Wanted

English/110 Minutes/2008/Rated R

“Wanted” is a great summer action flick that triumphs more in style than in depth. The story follows Wesley Gibson who is miserable as a cog in the work-a-day world. His girlfriend cheats on him with his best friend, his boss abuses him and he constantly frets over his extraordinary insignificance. One day that all changes when he learns that the father he never knew, one of the greatest assassins that has ever lived, was recently murdered.

He is then recruited by The Fraternity, a group of assassins of whom his father was a part. We follow Wesley through the inevitable training sequence (that manages not to fall into the montage trap) and on his early missions as he builds up his skills to tackle his father's killer. The Fraternity itself is a fascinating hodgepodge of characters with standouts being Fox, (Angelina Jolie in a role she is born to play) and Morgan Freeman cast against type as the leader of this gang of assassins. Wesley is played by one of my favorite actors, James McAvoy (Atonement, Last King of Scotland) and he does a spectacular job at selling Wesley's insignificance while equally well portraying his powerful side.

Visually the film is great and while being utterly over the top never falls into the realm of self-parody that was the undoing of “Shoot 'Em Up.” It helps that it is directed by the great visual stylist Timur Bekmambetov (Nightwatch, Daywatch) in his English language debut. Timur fills the screen with impossible action that somehow remains feasible and all the more pleasurable for it. A close comparison would be “Live Free or Die Hard” another over-the-top action film that never quite crosses the line of credulity. A great example from “Wanted” is the scene where an assassin flips his car over another vehicle to fire down through an open sunroof. Completely ridiculous, absolute pleasure.

“Wanted” is easily the most visually exciting movie I've seen this year. It's use of slow motion is stellar including long reverses (a bullet going through someone's head is traced back through time to the gun that fired it) and the visual representation of Wesley's different abilities is handled in such a way that the viewer immediately knows which sense he's using. There are other great visuals that I don't want to ruin by giving away. Suffice to say that the film is a visual treat and is Timur's best film to date.

Narratively the film is fairly pedestrian with the action set pieces really setting it apart. This is not to say that the film has no distinguishing and original ideas. The method of target selection for The Fraternity is interesting if a little bizarre, yet it is believable and interesting. Of course it helps that you have Morgan Freeman selling it to you (providing the gravity that he also gives in the recent Batman films). The film has some other great conceits that I won't ruin here and is great fun. I think it's safe to say that while there has been some criticism of the film's similarity to both Fight Club and The Matrix (nobodies who discover great power), “Wanted” is enough its own man that viewers who enjoyed those films won't mind the similarities.

In closing, the story of “Wanted” is familiar but it manages to overcome its familiarity with great style and a stellar cast. You'll be hard pressed to find a more exciting and fun summer movie than this. Highly Recommended.

Rated R for Strong Bloody Violence Throughout, Pervasive Language, and Some Sexuality

Red (2008)

English/93 Minutes/2008/Rated R

I came to “Red” as a Lucky McKee fan. I enjoyed his bizarre horror film “May” and his Masters of Horror episode “Sick Girl.” The screenplay was also written by Stephen Susco (“The Grudge”) based on a novel by Jack Ketchum. I haven't read the book by Ketchum but another of his books adapted for the screen is “The Girl Next Door” about a teenage girl who is tortured to death. The story of Red is described on the box as being about Avery (Brian Cox) who's dog is brutally and senselessly murdered by some teen punks. When Avery finds that he cannot get justice for the killing he takes matters into his own hands.

I was all set for a nice tight revenge thriller ending with Avery going insane and opening some gruesome cans of whoop ass on the punks. After all Cox once portrayed Hannibal Lector in Michael Mann's “Manhunter.” McKee is no stranger to the red, red kroovy and the writer of the Grudge remake should make for something that at least tries to be chilling. Unfortunately the film ends up rather bland. After a good build up the film sort of sputters and fails in the final act. It effectively undoes all of the previous buildup and feels confused and overly pat, as if the film needed to end in a hurry.

I believe this is in large part caused by the fact that McKee did not finish the film himself. He has co-directing credit with producer Trygve Diesen. I did some research and while I couldn't find anything concrete it appears that McKee was let go during production. Filming stopped for almost six months before Diesen stepped in and completed the film. While there is consistency in the visuals of the film (although certain sections are both darker and warmer) the film is unable to come with the payoff. It neither gives us a thought-provoking downbeat ending or a good nasty exploitation ending.

Conceptually this is definitely the kind of film that McKee has made a career of. His characters are often physically and/or emotionally damaged and are outcasts. They are triggered into increasingly violent behavior by singular obsessions that culminate in some self-revelation. For reasons we'll probably never know he never got to see it through. The fact that Angela Bettis was announced as a cast member and does not appear in the final film seals the deal for me (she has an appearance in every McKee film).

While the visuals of the film are sometimes questionable, the acting in the film is uniformly impressive. The cast is filled with well-known names including Tom Sizemore, Robert Englund, Amanda Plummer and a long list of names you may not know but who's faces you certainly will. McKee is able to bring out great performances, especially from hams like Englund who is in only two scenes but is utterly convincing as an out of work, white trash dad. Sizemore is oily as Mr. McCormick but not arch or scenery chewing. The real star though is Cox as Avery.

Cox brings to Avery a quiet dignity and a completely believable escalating obsession. He is definitely damaged goods. He is a widower who is still in mourning for his wife and children. In one chilling scene he describes how they died and the camera never leaves Cox's face. He is positively riveting.

The greatest thing about his performance is that he is believable in his obsession. Not being a dog owner myself it was hard to understand the lengths that Avery goes to. But Cox as Avery shows that Red was the last vestige of his family and his loss is palpable. Every escalation comes naturally. But even a great performance can't sell some of Avery's actions. Many of his actions stretch credulity, especially in a highly litigious age. Avery coming around to the killers' houses borders on harassment and these days he'd have a restraining order slapped on him. It would have been more believable if Avery was more malevolent or secretive in his obsession.
But the character of Avery doesn't want revenge. All he wants is for his loss to be understood and acknowledged. He is like a ghost of guilt that is haunting the boys until they become as unhinged as him. Unfortunately the payoff does not honor that emotional arc leaving us feeling hollow and cheated.

The film seems lost. It doesn't work as exploitation and it doesn't have the chops to bring off something more significant. Thus while the acting is great and the story had promise, I can't really recommend “Red” unless you're a big Brian Cox fan. Those looking for a film like “May” and fans of McKee in general will probably be disappointed. Not Recommended.

NOTE: There is a scene of violence involving the dog but it is off screen. Later in the film we see the corpse of a dog that is worm eaten. Those who are upset by animal violence should take this into account.

Rated R for Violence and Language