Stuff for Dads

Thursday, 26 March 2009

Wanted (DVD)

Starring: James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman & Angelina Jolie.

Rated: 18.

Story: A guy with a dull cubicle job and a rubbish life gets recruited by a pretty girl into a secret organisation. Before long, it turns out he has special powers enabling him to leap like an acrobat, drive like a maniac and bend the trajectory of bullets like... like... er, Elmer Fudd?

So, essentially, it's The Matrix without the computers (but with a justification for it all that's even stupider than human batteries).

Comments: You know that bit in cartoons where Daffy Duck is chased off a ledge but doesn't fall until Bugs Bunny holds up a sign saying, 'Look down, Stupid!'? Imagine those sort of principles applied to a couple of full budget car chases and a shoot out. Then throw in some madness involving weavers working as Fate's hitmen, a bit of double-crossing, an extremely high altitude train and a touch of fantasy fulfilment for bored office workers.

Yep, Wanted is daft as they come but it has excellent action sequences, decent characters and rattles along fast enough to paper over most of the cracks. It would take exceptional suspension of disbelief or a worryingly poor grasp of reality to not laugh at a few of the twists, though.

Conclusion: An astonishing spectacle that probably makes more sense after a couple of beers.

Explosions: Lots.
Totally outlandish car stunts: Several.
Assassins with no regard for the laws of physics: Plenty.
Silliness: Loads.
Effectiveness of explosive peanut butter as pest control: High... yet messy.

Rating: 4/5.

LOVEFiLM DVD Rental