Wanted is a tough movie to review. Although on the one hand I really enjoyed it and felt it had surprisingly more substance beneath the surface than I expected, plus some really amazing action set pieces; at the same time it's also a pretty rough movie that contains graphic violence, some gratuitous sex, and coarse language. Is Wanted a good movie? That depends on your definition of good. If by good you mean well-made and enjoyable, then yes. If by good you mean high moral standards and edifying, then not so much.

James McAvoy really carries this movie well, which is important because without a solid performance from him, the whole thing would have fallen apart. McAvoy had the unenviable task of trying to portray an everyman caught up in the revelation that he has extraordinary powers and belongs to an extraordinary group of people. That's not an easy role to play (especially after playing a faun), and it's definitely not an easy role to make believable. Yet McAvoy does a solid job of balancing the incredulous sense of humor and the dark, violent inner turmoil that's necessary for the role.

Surrounding him are solid performances from Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. They both play their respective roles well, and that helps add to the gritty realism of this surreal world. If it weren't for strong performances from these major players, Wanted could have been a very forgettable piece of summer popcorn filmmaking; but they bring some depth and emotion to this movie that helps set it apart from most vapid action films.

Perhaps most surprising, Wanted turns out to be more than just a Matrix wannabe. Having never read the comic, I had no idea what the story was going to be about, and at first I felt that, although it had some interesting ideas, Wanted was just a second rate Matrix-esque film. Then a key plot point is revealed, and suddenly things become much more interesting. In fact, looking back, I could see hints and clues throughout the film that pointed to this revelation, hints that I should have picked up on but missed.

Nevertheless, the second half of the film really becomes interesting as you learn there's a lot more at stake than you thought, and that you didn't really know what you thought you knew. I'm purposely being vague because this key plot point (it's not really a twist, per se) makes this movie what it is, and it's just more fun to discover it for yourself. It is the difference between this movie being an average action film and an epic, visceral adventure.

In Wanted, James McAvoy's character joins a secret society of assassins whose motto is "Kill one, save a thousand." It's an interesting way to justify arbitrary slaughter, but how many of us have wondered what would have happened if someone would have stepped in to kill Hitler or Stalin before they came to power? In the deep, dark recesses of our nature the idea of killing one to save others makes sense and even seems just.

Interestingly, that's exactly the opposite thinking of God. If God had a similar motto, it would be "Save one, save a thousand." You see, God's sense of righteousness demands that everyone has a chance of being saved, no matter how horrible they may be. Yes, even Hitler and Stalin deserved a chance to experience the saving grace of God. It's not his desire for anyone to be lost but for all of us to be saved. That may seem rather reckless and even a bit naive as we consider how much pain and suffering might be spared if God just whacked those who deserved to be whacked. Of course, our concept of who's deserving of death isn't based on the same sense of justice as God's.

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