There were so many movies coming out that the Hubby and I wanted to see, and for the first time in our lives we actually have to find a babysitter before we head out to our local theatre! Thankfully our little guy has a wonderful grandma who lives nearby, and she’s been gracious enough to watch him for us so we can get a little ‘us’ time. And go see movies too, of course.

So last week, or rather a week and a half ago, we went to see Wanted (there were a lot of movies we wanted to see, but we had to choose just one. It was hard. We had two weeks where we couldn’t get away, so got totally behind on our list of summer movies to see! Sorry Get Smart. We’ll rent the DVD). You’ve probably seen the trailers – Angelina Jolie looking SUPER thin and wielding two guns and shooting, or leaning out of a Dodge Viper and shooting a shotgun, or being flexible on the roof of an train going through a tunnel. James McAvoy (oh, Mr. Tumnus!) is in it as well. Actually, he’s the main character.

Something to keep in mind: Wanted is rated R. It sort of took me by surprise because I didn’t bother checking what the rating was before we went, and there are quite a few F-bombs in the movie. The action is also uber-violent. Anyway, I think most movies that come out these days are rated PG-13 because the theatres are really cracking down on underage kids getting into R rated movies these days, and the studios want their pictures to be seen by the biggest crowd possible. This is neither here, nor there, however.

SO, we went to see Wanted . And guess what? It was pretty good! The concept was not exactly fresh, but it was an original take on ‘people with special powers’. The action sequences are eye poppingly cool, and they’re not all ruined in the trailers, so there’s quite a bit more to see. James McAvoy is cute, and does a great job acting like he’s an American (he’s Scottish), and actually pulls off the ‘action hero’ role he plays in the movie.

Synopsis (with no spoilers, or hardly any): James McAvoy’s character is leading a dead end life, staving off anxiety attacks with pills, and basically being a meek doormat to everyone he knows. He is the epitome of unhappy. One day a beautiful woman named Fox (Jolie: hot as usual, tooooo thin, and actually spent time in the makeup chair having more tattoos put on, rather than covered up) finds him in a drug store while he’s trying to pick up his anxiety meds, and tells him his extremely estranged father was the greatest assassin in the world and was just killed the day before. Also, the man who killed his father… is RIGHT BEHIND YOU! Blam blam blam!!

On to the first car chase. And it is awesome.

The plot follows a semi-predictable route: McAvoy has the potential to be a great assassin as well and must train so he can avenge his father’s death. Morgan Freeman plays the leader of the Fraternity, the group of assassins McAvoy’s father and Fox belong to, and he brings a little gravity to the movie. Really, Wanted has some great actors in it.

The ending has a bit of a twist, and I kinda saw it coming, so it gets points down for that. Never telegraph your twist! Or maybe I’m just a great guesser. I give Wanted 3.5 out of 5 stars – overall it was a lot of fun, and the action and effects are pretty awesome. Don’t forget the F-bombs though, there are a lot and Wanted is most certainly not for kids. Don’t worry about not seeing it in theatres, but I think its worth renting when it comes out on DVD.

Wanted is rated R.