The Gun-Fight Club
SCORCHING THE SCREEN: Angelina Jolie in Wanted
Wanted
Genre: Action
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Cast: James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman
Storyline: An ordinary man is sucked into a world of violence when he learns that his father was an assassin belonging to a cult called The Fraternity
Bottomline:Will blow your mind into smithereens
Violence has never looked so delicious. Nor has a messiah of destruction ever looked so incredibly edible. Get ready to be consumed by lust. And a zest for life. Taking life, to be specific.
Angelina’s Fox is just a heavenly embodiment of the seduction you are in for as you sit and watch this film, barely able to take your eyes off the screen for even a moment. There’s a seriously hot moment when Fox emerges out of a bath, with only tattoos to adorn her dripping wet bare back.
Director Timur Bekmambetov treats the graphic novel by Mark Miller and J.G. Jones as his bible and transforms gun-fights into an art-form, creating a stylised symphony of violence, which is so stylish that it would give Superstar a complex.
The plot
The plot is just a petty excuse for pretty much everyone in the film to shoot everybody else and bite the bullet. But not before learning to ‘bend’ it like Beckham! Yes, bullets in this film rarely travel in a straight path, the film makes you believe that if you train hard enough, you can press the trigger and be assured that the bullet can actually ‘curve’ around any obstacle before meeting its target.
Bullets kiss each other, they bump into the other, they graze and face-off, pretty much like arrows did when you grew up watching Ramayan. Yet, when you see it happening in ‘Wanted,’ it’s poetry in motion.
‘Wanted’ is not even a wee bit deep as Fight Club was but from what meets the eye, it’s as bloody good as it gets in an action film.
Clearly, the visual effects guys have had a blast making some of the most wicked stunts look so spectacularly cool. This is an over the top, shameless exhibition of attitude, political incorrectness and violence as a cathartic experience.
James McAvoy looks a lot like Russell Crowe looked years ago before he turned beefy and provides the right blend of vulnerability and toughness to Wesley Gibson. Morgan Freeman has little to do and doesn’t seem comfortable with profanity.
But then, this is largely an Angelina showcase. She sends temperatures soaring, scorching the screen with her presence and there you are, drooling, sweating and completely dehydrated by the end of it all.
Wanted: A glass of water, please.
SUDHISH KAMATH
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