Wanted is a hardcore, ultra-violent action flick.  It’s loud and extremely stylish.  It’s hard to on some level to defend a film so in love with violence and bullets, so there’s no reason to even try to do so.  The 2 DVD set boasts some nifty extras as well.  The cast members are all good (Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman are especially well cast)but the real star of the film is Russian director Timur Bekmambetov.  The director of the cult Russian hits Night Watch and Day Watch, he will have a long career in Hollywood doing big budget action films. 

Wanted will remind viewers of films like Face/Off, its so over the top and ridiculous that its CG effects-filled violence that the violence has no really disturbing impact.  Unlike the depressing and vile Shoot Em Up, Timur’s glee can barely be contained, and it’s infectious.  It actually has a sense of humor and every scene is stylized.  It’s hardly original story-wise, and contains a lot of influence from The Matrix, but its a blast of stylish fun.  It also contains the most inventive use of a computer keyboard as a weapon in film history.

Wanted is about an office drone named Wesley who is pulled out of his lame existence and trained to join an order of assasins named The Fraternity.  The mysterious Fox (Angelina Jolie) lets him know that his father was killed by a former member of the group who went rogue.  He learns that the group is led by Sloan (Morgan Freeman, in a wise mentor role) who gives him his next targets decided by “fate” (which looks like a giant weaving textile machine).  With exploding rats (and a nice cameo from the actor who played Anton in the Watch films), Bekmambetov has found enough quirky subplots to harness his wildly inventive visual style and energy.

The DVD looks and sounds amazing.  The widescreen picture is near flaweless and the explosions and gunfire come to life in surround sound and the 2 DVD set has some good (if short) extras.  The longest featurette runs around 20 minutes and contains interviews with the cast and crew.  Fans of the comics will appreciate the featurette called “the origins of Wanted: Bringing the Graphic Novel to life” featuring an interview with creator Mark Millar.  The other featurettes focus mostly on the inventive special effects and are on the short side, but very interesting for fans of the film. 

Wanted is the action film fans have been waiting to arrive on the scene for many years.  Based on a graphic novel and loaded with style and nonstop violence, its one of the best films of the year so far.  Wanted never stops long enough for you to ponder just how ridiculous everything is.  It’s the kind of film that you either go with all the way, or you get off the exploding train set to pounding music before it explodes, and its director, Timur Bekmambetov announces himself as an action legend in the making.  He comes from Russia, with blood.

DVD Grade: A-

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