Mary Jane's Niche

Last Wednesday, Tim and I watched Wanted at SM City. We’ve seen Wanted’s trailer countless times before so I told my bebeh that when it comes out we really have to watch it! I’m not really a big fan of Angelina Jolie but still, I love the roles she play. Maybe its the ‘cool chick’ image, the “Don’t mess with me or else!” thingy that makes me want to watch her movies.

Anyway, Wanted is a 2008 action film based on the comic book series Wanted by Mark Millar. The film is directed by Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov, a Russian and Kazakh film and advertisement director. It stars: James McAvoy as Wesley Allan Gibson; Morgan Freeman as Sloan; Thomas Kretschmann as Cross; Konstantin Khabensky as The Exterminator; Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. (better known by his stage name as Common Sense) as The Gunsmith; Marc Warren as The Repairman; Dato Bakhtadze as The Butcher; Terence Stamp as Pekwarsky; David O’Hara as Mr. X; Chriss Pratt as Barry; Kristen Hager as Cathy;and Angelina Jolie as Fox.

The story evolves around Wesley Gibson whose father left when he was just a week old. He has a job as an accounts manager which he hates. He suffers panic attacks which was later explained by Sloan that it is actually a very rare ability because when Wesley is under stress, it causes his heart to beat to an excess of 400 beats per minute, sending abundant amounts of adrenaline into his bloodstream. This allows him to see and react faster than normal. And Sloan tells him that his father also has this ability. He was recruited by The Fraternity-a thousand year old secret society of assassins and Sloan as the group’s leader invites him to join and follow his father’s footsteps. He didn’t want to at first but he had no choice because he was-as the reason for the title-wanted. Wanted by the police because of the damages he and Fox had done. 

Then he woke up the next morning thinking everything was just a dream, only to discover that he still has his father’s gone given to him by Sloan. He discovers $3.6 million in his bank account. After that he quits his job after telling off his boss and knocking out his bestfriend’s teeth by slamming the keyboard into his face as he leaves. This friend was actually having a sexual relationship with his girlfriend.

He started training with the Fraternity at their headquarters which has a textile mill as a front. Now that he knows his father, he trained hard to avenge his death. He was taught to shoot, fight with knives and is desensitized to pain with regular beatings courtesy of the Repairman. The part of his training that I like the most is when he was taught by Fox on how to “curve the bullets” by slinging his gun in such a way that the bullet travels in a curve rather than a straight line. His training was very brutal, only endurable with the assistance of periodic medicinal baths that accelerate healing. After he completed his training, Wesley is given orders to kill people from The Loom of Fate, a loom that gives the name of the targets through a binary code hidden in the weaving of the threads. He refuses to kill his first assignment but Fox told him her life story, which helped him change his mind and do his assignments.During this time, Cross was evidently trying his best to kill Wesley. Wesley was curious to know who Cross really is after analyzing the bullet from his arm which was shot by Cross. It turns out that Cross was his real father and he was trying to tell this to Wesley, only the Fraternity got to him first. Pekwarsky was the one who told him all this after Wesley killed his own father. Cross was actually monitoring him all his life in the apartment opposite his. And the reason he left him when he was just a week old is because for him to have a normal life thats free of death and violence.

After learning the truth, he devises a plan to take out Sloan and the Fraternity. He filled a garbage truck with rats gorged on explosives-laced peanut butter and crashes the truck into the Fraternity compound and releases the rats. After the rats explode, he charges in killing all Fraternity members he encounters. Upon Sloan’s office, he finds himself surrounded by Fox and the other master assassins. Wesley tells them all that Sloan is killing for profit by providing his killers with fraudulent kill orders. He then attempts to kil Sloan, but is disarmed by Fox. She asked Sloan if what Wesley told them is true. Sloan then reveals that all of their names had come up in the weaving and that he had merely acted to protect them. He then goes to explain that if they truly believe in the code then they should all commit suicide right where they stand by putting the gun in their own mouths and pull the trigger. The other assassins decide to kill Wesley, but Fox turns on her fellow assassins. She curves a bullet to kill the assassins who had been standing in a circle, including herself. Sloan was able to escape.

 Wesley, once again penniless does not know what to do with himself. A voice-over is then heard and a man is seen sitting in front of a computer in a cubicle that looks very much like Wesley’s. The man types the name “Wesley Gibson” into Google and searches for it but does not have any results, as in the beginning of the film. Sloan appears and points a gun at the man’s head. At that moment, the man turns around and is revealed to be a decoy. Wesley, who is actually several miles away, then shoots Sloan in the head.

This film  generally received very positive reviews from critics.

All I can say is that this line made me think:

“What the f*** have you done with your life lately?”

Are we all also in a dead-end, 9 to 5 desk job that we either tolerate or actually despise because we have to pay the bills even though our passion might be something else entirely that can’t pay for our living?

In my own understanding, Wanted urges us to find our own path that will transform our lives into one that’s worth living. We are to choose one where waking up and falling asleep every day isn’t all for nothing. Rather than just floating by, it is time to wake up and be alive!

Find and live your own calling.