My movie review of Wanted (2008 film)
I was browsing Netflix and caught this film, one of the movies I’ve watched in childhood. I remember it had some sexy scenes and some bullet-bending action, so I decided why not?
At the start I thought it was not going to be that deep. But it turns out to be a story of a man searching for himself. He’s living an office job he hates, and finds out his father was part of a fraternity of assassins. Initially, he didn’t want to pursue his mission but his purpose and resolve was solidified once he gets to know his family’s history, who his father is, and what their family is part of.
This is an instance of inheriting the “wisdom of thy fathers” from Man’s Search for Himself (book). Knowing your history is a big step to finding out your identity and your self. In the book, Rollo May quotes Freud, who quotes Goethe:
What thou has inherited from thy fathers,
Acquire it to make it thine.
Rollo May then states later in the book:
the more profoundly he can confront and experience the accumulated wealth in historical tradition, the more uniquely he can at the same time know and be himself.
Wesley is then able to accomplish his first mission when he got that knowledge.
Why choose “Wanted” as the title? It probably comes from the loom making out names which serves as a wanted posters for assassinations for the fraternity. It also symbolizes his father wanting to protect him from the life of assassins. It can also symbolize how he wants to discover his identity. His “self” is wanted.
The train scene reminds me of Bullet Train (2022 film). And what do you know we’ve got both Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt doing those. The speed and momentum of trains, along with the people and stuff in them do really make it juicy for a thriller. Who doesn’t love those?
The last scene reminds me of Hunter x Hunter (anime) when Gon was trying to get Hisoka’s number in the hunter exam. He’s taught how the hunter tries to anticipate the prey and predict its movements. The X spot where Sloan stood signifies how Wesley have predicted everything, same with how his father killed the assassin in the beginning of the movie.
I couldn’t relate to this movie before since I was still a kid back then. The office job is definitely relatable now.
Unlike Wesley, almost none of us are part of a millennium-old fraternity of assassins. But, we can take back control of our own lives by being more aware of our own heritage and personal history, a lesson from this movie which can also be found in One Hundred Years of Solitude (book) and even Shonen anime like Bleach (anime), Naruto (anime), and Fairy Tail (anime).
Favorite quote
Six weeks ago, I was ordinary and pathetic. Just like you. But who am I now? Account manager? Assassin? Or just another tool who was mind-fucked into killing his father? I am all of these. And I am none of these. Who am I now?
This is not me fulfilling my destiny. This is not me following my father’s footsteps. This is definitely not me saving the world. “Still trying to figure out who you are?” This is not me. This is just a motherfuckin’ decoy.
This is me taking control. From Sloan, from the fraternity, from Janice, from billing reports, from ergonomic keyboards, from cheating girlfriends and sack-of-shit best friends.
This is me taking back control of my life. What the fuck have you done lately?
