After 10 years, we have at last found the worthy successor to The Matrix. The film is a rare breed of Hollywood film - a film that has escaped Hollywoodification, the imposed set of rules which make big star/big budget movies to cater to lowest common denominator. So whenever a successful foreign genre film is being remade in Hollywood, the hardcore fans roll their eyes - we have seen countless examples of imported directors trading their mojo for bigger budgets/fatter paychecks - watering down the film to ‘Fantastic Four’ levels.

Russian Director Timur Bekmambetov, is an exception - he has delivered ‘Wanted’ just like how an adrenaline pumping action movie is supposed to be. I didn’t believe it was a direct English film made by an American Studio - I was 100% sure that it was a East European dubbed film, until Angelina Jolie & Morgan Freeman appeared and I saw traces of Chicago.

As far as comic book films go - this film dwarfs ‘The Dark Knight’ in every way. The ‘Dark Knight’ for me was a been there/done that kinda movie - it was a good, but laborious to watch - almost like reading a textbook for tomorrows exam. ‘Wanted’ was F-U-N. I wouldn’t mind sitting thro another hour to see what Timur Bekmambetov can dish out.

The script has this rare magnetic quality which is usually lacking in action genre - you don’t know where it is taking you or who will win in the end - Victory is not a foregone conclusion here unlike superhero movies. Just like Matrix, you almost bend round the corner to see whats next.

It looks like a fairly simple revenge saga. ‘A’ kills ‘B’ - ‘B’s son trains and go after ‘A’. Oldest theme on earth, after love story. But visual presentation, explosive action, excellent acting, gorgeous set design and finally Matrix defiying stunt sequences - makes this movie absolutely fresh. Which made me scramble to the library to see if they carry the director’s older Russian language movies. Being based on existing material - it does move into some childish, almost laughable, fable about textiles and hidden messages - but the rest of the film makes up for such indiscretions.

Produced by ‘Legally Blond’s producer Marc Platt - whose deal with Universal Studio was "Give him money, give him his fav crew, give him his preferred FX studio… and leave him alone". Only Spielbergs and M.Nights of this world get that kinda freedom - not an unknown russian director doing his first english film. After seeing the finished product Universal was so pleased with the result that it changed the release date to make it go head-to-head with Summer Blockbusters.

But be warned, you should leave your physic’s hat at home - this movie ‘bends’ physics and makes a mockery out of Newtons Law. All the more fun!

5/5