted

“W” is for Wanted (2008)

hen thinking of “W” movies, there were many that came to mind, for example The Wizard Of Oz, or Where Eagles Dare. In the end after weighing up the pros and cons of what constitutes a film that I would drop everything for, I plumped for Wanted.

This fast action flick starring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie is brought to us by the director of the Russian vampire films Nightwatch and Daywatch, Timur Bekmambetov. I like the style if those foreign films and much of the same techniques are used in Wanted. The special effects are put to good use, but its the ideas behind them that make this film enjoyable to me. Bend a bullet? Physically impossible, but a quirky notion nonetheless.

A young man finds out that his estranged father was in fact an assassin with some special abilities in his field and our protagonist must be trained in the same way as his father was in order to avenge his death. He will be recruited into a bizarre fraternity in order for him to complete his mission.

McAvoy isn’t your typical action star either, but manages to pull it off quite well and the supporting cast is worth a watch aswell – Morgan Freeman, Terence Stamp and Marc Warren, who seems to have curiously disappeared recently sadly. Jolie blends the action and sexiness as she does in in most of her movies to great effect and in the end we get an interesting storyline with some great action and special effects.

Director Bekmambetov has a uniques style and if you get a chance to see Nightwatch and Daywatch, then do try to. A bit of the story gets lost in the subtitle translation, but a couple of watches sorts it out a bit better for you. They’re worth watching for the effects. Rumour has it that they will be remade for a Western audience and if they turn out anything like Wanted, then I will be very happy.

Fun Fact: James McAvoy screen-tested for the lead role in early 2006 but was initially rejected, as the studio wanted a more “conventional” leading man. He was later recalled when the producers decided that his character was more “the runt of the litter”. The studio ultimately changed its mind and wanted someone geeky. McAvoy got the part.