Category: Movies
Genre: Action & Adventure
“You’re just a thug that can bend bullets.” – Wesley Allan Gibson
Can you curve the bullet?
Twenty-four year old overly apologetic Wesley Allan Gibson (James McAvoy) lives an insignificant life. One filled with a pompous best friend (Barry; Chris Pratt), a conniving girlfriend (Cathy, Kristen Hager), an egotistical boss (Janice, Lorna Scott), anti-anxiety medication to last Gibson till the 22nd century, and zero hits on Goggle search strings with his name on it.
But that all changed when he met a woman named Fox (Angelina Jolie) as well as her associates aptly named The Repairman (Marc Warren), The Butcher (Dato Bakhtadze), The Gunsmith (Common), The Russian Exterminator, and Sloan (Morgan Freeman). Gibson is fed the story that he is the offspring of Mr. X, an eminent assassin who works for a 1000 year-old collective known as The Fraternity. Sloan adds that Mr. X was shot down in cold blood by a rouge Fraternity agent called Cross (Thomas Kretschmann).
Gibson is aggressively trained by Fox (and at times senselessly) in order to build his pain tolerance, proficiency in both close quarter combat situations as well as range weapons, and his genetic gift—the ability to rapidly increase his heart rat “at an excess of 400 beats per minute thus sending abundant amounts of adrenaline into his bloodstream”—thereby giving him the ability to see and do things that ordinary people could only attempt to comprehend.
At the completion of his six-week training, Gibson is accepted into The Fraternity and sent out on several assassination missions before being given the blessing by Sloan to pursue Cross.
Kurt Wimmer's Equilibrium?
Gibson journeys to Europe—the birthplace of The Fraternity—and interrogates Pekwarsky (Terence Stamp who’s past iconic roles included: General Zod (Superman I & II), Sir Larry Wildman (Wall Street) and Supreme Chancellor Valorum (Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace)) who manufactured the ammunition of Cross. Pekwarsky is coerced to set up a “meeting” with Cross which leads to Gibson and Cross locking horns aboard a bullet train.
Fox intervenes by boarding the aforementioned train with an automobile that eventual contributes to the derailing of the locomotive. In the process, Gibson is able to avenge his father’s death by killing Cross—but not before he is able to disclose that he in fact is Gibson’s true father. Fox confirms Cross’ admission and proceeds to execute Gibson—who manages to escape by shattering the tempered glass window where he and Cross were situated.
It's not every night you meet a woman named Fox...
Pekwarsky rescues Gibson and nurses him back to health with the help of a “miracle wax” that stimulates the body’s white blood cells, which accelerates the healing process to a matter of days for injuries that would normally take months to heal. Pekwarsky then shows Gibson proof of his father’s love for him and his wish that his son live a normal life away from The Fraternity.
Pekwarsky also passes on information (via a loom weaving, that when decoded contains the name of an assassins target) that Sloan has been earmarked for termination for quite some time. But instead to fulfilling the code of The Fraternity, Sloan had taken it upon himself to fabricate other targets for his own personal gain. It was also established that this was primarily the reason why Cross went rouge.
Is that real? Or just for the movie?
The climactic ending takes a page out of Kurt Wimmer’s Equilibrium, (a 2002 futuristic science fiction film starring Christian Bale (Batman Begins; The Dark Knight)) wherein Gibson infiltrates The Fraternity’s base of operations—an unassuming Textile Factory—and begins to detonate as well as shoot anything and everyone from every conceivable angle.
In the end, Gibson is able to expose Sloan to Fox, The Gunsmith, and several other Fraternity members. But Sloan counters by revealing that “everyone in this room” has been earmarked for termination and that if they were going to stand by Gibson’s accusations—they should first turn their own weapons on themselves.
As Sloan escapes, Fox complies with her mandate and fires a miracle bullet (this really reminded me of The Warren Commission’s theory of a single “magic bullet” in the John F. Kennedy assassination), which effectively kills everyone in the room except Gibson.
Bruised, battered, penniless, and bloodied; Gibson realizes that he has to start out fresh in another accounting job. It is here where Sloan hopes to seek retribution—but not before being set up by Gibson.
Mark Millar's Wanted
Wanted, which was loosely based on work of creators (and executive producers) Mark Millar (The Ultimates, The Ultimates 2, and Wanted) J. G. Jones (Art on Brian K. Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man, 52, and Wanted) also provided cinemagoers with a several thought provoking questions: Have you ever wanted to be just ordinary? And my personal favorite in regards to one taking control of their life—what have you done lately?
With that said, it then brings a whole new meaning to: “So, can YOU curve the bullet?”
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