Directed by Timur Bekmambetov

Starring: James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Thomas Kretschmann

Wanted is trash, but it’s reasonably entertaining trash. After several days of seeing crunchy whole-grain granola independent films and documentaries, I wanted to see something that blows up real good. The movie is directed by Timur Bekmambetov, who also directed the Russian Night Watch movies.

The movie deals with McAvoy, playing an uber-nerd in a nothing job in a nothing apartment in a nothing relationship, suddenly gets recruited by Angelina Jolie, who represents “The Fraternity, ” an ancient order of assassins. What follows is formulaic, though the action is first-rate (particularly a sequence when a train dangles off a heartbreakingly high bridge).

The movie is also morally reprehensible. Totally.

You should only see it if you are a huge fan of Jolie’s (I understand there are a certain number of movie fans who fit this description) or want to see things blow up real good. Me, I am smitten with Mr. McAvoy, which is the main thing the movie has to offer me.

McAvoy is a short, slight guy, but this belies a very athletic background. He’s a championship boxer, for one thing, and his physicality and strength add tremendously to his screen presence, not just in this movie, but in everything he appears in, with the possible exception of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.

And with that shocking run-on sentence, this post is done.