Graphic-novel-inspired thriller 'Wanted' a spectacular ride

Imagine an action movie riddled with OMG moments like the "bullet-time" shot made famous by Carrie-Anne Moss' frozen, midair kick in "The Matrix."

"Wanted" wants to be that movie.

This graphic-novel-inspired action thriller slows time, speeds it up, plays around with sound, skips frames and immerses us in every trick that ultra-stylized Russian director Timur Bekmambetov can think of to disorient, manipulate and excite an audience.

Russia's most successful filmmaker - he gave us the gothic thrillers "Night Watch" and "Day Watch" - Bekmambetov cranks video-game visuals to new heights and never lets up on the pulsing action.

Good, because "Wanted" displays a limited interest in character development and internal logic, which might explain why this film has the most inefficient assassins in the history of hired killers.

Take the scene where the drop-dead gorgeous assassin Fox (a tattooed Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft's skanky doppelganger) breaks out the windshield of her sports car so she can climb on the hood while returning gunfire to the bad guys pursuing her.

Hey, Fox! Why not just shoot through the back window?

Or take another OMG action moment - already undermined by spoiler TV commercials - where assassin-in-training Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) flips his car into the air to get a clear shot at a target through the open sunroof of a bulletproof car.

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Hey, Gibson! Why not just shoot the guy with a sniper rifle from an elevated position?

The elaborate overkill in these sequences doesn't make much sense, but then, the assassins take orders from secret woven messages stitched on the Loom of Fate. We haven't even gotten to the army of suicide bomber rats.

Based on comic strips from Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, the story falls back on the familiar plot about a slacker whose untapped superhuman gifts save the day. (It's already been used in "Forbidden Kingdom" and "Kung Fu Panda.")

McAvoy, the reserved lover in the Oscar-winning "Atonement," hardly seems to be an action star, but by the closing credits, he has effected a convincing transformation not seen since chunky TV star Bruce Willis hunked up for his first "Die Hard" adventure.

McAvoy's Gibson lives a timid life of an account manager in a stifling office cubicle. He pumps himself with medication. He's a weakling and a mess, given to delivering voice-over narration in an insufferable drone.

At a store, he bumps into the beautiful Fox and says, "I'm sorry." She replies, "You apologize too much" and swings into a slam-bam action sequence involving the villainous Cross (Thomas Kretschmann), who has killed Gibson's dad in the opening.

Gibson discovers Dad was a great assassin for a 1,000-year-old secret sect called the Fraternity. The Frat's cool leader (Morgan Freeman) says Obi-Wan stuff like "Let your instincts guide you!" while training Gibson to be a super assassin capable of mentally directing a bullet to its target.

Guys with names such as the Gunsmith, the Repairman and the Butcher train Gibson by almost killing him, then sticking him into a gooey mess that speeds healing so he can be well enough to hunt down Dad's killer.

As expected, Gibson develops into a savvy assassin, but he never questions the ethics of his profession or ponders the moral certainty of the Loom of Fate, an obvious secular substitution for God.

"I say kill them all and let fate sort out the mess!" Gibson screeches.

No points for originality in dialogue here.

Local note: A sizable portion of "Wanted" was shot in Chicago, and the nocturnal Windy City looks magnificently grim and gritty, especially the sequence where Fox leads Gibson on a chase atop a moving El train.

"Wanted"

Rating: 3 stars

Starring: James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman.

Directed by: Timur Bekmambetov.

Other: A Universal Pictures release. Rated R (violence, language, sexual situations). 110 minutes.