James McAvoy is a better actor than Angelina Jolie is. He’s more skilled at creating a character than Morgan Freeman. 
So it is that the Scottish actor, most famous for his role in “The Last King of Scotland,” commands Kazakh director Timur Bekmambetov’s eye-popping action picture with a gravitas and sinewy instinct that brings the audience inside its visually pleasing set-pieces as a welcome partner in crime.
Based on a comic strip by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, “Wanted” is about Wesley Gibson (McAvoy), a nerdy low-level office clerk with an inbred gift for assassination that he only discovers under the cruel tutelage of a similarly gifted group of killers led by Morgan Freeman’s detached character Sloan.
Bekmambetov earned a loyal following with his groundbreaking films “Night Watch” and “Day Watch,” and more than pays off on his promise as the most graphic-minded director in the industry with a startling Hollywood debut that will be studied for years by the next generation of action film directors.
Rated R. 110 mins.
