It was 2008. The world was obsessed with low-rise jeans, the first iPhone was barely a year old, and a movie came out that told us we could curve bullets if we just tried hard enough. You know the one. Even if you haven't seen it in a decade, you remember the imagery: Angelina Jolie leaning out of a speeding Dodge Viper, or Morgan Freeman looking dignified while explaining a giant loom that dictates who needs to die.
Wanted is a weird flick. Honestly, it’s a time capsule of a specific brand of "extreme" mid-2000s energy that we don't really see anymore. But looking back, there is a lot of confusion about what this movie actually was—and why it brought together two of the biggest names in Hollywood for something so... well, bonkers.
The Secret Society You Probably Forgot
The movie is loosely—and I mean very loosely—based on a comic miniseries by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones. If you’ve read the comics, you know they are significantly darker. Like, "everyone is a supervillain and there are no heroes left" dark. The film softened that quite a bit, turning the "Fraternity" into a group of assassins who follow the "Loom of Fate."
Basically, this loom spits out binary code through fabric errors. It tells them who to kill to keep the world in balance. "Kill one, save a thousand," says Morgan Freeman's character, Sloan.
Why the Cast Matters
You've got James McAvoy playing Wesley Gibson, an anxiety-ridden account manager who finds out his dad was a legendary killer. But the real gravity comes from the mentors.
- Angelina Jolie as Fox: She’s the one who recruits Wesley. Jolie was at the height of her action-star powers here. She basically based her performance on Clint Eastwood. She wanted Fox to be stoic, distant, and lethal—not just a romantic interest.
- Morgan Freeman as Sloan: This is classic Freeman. He brings that "voice of God" authority to a role that is, frankly, pretty ridiculous when you think about the loom. His presence makes the absurd premise feel grounded.
It’s a strange pairing. You have the ultimate prestige actor in Freeman and the ultimate action icon in Jolie, both working under Timur Bekmambetov, a Russian director known for hyper-stylized visuals like Night Watch.
The "Bending Bullets" Logic
If there’s one thing people remember about the Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie movie, it’s the bullet curving.
The physics? Non-existent. The "logic"? You have to "flick" your wrist at just the right moment while firing to give the bullet enough lateral momentum to arc. In reality, that’s not how ballistics work. At all. But in the world of Wanted, it looks incredibly cool.
The film utilized a ton of "speed ramping"—where the action goes from normal speed to super slow-motion and back again within a single shot. This was a nightmare for the VFX teams at the time. They had to create digital doubles for Jolie and McAvoy for the most dangerous stunts, like the sequence where Jolie rides on the hood of a car.
"It was exhausting," McAvoy noted in interviews later. He wasn't exactly a "gym rat" before this, and the physical demands of playing a man who goes from a cubicle-dweller to a superhuman assassin were intense.
Behind the Scenes: Fact vs. Fiction
There are a few things people always get wrong about the making of this movie.
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- The Eminem Connection: It’s a popular rumor that Eminem was supposed to play Wesley. While it’s true that Mark Millar, the comic creator, modeled the character’s look on Eminem in the books, the rapper was never officially attached to the movie.
- The Sequel Myth: For years, there were headlines about Wanted 2. At one point, there were even scripts floating around that tried to find a way to bring Jolie’s character back (despite, you know, her taking a curved bullet to the head in the finale). It never happened. The project eventually stalled out.
- Morgan Freeman's Schedule: He was actually filming The Dark Knight around the same time. If he looks like a busy man in the movie, it's because he probably was.
Does it Still Hold Up?
Watching Wanted today is a trip. The CGI in the big train-falling-into-a-gorge sequence looks a bit "rubbery" by modern standards, but the practical stunt work—especially the car chases—is still top-tier.
The movie was a massive hit, grossing over $342 million worldwide. It proved that McAvoy could be an action lead and that audiences were hungry for R-rated, stylized violence that didn't take itself too seriously.
If you're going to rewatch it, pay attention to the details in the background. Fox’s tattoos in the film include real quotes from Winston Churchill’s "blood, toil, tears and sweat" speech. Jolie actually added several temporary tattoos to her existing ones to fit the character's "warrior" vibe.
The Reality of the Experience
If you want to dive back into this world, the best way is to watch the film and then immediately read the graphic novel. They are two completely different beasts. One is a high-octane Hollywood blockbuster with a bit of heart; the other is a nihilistic deconstruction of the superhero genre.
Next Steps for Fans:
- Check the Technical Specs: If you can find the Blu-ray, the "behind the lens" features show exactly how they pulled off the "Assassin POV" shots.
- Look for Chris Pratt: Yep, he’s in this. He plays Wesley’s obnoxious best friend/coworker who gets a keyboard to the face. It’s a wild look at him before the Guardians of the Galaxy fame.
- Verify the Soundtrack: Danny Elfman did the score, and it’s surprisingly experimental for a mid-2000s action flick.
The film is currently available on various streaming platforms. If you need a dose of pure, unadulterated "bullet-time" nostalgia, it's hard to beat the chemistry between a peak-performance Angelina Jolie and a characteristically smooth Morgan Freeman.