If you're going to steal, steal from the awesome

The New York Times isn't wrong, exactly. Wanted borrows a lot of its style and substance from Fight Club and The Matrix. It also owes a debt to a lesser-known Christian Bale film named Equilibrium. And there are the riffs lifted from Terminator 2, Frailty, The Empire Strikes Back and American Psycho. But the thing is, those are all awesome movies. And Wanted is also an awesome movie. Blood-curdling, pulse-pounding, jaw-dropping awesome. It looks awesome. It sounds awesome. The guns are awesome. The characters curve the flight of their bullets, and you can't tell me that's not just freaking awesome. Fight Club, The Matrix and Terminator 2 are action classics and cultural touchstones. Wanted settles on being the former. And that's awesome.