Wanted

Wanted starts off great, then flounders.

James McAvoy plays a frustrated, broke, depressed, cubicle-bound, go-nowhere loser we can all empathize with on some level or another. He has a meaningless job, a tyrannical walrus for a boss, and a live-in girlfriend who’s cheating on him.

Then, a mysterious stranger played by Angelina Jolie tells him that he’s really the son of one of the most feared men on the planet, and the heir to his father’s place among an elite group of assassins. All of this culminates in McAvoy living out every office-worker’s dream and quitting in grand style. But then, unfortunately, Wanted runs out of ideas.

It turns out that being an elite assassin basically means living in a crumbling textile factory, getting beat up a lot, and waking up in a tub full of mud. Even being an assassin isn’t that badass, because, you see, these “good-guy” assassins get their orders from—well, lets just say that part killed the movie for me.

Despite a forth-billed cameo from Terence Stamp, there’s little in the way of a memorable antagonist, and a few predictable plot twists later, it’s all over.

Granted, Wanted does feature some spectacular set pieces with eye-popping special effects, and a great closing line, but at 110 minutes, it’s all spread too thin. Toss in the ill-advised use of non-sourced contemporary music on the soundtrack that will only serve to date the film in later years and you’ve successfully wasted a great first act on an otherwise forgettable film.