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"Wanted" leaves you on edge of seat

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By Linda Cook | Wednesday, July 2, 2008 3:14 PM CDT | () comments

An adults-only, adrenaline-fueled joy ride, “Wanted” never pretends to be an Oscar contender. But it’s guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat with its mind-boggling action and direction.

I groaned at the setup: There’s this 1,000-year-old secret society of weavers, see (uh-huh, I thought), and they call themselves The Fraternity. They’re really good with looms, of course, and they’re also crackerjack assassins.

Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy, “Atonement“) is a cubicle-world dweller who simply doesn’t care, or at least can’t muster the courage for a reaction to anything, whether it’s his snide, annoying boss Janice (the too-little-praised character actress Lorna Scott) or the fact that his best friend is having an affair with Wesley’s whiny girlfriend.

In a store one day, Wesley meets Fox (Angelina Jolie), who tells him that his long-absent father was a member of The Fraternity and that Wesley has the genes of an assassin. Fox takes him on a hair-rising ride to meet her kinsmen in the group, including Sloan (Morgan Freeman).

Wesley has an assignment: He must train day and night to hone his skills so he can slay the man who recently murdered his father. The training sessions are brutal as Wesley makes his way through the gauntlet of his new colleagues. His newfound skills give him confidence and motivation. There’s a great scene (with a teensy nod to “Jerry Maguire“) in which Wesley has the final word back at the office.

Director Timur Bekmambetov (“Night Watch”) gives us a dizzying array of bullets frozen in time and up-close shots of the missiles’ trajectories and resting places.

This is, first and foremost, a movie that contains over-the-top action and violence, a fascinating parallel to the life that Wesley leads when we first make his acquaintance. Of course, there are the obligatory training scenes in which Wesley is pummeled to within an inch of losing his life.

Jolie does a kind of 2008 Catwoman turn here. She’s delightfully cold and intriguing. McAvoy is a fine performer and does a great job of creating a sympathetic character that we begin rooting for right away. And, as always, Freeman adds a touch of class to the proceedings.

This is entertainment for adults, pure and simple. If you’d like to leave the kids at home, this is just the kind of movie entertainment you’ve “Wanted.”

***

Running time: One hour and 50 minutes

Rated: R for violence, foul language, nudity and sexual situations

Stars: James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Terence Stamp and Thomas Kretschmann.

Director: Timur Bekmambetov

Screenplay: Michael Brandt, Derek Haas and Chris Morgan, based on the illustrated novels by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones