Wanted: A Logical Storyline

What does Angelina Jolie look like when she doesn't start her day under the skillful care of professional make up artists? Watching her in Wanted I was keenly aware of the layers of sparkling charcoal shadow around her eyes and – just guessing here – her perfectly applied borrowed eyelashes. I wondered, how would I look with all that stuff on me? Maybe like a sexy superhero assassin. That would be cool.

The premise of this film is that there are people in the world who are genetically empowered to kill with flair and expertise, they can make bullets careen around corners and stuff, so they band together to use their powers for good instead of evil. James McAvoy, attempting to shed his high brow English profile, plays a regular guy who just found out that he’s real good at killing people too. Pretty neat, except he has a mysterious enemy on his trail that the whole team is nervous about, so that leads to a lot of car chases and explosions and train derailments.

And that’s about it.

No question that this is an extremely well made slam bam action picture, a cinematic roller coaster ride. The plot is pretty thin and there’s this whole thing with a loom that doesn’t make any sense, but it’s silly to quibble about logic in a movie where people who stand on crudely drawn Xes are killed by bullets that barrel inexplicably out of their foreheads. If it’s pure action you’re after, this film will work. You want some plot with your explosions, see Iron Man.

Wall-E saves the world

Wall-E is a kid’s movie. I have to get that out there. All the critics who carried on about this film probably saw it in a nice quiet screening room where they could appreciate meaningful silences and nuance in the story telling. The theater I saw it in was full of little people loudly pointing out the obvious: “There’s Wall-E!” they would cry, as though they had dozed off for a moment and woke up to discover they were in a movie theater.

Watching this film is a bit like watching an episode of Sesame Street: there’s a lot of goofy stuff for kids but buried in the plot and the dialogue are all kinds of humorous and ironic observations that can only be intended for adults. And there is a message about environmental and personal responsibility that is targeted towards older kids, although they might think the film itself is too babyish. The animation is terrific – Wall-E and his friends are great fun to watch – but it doesn’t have the general appeal of Ratatouille. DVD release probably November.