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"WANTED" (2008) (James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie) (R) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Mild Extreme Extreme *Moderate Extreme Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Heavy Minor Extreme Minor Extreme Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Extreme Minor Moderate Moderate Extreme QUICK TAKE: Action: A timid man is recruited by a secret organization of assassinations that has determined he has the special abilities needed to join them. PLOT: Wesley Gibson (JAMES McAVOY) is a timid man who works as an account manager for a mean boss, Janice (LORNA SCOTT), and whose girlfriend, Cathy (KRISTEN HAGER), is having an affair with his friend and coworker, Barry (CHRIS PRATT). Thus, he's shocked when he finds himself the apparent target of Cross (THOMAS KRETSCHMANN), an assassin who reportedly just killed Wesley's long lost father, also an assassin. So says Fox (ANGELINA JOLIE), yet another assassin ultra handy with firearms and fancy driving who arrives just in time to save Wesley from Cross. When she takes him to see their leader, Sloan (MORGAN FREEMAN), Wesley learns that they belong to a secret organization of assassins known as The Fraternity. Formed 1,000 years ago by a group of weavers, they carry out their target orders not only with precision, but also the ability to overcome various laws of physics, including being able to bend the trajectory of their bullets. Wesley thinks this is all nonsense, but soon discovers that he too possesses such an ability. Following some brutal training at the hands of Fox as well as other assassins including The Gunsmith (COMMON), The Repairman (MARC WARREN), The Exterminator (KONSTANTIN KHABENSKY) and The Butcher (DATO BAKHTADZE), Wesley is inducted into The Fraternity and sets out on his first mission. Yet, the person he most wants is Cross who he's told is a rogue assassin who left their organization. Tracking down his arms supplier, Pekwarsky (TERENCE STAMP), Wesley then sets out to find and kill Cross, unaware of developments that will rock his new world. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? It's a good bet many boys (particularly teens) will be interested in it. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R For strong bloody violence throughout, pervasive language and some sexuality. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: Considering what occurs in the film (assassinations, a girlfriend cheating with her boyfriend's friend/coworker, a mean and demeaning boss, the use of strong profanity, etc.), it's doubtful many parents would consider any of the major characters as good role models. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: Here's a brief summary of the content found in R-rated action flick. Profanity consists of at least 45 "f" words, while many other expletives and colorful phrases are also uttered. Sexually explicit dialogue is present, as are several briefly seen but fairly graphic sexual encounters and unrelated, partial nudity. Violence consists of people murdering others via various weapons, while all sorts of brutal fighting and beatings also occur, with all sorts of bloody/gory results. All of that and moments of potential peril might be unsettling and/or suspenseful to some viewers, but everything is played in such an over-the-top and highly stylized fashion that little of it comes off as graphic realism. All of the action, fighting and other stunts might be enticing for kids to imitate, while various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes. There's some drinking and brief smoking, while some tense family material is also present. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, there are varying amounts of camera movement (sometimes a lot) at various points in the film. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE Wesley takes prescription medication for what he believes are anxiety attacks. Thinking Fox is a drunk when she first confronts him (she isn't), Wesley informs her of the location of the liquor aisle. A song has the line "If you like piņa coladas." One assassin gives Wesley a shot of vodka (and then another) to help endure the pain of his recovery. Sloan has wine with his meal. BLOOD/GORE A receptionist is suddenly shot in the head (with blood splattering out, including onto the wall behind her). A man by her then sprints down the hall, blasts through the window, and "flies" across the space between the high-rises. While in midair, he shoots three assassins on another building, and then shoots a fourth in the back of the head (all with bloody results, including a small pool of blood by one body). That shooter is then shot, with the bullet coming out through his forehead (with bloody results), but the scene then slows down and then goes in reverse (including the blood that's flying out), with the bullet going back where it came from, far away in another building. We see some online photos of some dead assassination victims from before, but the images are somewhat grainy and the faces and wound areas, while still reddish, have been heavily pixelated. At the end of quitting his job, Wesley hits Barry (who's been cheating with Wesley's girlfriend) on the face with his keyboard, sending blood and some keyboard keys flying out into the air in slow motion. As part of his "training," Wesley is bound to a chair, and The Repairman then repeatedly slugs him in the face, bloodying it. A side of beef is slid into Wesley, followed by The Butcher holding a knife to Wesley's throat while explaining the use of knives in their line of work. He then wants Wesley to use that knife on him, and Wesley is reluctant, but half-heartedly tries when pressured to do so. The Butcher then grabs the knife, slices Wesley's hand and then stabs the knife down through it (with bloody results). We see three fresh cadavers on big meat hooks (through their chests) for target practice. Wesley initially thinks they're realistic looking fakes until he gets up close and pokes one. A shot is then fired into the head of one directly behind Wesley, startling him. From a distance, we see a dead and bloody body being moved. Fox has Wesley try to retrieve something from an operating loom, meaning he has to thrust his hand in fast and pull it back out without the machinery hitting it. His first attempt is unsuccessful, with his hand ending up wounded and bloody. Fox repeatedly strikes and pummels Wesley, including with brass knuckles, bloodying him. During a training montage, others punch and/or slice Wesley. That includes during a knife fight with The Butcher (where he ends up slicing The Butcher's neck), while Wesley hits The Repairman over the head with a chair before punching him (all with bloody results). During a training montage, we see a bloody side of beef. Wesley shoots his target (in a building, as Wesley passes by atop a moving train), and we see blood form on the man's shirt. We see blood on another target's shirt after he's shot and killed. Wesley knocks a door open, bashing it into Barry, bloodying his nose. Wesley awakens from his recovery pit to see Fox and someone else trying to perform CPR on a wounded comrade, with Fox having that man's blood from his mouth on hers. We see a bullet hole in Wesley's arm from where he was previously shot. Blood flows out from that, while we also see the motion of him digging into and removing the bullet from that hole. We see blood on a man who's been shot, as well as the train window by him. The side of Fox's head is bloody after a battle and train derailment. Wesley shoots various villains, with varying degrees of bloody results, including various head shots. During this, he shoots one assassin through the head and then keeps shooting his gun through that dead man's head at others, and then gets into a bloody fight with The Butcher. Wesley's face is bloody after battling others. An assassin fires a bullet that travels in a circular path around a room, striking other assassins in the head, killing all of them, with the bullet finally making its way back to the shooter, killing that person as well (all with bloody results). An assassin holds his gun on a man he believes is Wesley, but is really a decoy. A shot then hits that assassin in the head, killing him (with bloody results), with us then seeing the kill shot in reverse all of the way back to another shooter's gun. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE All of the assassins obviously have bad attitudes, with some to even greater extent based on later developments and discoveries. Wesley's boss is overbearing, mean and demeaning toward him at work. Barry talks of the idea of mixing the morning after pill into a woman's breakfast drink. Cathy cheats on Wesley with the latter's friend and coworker, Barry. After learning he's rich and has some amazing abilities, Wesley finally stands up to his mean boss, telling her (among other things), "Shut the f*ck up." To show an assassination technique, a man straps a small plastic explosive to a live rat and then detonates it. Wesley later does the same with many rats (to create a diversion and wound or kill various villains). We see a flashback to Fox as a girl, with a stranger menacingly running a knife along her back, awaiting her father's return so that he can kill him. We then see her dad being tackled, and then bound and gagged while gasoline is poured on him. We then hear that Fox had to watch him burn to death, while she was branded by the attackers. When Wesley returns to his place to get his stuff, Cathy and Barry are there, with Cathy telling Wesley that Barry pleases her in ways that he (Wesley) has never heard of. She then angrily asks about Fox, "Who is she, your new whore?" During her line of work, Fox steals various vehicles. SPOILER ALERT: We learn that Sloan is not following the mysterious choice of assassination targets, but instead is making them himself, all for profit. FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence" and/or "Blood/Gore may be unsettling and/or suspenseful to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material. We see Wesley's point of view (showing his boss' face in close-up as she yells at him) during what he thinks and initially is presented as an anxiety attack. To prove that Wesley has their special talent, Sloan tells him to shoot the wings off a fly. Wesley thinks he's crazy and says he can't, but another assassin then holds his gun to the back of Wesley's head to force him to try. He does and successfully shoots off those wings. After that, however, he aims that handgun at Sloan, wanting to exit this situation, but Sloan is unconcerned and nothing happens. We see Wesley near completely covered (save for part of his face) in what looks like a large vat of cement, but that turns out to be some sort of substances that promotes ultra-speedy healing. While in that, however, a rat scurries across the thinly dried top layer of the substance (and thus over Wesley as well). After Wesley failed to bend his bullet shot around a hanging side of beef, Fox decides to replace that beef as the obstacle. Wesley then reluctantly fires in her direction, with the bullet swerving just in time to miss her head (it moves a wisp of hair). Wesley's first intended hit is supposed to be an executive in an office building, where Wesley is to shoot him from atop a passing train, but Wesley can't get himself to pull the trigger. Wesley and Cross do the cat and mouse thing inside some building, with Wesley firing at his adversary who quickly flits out of sight. Sensing someone behind him, Wesley turns and fires, but hits one of his own team by mistake, fatally wounding him. Cross then fires a shot that hits Wesley in the hand. We see that Wesley has been pegged as Fox's next target. Wesley chases after Pekwarsky with his gun drawn, but then backs out of a room with Pekwarsky holding his gun to Wesley's face. But he stops when he realizes that Fox has her gun on him. Wesley then holds his gun to Pekwarsky's face to try to get him to talk. Wesley throws a train employee from a train while boarding it. Once inside, he causes a panic when he makes his way down the aisle with his gun drawn. Cross then grabs him and the two fight, with Fox shooting from alongside the moving train, barely missing Cross. Wesley and Cross then exchange gunfire, with their bullets hitting in midair, including them going around a bystander in the line of their fire. That's followed by Fox getting her vehicle airborne so that it crashes into the side of the train, followed by more of the gun battle. The weight of her car sticking out of the side, however, causes the train's cars to derail high on a bridge. Some of them then fall off and dangle, as do Fox and Wesley from them (outside and inside respectively). The cars then start coming apart and falling, resulting in Wesley dangling from the end of one high above a crevasse. Cross then grabs and rescues him, but Wesley shoots him in the chest. Their train car then falls a long way, hitting the sides and eventually getting wedged in the chasm. Fox is then about ready to shoot Wesley, but the train car slips and falls hard into a body of water below. We see Wesley collecting various rats for a later mission (those afraid of them might not like that scene). GUNS/WEAPONS Handguns/Shotguns/Machine guns/Plastic explosives/Knives: Carried and/or used to threaten, wound or kill others and/or cause property damage. See "Violence" for details. Cops look in Cross' stolen truck with their guns drawn, but the truck is empty. Wesley chases after Pekwarsky with his gun drawn, but then backs out of a room with Pekwarsky holding his gun to Wesley's face. But he stops when he realizes that Fox has her gun on him. Wesley then holds his gun to Pekwarsky's face to try to get him to talk. We see a great deal of weapons in Cross' place. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Your annoying, f*cking voice," "Oh my f*cking God," "F*cking sad," "Spring f*cking break," "What the f*ck just happened?" "He's f*cking persistent," "Jesus H. f*cking popsicle," "That's a f*cking joke," "Shut the f*ck up," "Go f*ck yourself," "What the f*ck did you do that for?" "F*ck that," "F*ck you" (seen written as an arrangement of keyboard keys going through the air in slow motion), "Are you out of your f*cking mind?" "F*ck this," "F*ck the loom," "F*ck the repairman," "They really f*cked you up," "You're a waste of my f*cking time," "I'm gonna kick your f*cking ass," "You f*cking asshole," "You f*cking piece of sh*t," "What the f*ck /have you done lately?" "He was trying to f*cking kill me," "Otherwise, shoot this m*therf*cker," "F*ck the code," "Mind-f*ck," "This is just a m*therf*cking decoy," "Oh f*ck," "Holy sh*t on an altar," "Oh sh*t," "What is this bullsh*t?" "Horse-sh*t," "You sh*tting me?" "This is bullsh*t," "Ape-sh*t," "Complete sh*t," "Sack of sh*t," "Who is she, your new whore?" "Crappy," "Never send sheep to kill a wolf," "Chicks dig it," "Boom goes the dynamite," "You're an asshole," "Piss this guy off," "You're insane," "So damn good," "Bitch," "A damn good one," "Do you make sweaters or kill people?" "How the hell did he do that?" "Pissing it all away," "Grow some" (testicles)," "You're just a thug who can bend bullets" and "Six weeks ago, I was ordinary and pathetic, just like you." All of the gunplay, fighting, and other stunts might be enticing for some kids to imitate. That includes the dangerous bit of trying to curve bullets around a person standing between the shooter and their paper target. Fox has various tattoos on various parts of her body. An assassin has a pet mouse he keeps and feeds in his pocket. To show an assassination technique, a man straps a small plastic explosive to a live rat and then detonates it. After succeeding at a task, Wesley gives "the finger" to no one in particular. Fox wears a top that slightly shows her bare midriff. We see miscellaneous graffiti. JUMP SCENES A shot is fired into the head of a cadaver suspended on meat hooks, startling Wesley who's directly in front of it. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) An extreme amount of suspenseful, ominous, and action-oriented music plays in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) A song has the line "If you like piņa coladas" as well as "And making love at midnight." PROFANITY At least 45 "f" words (2 used sexually, 2 used with "mother"), 27 "s" words, 20 uses of a slang term using female genitals ("p*ssy"), 6 asses (3 used with "hole"), 2 damns, 1 crap, 1 hell, 9 uses of "Oh my God," 2 of "God" and 1 use each of "G-damn," "Good God Almighty," "Jesus" and "My God." SEX/NUDITY Wesley's boss shows cleavage. Wesley comments on his best friend "f*cking" his (Wesley's) girlfriend on the kitchen table, and we see a flashback view of that, with Barry standing and thrusting between Cathy's legs as she's seated on the edge of the table (and she grabs his bare butt while also making sexual sounds). Barry talks of the idea of mixing the morning after pill into a woman's breakfast drink. He then buys some watermelon flavored "twisted pleasure" condoms, saying that the "chicks love them." We see Barry having sex with Cathy again, this time with her lying back on the table while he's standing and thrusting between her legs (and we hear her sexual sounds). Wesley imagines an ATM machine communicating with him via onscreen messages, including that his best friend is "f*cking" his girlfriend. As Wesley drives, Fox lies back on the hood (through the now missing windshield), shooting at Cross behind them. Her head is near the front of the hood, meaning her spread legs are right in front of Wesley's face, but while he might see something, we don't. A song has the line "And making love at midnight." We see Fox stand up out of a healing tub, first viewing her tattoo-covered bare back and then a brief view of her bare butt. One assassin sees this, and Wesley is upset that man didn't point out that view to him. When Wesley returns to his place to get his stuff, Cathy and Barry are there, with Cathy telling Wesley that Barry pleases her in ways that he (Wesley) has never heard of. She then angrily asks about Fox, "Who is she, your new whore?" To make Cathy jealous, Fox then plants a big, deep kiss on Wesley in front of her. We see Wesley shirtless. SMOKING A miscellaneous man smokes a cigar. TENSE FAMILY SCENES We hear that Wesley's father left the week Wesley was born. Fox tells Wesley his father (who he never knew) was assassinated recently. We see a flashback to Fox as a girl, with a stranger menacingly running a knife along her back, awaiting her father's return so that he can kill him. We then see her dad being tackled, and then bound and gagged while gasoline is poured on him. We then hear that Fox had to watch him burn to death, while she was branded by the attackers. SPOILER ALERT: Wesley learns that he's shot and fatally wounded his real father. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT The assassination notion of forging stability out of chaos by killing one bad person in order to save multiple others down the line. The comment that no one knows how far the ripples of one's decisions radiate outward. The bullet path bending trick (where a person stands in between a target and the shooter who tries to shoot and bend the bullet around that person to hit the target). VIOLENCE Most of the violence listed below is graphic to varying degrees, but is also presented in a highly stylized visual fashion. A receptionist is suddenly shot in the head (with blood splattering out, including onto the wall behind her). A man by her then runs for cover (with shots hitting near him, while he knocks over people in the hallway). But what he's really doing is giving himself enough running room as he then sprints back down the hall, blasts through the window, and "flies" across the space between the high-rises. While in midair, he shoots three assassins on another building, and then shoots a fourth in the back of the head (all with bloody results, including a small pool of blood by one body). That shooter is then shot, with the bullet coming out through his forehead (with bloody results), but the scene then slows down and then goes in reverse (including the blood that's flying out), with the bullet going back where it came from, far away in another building. A car appears to hit Wesley, but the scene immediately cuts to him in his office (the transition adding to the impact impression, although it seems he wasn't hit after all). In a convenience store, Fox and Cross fire at each other, with their first bullets striking each other in midair. More shots are fired, but no one is hit. However, she does shoot something that explodes near Cross, allowing Wesley to run out of the store. Cross then commandeers a truck (tossing out the driver) and chases after Wesley, but Fox slides her car by him and scoops him up. She then purposefully drives into the back of a police car, pushing it along until it crashes. She and Cross then exchange gunfire from their respective vehicles, with Fox then shooting and pushing out her own windshield so that she can lean back on the hood and shoot at Cross (with Wesley now driving). After using her handgun, she shoots the front of his truck with a shotgun, but she and her car barely miss a large vehicle in passing as she hangs from the driver's side. She then gets back in, gets the car airborne, and it crashes into the side of a bus, knocking over the latter. From all of that, their car is badly damaged, but still drivable. At the end of quitting his job, Wesley hits Barry (who's been cheating with Wesley's girlfriend) on the face with his keyboard, sending blood and some keyboard keys flying out into the air in slow motion. As part of his "training," Wesley is bound to a chair, and The Repairman then repeatedly slugs him in the face, bloodying it. A side of beef is slid into Wesley, followed by The Butcher holding a knife to Wesley's throat while explaining the use of knives in their line of work. He then wants Wesley to use that knife on him, and Wesley is reluctant, but half-heartedly tries when pressured to do so. The Butcher then grabs the knife, slices Wesley's hand and then stabs the knife down through it (with bloody results). We see three fresh cadavers on big meat hooks (through their chests) for target practice. Wesley initially thinks they're realistic looking fakes until he gets up close and pokes one. A shot is then fired into the head of one directly behind Wesley, startling him. As a continuation of the previous training, The Repairman punches Wesley in the face again. As part of his training, Fox pushes Wesley off an overpass down onto a moving train below them and then jumps down onto it as well. Upon landing there, he briefly dangles between two train cars, and then the two go running down it. With a low bridge quickly approaching, Fox gets down low on her knees and then leans backwards to go under it, but Wesley tries to run in the opposite direction. He can't outrun the speed of the train, however, and thus crashes hard into that overpass (we next see him in the quick healing solution). Fox has Wesley try to retrieve something from an operating loom, meaning he has to thrust his hand in fast and pull it back out without the machinery hitting it. His first attempt is unsuccessful, with his hand ending up wounded and bloody. To show an assassination technique, a man straps a small plastic explosive to a live rat and then detonates it. Fox repeatedly strikes and pummels Wesley, including with brass knuckles, bloodying him. During a training montage, others punch and/or slice Wesley. That includes during a knife fight with The Butcher (where he ends up slicing The Butcher's neck), while Wesley hits The Repairman over the head with a chair before punching him (all with bloody results). During more training, Wesley struggles with Fox atop a moving train, with both grabbing and tripping each other. We see a flashback to Fox as a girl, with a stranger menacingly running a knife along her back, awaiting her father's return so that he can kill him. We then see her dad being tackled, and then bound and gagged while gasoline is poured on him. We then hear that Fox had to watch him burn to death, while she was branded by the attackers. Wesley shoots his target (in a building, as Wesley passes by atop a moving train), and we see blood form on the man's shirt. Wesley goes after his next target, driving up and trying to shoot him through the limo window. When he discovers that glass is bulletproof, Wesley continues the chase, eventually getting his car to go airborne and flip over, thus allowing Wesley the kill shot through the limo's open sunroof (we see blood on the man's shirt). Wesley knocks a door open, bashing it into Barry, bloodying his nose. Cross and Wesley fire shots at each other, with their bullets hitting in midair. We also see Wesley shooting at Cross from the hood of a car, with various miscellaneous vehicles crashing. Wesley and Cross do the cat and mouse thing inside some building, with Wesley firing at his adversary who quickly flits out of sight. Sensing someone behind him, Wesley turns and fires, but hits one of his own team by mistake, fatally wounding him. Cross then fires a shot that hits Wesley in the hand. Wesley throws a train employee from a train while boarding it. Once inside, he causes a panic when he makes his way down the aisle with his gun drawn. Cross then grabs him and the two fight, with Fox shooting from alongside the moving train, barely missing Cross. Wesley and Cross then exchange gunfire, with their bullets hitting in midair, including them going around a bystander in the line of their fire. That's followed by Fox getting her vehicle airborne so that it crashes into the side of the train, followed by more of the gun battle. The weight of her car sticking out of the side, however, causes the train's cars to derail high on a bridge. Some of them then fall off and dangle, as do Fox and Wesley from them (outside and inside respectively). The cars then start coming apart and falling, resulting in Wesley dangling from the end of one high above a crevasse. Cross then grabs and rescues him, but Wesley shoots him in the chest. Their train car then falls a long way, hitting the sides and eventually getting wedged in the chasm. Fox is then about ready to shoot Wesley, but the train car slips and falls hard into a body of water below. We see a flashback to Wesley shooting Cross. Wesley drives a trash truck through a fence and various cars before backing through a gate at a textile factory. Lots of machine gun fire hits his truck, but he manages to unload hordes of rats equipped with plastic explosives. Seeing them everywhere, The Repairman tries shooting some and kicks one away. We then see various big explosions rocking the factory, followed by Wesley jumping and breaking through a window, and then running and shooting many villains with handguns and machine guns (some with graphic wounds, including shots to the head). During this, he shoots one assassin through the head and then keeps shooting his gun through that dead man's head at others. The Butcher then repeatedly slices him with knives (with bloody results) and then blocks Wesley's bullets with the same. The two then struggle, with Wesley shooting him a few times, including through the top of his foot. The Butcher then tries to stab Wesley, but his knife blade breaks off in the barrel of Wesley's gun. Wesley then fires that, sending the blade back into The Butcher, followed by Wesley kicking the blade the rest of the way in, delivering the fatal blow. Wesley holds his gun on Sloan, but other assassins aim their guns at him in a standoff, including Fox who shoots him in the hand to disarm him. An assassin fires a bullet that travels in a circular path around a room, striking other assassins in the head, killing all of them, with the bullet finally making its way back to the shooter, killing that person as well (all with bloody results). An assassin holds his gun on a man he believes is Wesley, but is really a decoy. A shot then hits that assassin in the head, killing him (with bloody results), with us then seeing the kill shot in reverse all of the way back to another shooter's gun. Reviewed June 18, 2008 / Posted June 27, 2008

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