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'Wanted'

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BY RAFER GUZMÁN | rafer.guzman@newsday.com

June 27, 2008

You've heard of the wheel of fortune and the hammer of the gods. But how about the textile mill of fate?

It exists in "Wanted," a supremely silly but fast-moving action flick about a group of weavers - that's right, weavers - who double as assassins with near-mystical powers. "Wanted" demands a high level of credulity, but in exchange it offers some rewards: improbable car-chases, gritty hand-to-hand combat and the sight of Angelina Jolie poured into her pants and packing a pistol.

The story focuses on low-level office drone Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), trapped in a life of quiet desperation. Fatherless as a child and crippled by low self-esteem, he's browbeaten by his boss and two-timed by his girlfriend. But Wesley can't even muster rage. Between handfuls of anti-anxiety pills, he tells us: "I'm finding it hard to care about anything these days."

Enter Jolie - named Fox, natch - who pops up at the local pharmacy and promptly drags Wesley into an explosive battle with a mysterious gunman named Cross ( Thomas Kretschmann). She explains: Wesley's father was her colleague in The Fraternity, a group of trained killers, until he was murdered by Cross, a rogue Frat brother. Would Wesley like to transform himself from accounts manager into an unstoppable death machine? (He says yes.)

Based on the comic books by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, and directed by Timur Bekmambetov, "Wanted" feels like a rotisserie team of other supercool movies: The magically curving bullets come straight from "The Matrix," while Wesley's liberation from his anona-life recalls "Fight Club." When Morgan Freeman appears as a godlike figure who assigns each killing, "Wanted" takes on the grandiose, mythical tone of "300."

Morality comes into play here, but ignore that. "Wanted" works best when it's splashing blood around with adolescent glee. More than once, a bullet will slowly spiral out of a forehead - and even get sucked back in - but it's hard to get too upset when the victim's expression says, "Doh!"

(R)

PLOT A mild-mannered office worker becomes a mystical assassin.

CAST Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Common

LENGTH 1:50

PLAYING AT Area theaters

BOTTOM LINE Part action flick, part morality play, "Wanted" works best when it moves fast and stops thinking.