Review: Angelina Jolie And "Wanted"

(CBS)  With roles in films such as "Girl, Interrupted" (for which she won an Oscar) and her latest, "Wanted," Angelina Jolie has attracted a host of admirers … and that includes our own David Edelstein:

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Hollywood is full of swollen-lipped actresses, but Jolie has the spirit to match those tire-treads.

She burst out of the gate in 1998's "Gia," about the glowering supermodel who embodied a new kind of tough glamour and died of AIDS. I remember her blasting through a scene stark naked - sorry, folks, can't show it! - and admiring her fearlessness more than her body, which is saying a lot.

But Jolie has so large a presence she doesn't need to pull out the stops or take off her clothes. She can underplay dryly, toying with lines and co-stars, which is why she was so smashing as a sociopath in "Girl, Interrupted," devastating fellow patients to keep from turning her acid gaze inward.

Jolie has taken other "serious" parts, like Marianne, wife of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl in "A Mighty Heart," and she was very fine, tamping down the drama queen stuff.

But even dipped in caramel, she was still, obviously, Angelina.

Her greatest box office successes have been as witty action heroines, as in "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" opposite honey Brad Pitt, whose hard shell of narcissism held fast against her incinerating stares.

"Wanted" is in the same mode, but more spectacular: It's state-of-the-art state-of-the-art.

The plot is nonsense about a fraternity of supernaturally gifted assassins, a hodgepodge of "The Matrix" and "The Terminator." But Kazakhstan-born director Timur Bekmambetov is a whiz at mixing fast- and slow-motion to screw up your biorhythms. You take an hour to come down and then say: I fell for that???

It's easy to fall for Angelina. There she suddenly is, beside timid protagonist James McAvoy, looking amused, twinkling, as if the whole gazillion-dollar movie is her toy. The bullets she fires seem like extensions of her will.

Does "Wanted" stretch her as an actress? Not remotely. We'll see that later this year, as the mother of a kidnapped child in Clint Eastwood's "Changeling."

What Jolie really needs to prove herself is material she can't toy with, parts bigger than she is. Hedda Gabler? Cleopatra? God?

[logmarge1]

I saw "Wanted" twice this weekend and thought it as entertaining. People seem to expect too much; to me it was a combo of Office Space, The Matrix, with a sprinkling of Fight Club in a very weird way.....
Angelina had very few lines in the action flick. It was the way she looked at people that was great.
Definitely she has matured and do agree that her greatest role is yet to come. I think that will be revealed in the next 2 years. Stay tuned!

[kittykatty2]

koekie2...why don''t you invest some of that simmering jealousy in a few grammar lessons. You''re jealous of Angelina Jolie - and if you look anything like your spelling or sentence construction (which is quite atrocious) I can understand why.
Peacedreamer - Jolie is a "has been?" I''ll wager she still has more friends, more money, more fame and a happier life than you...I have the feeling you are a "never was."
Polychrome - where do you see "homewrecker?" You sound bitter and twisted. What''s wrong--your significant other leave you for someone more significant than you?

[koekie2]

wow. does this man know who God is?? why so loose lipped about his Maker? absolutely disgusting. why don''t you rather concentrate on Ms Jolie''s schizo paranoid behaviour and question why she has so many babies and all because of one dude who couldn''t keep his pants on or respect his vows to God and his wife!! then also Ms Jolie couldn''t have respected God''s holy institution of the marriage - you couldve stayed away, Ms Jolie. Can you trust mr Pitt?? i wouldn''t if i was you - things have a nasty way of coming back to bite you hard!! good luck - i actually feel sorry for you! oh by the way, children don''t alway cement a not so good foundation. and i always believe that J Aniston have moved on contrary to popular belief. you sell newspapers & mags by cashing in on misery. tut tut tut what is hapning??!!

[polychrome-2009]

Mr. Edelstein refers to Jolie as a "home wrecker". That''s a sanitary euphemism for adulteress. Why is it that the only man she could find was someone else''s husband? I am offended that David Edelstein thinks she is qualified to play God. Not everyone agrees that immorality makes a "power couple". I think my long-time allegiance to Sunday Morning is over.

[peacedreamer-2009]

Jolie is such a has-been. Other than action films where she doesn''t have to say much dialog, she''s lost the ability to act. Tomb Raider, Mrs. Smith, Wanted, those are all the same movie with different titles. In "Bone Collector" she''s awful. She''s all pouty lips and bad diction. In "Mighty Heart" she was practically deadpan. She seemed to lack the ability to show any emotions at all. Her performance turned an exciting story into one of the most boring features ever put on film. It would have been better with almost any other actress. I suppose she got the part because of her fluency in French, but really, is that enough of a reason to hire an actress with limited skills? You say she''s better in Changeling? I hope so, she can''t keep a career with her current level of performance. She''s only got so many more years to have jobs depend on her ability to be a contortionist! Once she hits 40, that won''t be attractive or *** anymore, it will be pathetic.