The main story involves a mysterious group of assassins who are so highly skilled they can actually bend the path of a bullet around objects in their way. This allows them to hit their target from a moving "L" train.

A mysterious man meets with a ballistics expert to check a bullet. The expert discovers there are no markings on the bullet making it impossible to track. It is also highly unlikely that a bullet would not have rifling marks. The ballistics expert is assassinated by a sniper across the street. The man leaps out of a window and kills the two snipers while airborn. He then lands atop the very building where the sniper fired from. He makes a cell phone call to a man named Cross (Thomas Kretschmann) but suddenly realizes he is standing on a marked spot. Cross fires a "multi-stage" bullet from several blocks away and kills the man. Are you following this simple story so far?

Meanwhile, Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is a real loser. His father disappeared when he was a year old. He knows the reason his father left was because his father knew his son was a loser and didn't want to deal with him. One night, Fox (Angelina Jolie) confronts Gibson and tells him his father was an elite assassin and he was just killed the day before. Before Fox can explain further, they are set upon by Cross. A screaming gun battle ensues through the streets of Chicago with Fox hanging out of the car or splayed across the hood all while firing at Cross.

Gibson is then introduced to "The Fraternity", the super-secret organization of assassins, and its leader Sloan (Morgan Freeman). Sloan invites Gibson to join The Fraternity and follow in his father's footsteps. Gibson agrees and before he can say "Tyconderoga", he becomes a super assassin. Gibson receives his orders from the "Loom of Fate", a weaving device that encrypts coded messages while knitting rugs. Wanted rapidly descends even further into unbelievability.

Keeping the story moving is Gibson's obsession with finding and killing Cross who killed Gibson's father. Cross is eventually tracked to Europe. Gibson confronts him on a moving train. Meanwhile, Fox steals a car and crashes it into the train causing the deaths of all the passengers. The Fraternity doesn't care much for regular people. The sequel to Wanted will undoubtedly be called "Collateral Damage".

The sole interesting aspect of Wanted is the major plot twist involving the relationship between Gibson and Cross. Unfortunately, by the time the story gets to this point, the air of believablity has been let out of the balloon.

The Fraternity is so secret and so powerful that the police don't know anything about them. The police are so dumb that they don't find a bullet without rifling marks suspicious. The Fraternity is so good at what they do they can train Gibson to be a super assassin in a few short lessons. Maybe killing is instinct. Some people just have the talent to kill.

Once Gibson learns the truth, his vengeance is extreme. So much that he takes out every assassin even though they are more highly trained than he is. Wanted does not live up to its namesake. "Unwanted" makes more sense. Forget about it!