What is “Wanted”? Some slick, big-budget action film based on some graphic novel that we have little interest in. Wait, it does have James McAvoy and he’s decent, right?
Angelina Jolie told Entertainment Weekly that the film is not totally unlike, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” an entertaining film we really enjoyed.
“Maybe this is Mrs. Smith after she killed Mr. Smith, went into depression, and got very, very, very moody. [The character] is not happy, and she’s not easy to be around. She was interesting to me because she isn’t the love interest and she isn’t having fun with it like the ‘Tomb Raider.’ She’s darker.”
The synopsis:
25-year-old Wes (McAvoy) was the most disaffected, cube-dwelling drone the planet had ever known. His boss chewed him out hourly, his girlfriend ignored him routinely and his life plodded on interminably. Everyone was certain this disengaged slacker would amount to nothing. There was little else for Wes to do but wile away the days and die in his slow, clock-punching rut. Until he met a woman named Fox (Jolie). After his estranged father is murdered, Fox recruits Wes into the Fraternity, a secret society that trained to avenge. As she teaches him how to develop lightning-quick reflexes and phenomenal agility, Wes discovers this team lives by an ancient, unbreakable code. With wickedly brilliant tutors–including the Fraternity’s enigmatic leader, Sloan (Morgan Freeman)–Wes grows to enjoy all the strength he ever wanted. But, slowly, he begins to realize there is more to his dangerous associates than meets the eye. And as he wavers between newfound heroism and vengeance, Wes will come to learn what no one could ever teach him: he alone controls his destiny.
(God, can that read any fucking cheesier?) More importantly for us, the “Wanted” features a rare vocal performance by composer Danny Elfman on the track “The Little Things” which is the most punk rock thing he’s done since his Oingo Boingo days. It’s actually pretty damn good. Oh yeah, rapper Common has a role in this thing too as some badass or another. The film hits theaters everyone on June 27 and the soundtrack comes out June 24 via Lakeshore records.