Wanted (2008) Bullets, Rat Bombs, and Angelina Jolie

GENRE(S): Action  |  Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY: J.G. Jones (comic book series), Mark Millar
(comic book series)
Michael Brandt (story & screenplay)
Derek Haas (story & screenplay)
Chris Morgan (screenplay)
DIRECTED BY: Timur Bekmambetov
RELEASE DATE: DVD: December 2, 2008
Theatrical: June 27, 2008
RUNNING TIME: 110 minutes, Color
ORIGIN: USA


wanted-jolie-poster

Angelina Jolie is hot and in control again as Fox, but this time the focus of Wanted is on James McAvoy as Wesley Gibson. Gibson is a regular joe who has a regular cubicle job. His life is soooo boring until Fox shows up. She is a part of the Fraternity who take Gibson and teach him how to do all kinds of awesome tricks like curving bullets and how to be a badass. The Fraternity are assassins who are sent out to kill people they don’t even know, but those people are supposed to cause a lot of problems in the future. So they kill that person to save others. How thoughtful and very noble of them.

Wanted has a very good duo of kick butt actors with McAvoy and Jolie. Then there’s also Morgan Freeman who has played God before, and now with his role in Wanted, he is trying to be God again…I guess he missed being all powerful. I know I would. Wanted has some similarities to the Matrix with all the slow motion shots and bullet bending, and the existential breaking out of a somber doldrum of an office life into a fast paced, bullet firing liefstyle, but it isn’t quite as exciting as The Matrix for me. Some of the plot twists were not pee-in-your pants exciting, they were just, “Hum, I recognize that as a twist but I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

angelina-jolie-wanted-movie

I bet Jolie didn’t have any trouble memorizing her lines…because she is silent through most of the film. This struck me as very odd because I’m so used to Jolie being the main focus, but then I read that she wanted it that way to make her seem “distant and unattainable.” It was all part of her character. Spoiler Alert: I also read that it was her idea for her character to die at the end. Jolie had them adapt the script for her. She thought that her character would have wanted it that way. What!? Jolie wanted to change the script to something more morbid. What a surprise! Wanted was definitely full of action but it isn’t of the non-stop variety. It also leaves you with one final word of wisdom: “So what the f*** have you done, lately.”

Amount of time before action: ~ 3 minutes

Guys getting killed (Bad guys): Ordinary Joes and members of the Fraternity

Best line: “I think I can speak for the entire office when I say…Go F*** Yourself!”

Best Kill: Gibson is on an assignment to kill. He is driving bedside the guy’s limo and tries to shoot him through the window but it is bullet proof. So Fox comes to the rescue. Fox and Gibson drive head on towards each other. Fox breaks and Gibson ramps off her car, flips over the limo and shoots the guy through the sunroof as he says, “I’m sorry.”

Best Suicide: Big Spoiler Alert: Toward the end, all of the assassins are standing in a circle with McAvoy in the middle and are faced with a decision to either kill McAvoy or maybe themselves. Right as they are about to fire on McAvoy, Jolie shoots first. Instead of killing McAvoy, she curves a bullet so that it goes around the whole circle going through every assassins head. Meanwhile, time slows down and she throws McAvoy a gun then steps back in place to let the bullet claim her life as well.

Best Explosion: Rats with bombs strapped to them are let loose inside the Fraternity headquarters- thousands of them. Then they all explode. It was awesome. It’s got the 1-2 punch because first everyone is afraid of the rats crawling on them, then they see the bombs and…BOOM. They don’t have time to feel another emotion.

Action Rating: 4 rats with bombs, out of 5

 

rat-with-a-bomb-strapped-to-it
Illustration by Alex Langley. Rocket Llama World Headquarters.

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About Action Flick Chick

Action Flick Chick Katrina Hill, author of the books Action Movie Freak and 100 Greatest Graphic Novels , learned to appreciate all things action at a young age by sneaking into the room while her two older brothers watched action movies and horror. At ActionFlickChick.com, she shares her love of these films with everyone, along with interviews, news, and whatever else she happens to choose. G4TV crowned her their Next Woman of the Web champion, and she co-hosted MTV Geek’s live Comic-Con coverage. Her articles have appeared at sites including MTV.com, io9.com, Arcade Sushi, and Newsarama. Follow her as @ActionChick on Twitter. Base of operations: Dallas, Texas. Favorite Movie: Tremors (1990).
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19 Responses to Wanted (2008) Bullets, Rat Bombs, and Angelina Jolie

  1. Frankfurter Crowbar says:

    Angelina Jolie is HOT! She doesn’t do any sex scenes in this one and doesn’t get shown full frontal nude even though she had to have been naked when filming a scene or two, but she’d be sexy in a parka.

  2. Frankfurter Crowbar says:

    Insufficient nudity notwithstanding, it’s still a cool movie.

  3. Tommy Salami says:

    This was alright. It had some neat scenes but was pretty boring except for the “best kill” and the train scene. The ratbombs were neat.

  4. Thank God! It’s about time Angelina Jolie went back to being a badass!

  5. Rick Swift says:

    WTF, rats AND bombs, ouch! I love the little, Bye tags tied on for added insult, reminds me of Heinleins torturous, “I’m a 20 second bomb, I’m a 10 second bomb . . .” devices in Troopers.

  6. Dell says:

    I have to agree with Tommy Salami, it was okay. The action scenes were great but the story was, uh…let’s just say less than stellar.

  7. Yertle says:

    lol I don’t think actionchick is rating them for their stellar stories, Dell.

  8. Pingback: » Best of Action Flick Chick, Part 1: The Reviews

  9. angelina says:

    angelina is very very fine

  10. Sniper bob says:

    Great movie,lot’s of action & suspense plus Angelina Jolie what more can you ask for!If this didnt move you,your probably dead!

  11. regular joe says:

    ohhh myyy goddd wanted is one of the best movies i have seen i just cant get enough…. I cant wait till 2011 wanted 2 is coming out wooow

  12. Pinar says:

    I never really cared much about Matrix. And I might be the only person who has enjoyed Wanted a hell lot more, but I just love it. Damn good entertainment.

  13. ddue says:

    anjelina is so sexy that i want her.

  14. 24 hour says:

    Right on !! Damn I’m getting addicted to your weblog 🙂

  15. daniel says:

    I love AJ…..those lips kill me…!

  16. Tamela says:

    I was so happy to see Angelina finally back in a kick your ass/blow your brains out/drive, hanging upside down, on the hood of a car typ of role! So far, I have not seen any action film she has played in that has not rocked! She was built to do action films and it shows.

    It has been a few years since ‘Wanted’ came out and Angelina has shined. Her most recent, ‘Salt’ once again shows, this woman is made for ACTION!

    Great write-up Ms. K!

  17. I am glad to be among the visitants on this wonderful website (:, thanks for putting up.

  18. mehdi hosseini says:

    I love u

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