Spyglass Entertainment
Universal Pictures
When apathetic office slave, Wesley, finds out that he is the son of “the world’s greatest assassin” he is thrown into a quandary. Does he give up on his insignificant life; stuck in his cubicle, bullied by his hideous boss, aware that his girlfriend and best friend are at it like rabbits behind his back, whilst suffering severe anxiety attacks, or does he leave it all to become a super assassin and avenge his fathers death. It all seems very “Fight Club“, Wesley’s voice over especially at the beginning of the film, and his inner monologue throughout the training montage and clichéd fight sequences.
However this film, unlike the original comic books, finds Wesley being thrust into an “ultra-violent” but sickly moral secret brotherhood, named The Fraternity. The Fraternity is a top-secret organisation that finds the future scum of society through stitches in fabric. Once a name appears it’s the assassins’ job to take them out of the picture before they have the chance to kill an innocent, “Kill one and maybe save a thousand. That’s the code of the Fraternity.”
Wesley quickly takes to the lifestyle as super-assassin, and the film nicely builds towards the predictable but climactic final face-off between good and bad. The film keeps its tempo with the fast then slow camera action, a la ‘The Matrix‘ bullet dodging. The director, Bekmanbetov, also throws in a very cool visual approach to what is basically, rewinding which involves film being sped up, slowed down, rewound and digitally distorted. But it’s generally in these sequences of visual displays you can’t help but compare it to ‘Fight Club‘, particularly one scene which involves teeth and a computer keyboard.
It is a well directed, action thriller that manages to bombard the audience with adrenaline soaked, pulse-pounding cinematic viewing. Some of the best bits are the smallest details, like Wesley’s anxiety attacks; you genuinely feel that loud uncomfortable pulse in your ear, like you’ve been stood next to the worlds biggest amp and when you move away from it, you can still hear that dull thud. Despite the obvious copycat visuals, a twist which isn’t predictable but still conventional, the film is still constantly watchable and has enough violence and movement to make up for the rather daft back-story (wait for the giant loom).
Emily Paget