STUDIO: Universal
RELEASE DATE: December 2, 2008
STARRING: James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Common, Terence Stamp, and Morgan Freeman
WRITTEN BY: Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, & Chris Morgan
DIRECTED BY: Timur Bekmambetov
FEATURES: Alternate Opening
Assassin Profiles
Picture in Picture
Stunts on the L Train
Special Effects: The Art of the Impossible
Groundbreaking Visual Effects: From Imagination to Execution
The Origins of Wanted: Bringing the Graphic Novel to Life
Extended Scenes
My Chat
U-Control
Wanted: Motion Comics
Scene Explorer
And More!

One of this summer's most shocking surprises was the guilty pleasure quality of Wanted. Is Wanted a great movie? No. It's far too derivative of several films that do the same thing better. But I have to tell you, there are very few films from summer 2008 that I know I will watch repeatedly - Wall-E, The Dark Knight, and, yes, Wanted are near the top of that short list. It's a bloody slice of escapist action that should be the perfect antidote to football and family this holiday season. As movies get more and more self-important during Oscar season, Wanted could be the perfect antidote. Except for a few storytelling hiccups, action fans won't be disappointed by Wanted and the beautiful Blu-Ray presentation and spectacular collection of special features should make this one of the biggest BD releases of the year.

Wanted almost feels like a product of the same class that The Wachowski Brothers took to make The Matrix. Russian director Timur Bekmambetov (the director of Night Watch and Day Watch) must have been sitting next to the Wachowskis in class because he clearly bows at the altar of Neo and Morpheus. The set-up for Wanted, which is based on a comic book series by Mark Millar, is very similar to the opening act of The Matrix. Wesley Gibson (James MacAvoy) is the "average guy", the "Mr. Anderson" of Wanted. He's a cubicle drone with no life outside of his cheating girlfriend and his abusive boss. After a really weird day, Wesley learns that his father was a legendary assassin, a member of the Fraternity, a group of superhero-esque killers who can curve bullets and sniper-shoot someone from miles away. The Fraternity follows instructions from "The Loom of Fate" (don't ask...just see it). The "Morpheus" of this group is the mysterious Sloan (Morgan Freeman), whose main assassin is the stunning and appropriately named Fox (Angelina Jolie). One day, Wesley is in a cubicle and the next day he's in a speeding car with Fox and being trained to essentially bend time to kill. Someone is killing off members of the Fraternity and only Wesley can stop him. Or is there more to it than that?

Wanted has a balls-to-the-wall bravado when it comes to its screenplay and visual aesthetic that allow it to work. It's more complex than your average action movie and, even though it has familiar elements, the film always stays a step ahead of you with its intriguing plot turns. It has edge, a better-than-average ensemble, and a gleeful visual style. There's a car chase early in the film through the downtown streets of Chicago that is the best of the year. It's a must-see for car chase fans. When Jolie punched out the front windshield of her car, gave Wesley the wheel, and crawled out on the hood to shoot the guy behind them, Wanted won me over and never lost me. The middle act gets dragged down by too many training sequences and too many "aw shucks" looks from MacAvoy, but the film picks up for a train sequence in the final act that's also a must-see.

Wanted was fun in theaters, but it's even better a second time on Blu-Ray, largely because of how much effort that Universal has put into this package. The video is spectacular and the audio is even better. Wanted is the kind of flick that you need to turn up loud enough to drown out the rational part of your brain and this is a great BD to play at top volume. And the special features? They're just like the movie - on overdrive. I can't get over the seamless presentation that is Universal's U-Control, where fans can watch special features related to the scene they're watching, picture-in-picture. It's one of my favorite things about having a Blu-Ray player - U-Control - and is helping Universal be one of the major players in this next-gen format. There is exclusive BD Live content, elaborate and detailed featurettes, deleted scenes, and much more. It's nearly overwhelming. Kind of like the movie. Wanted was one of the most surprising films of the summer and it's one of the best Blu-Ray releases of the year.