Wesley Gibson is devastated to learn the truth about what his actions have led to up to this point in the 2008 action thriller “Wanted.” But rather than allowing his shortcomings to define him, the protagonist makes a last stand against his true adversary. There are new disclosures that jeopardize Fox’s and the assassins’ Fraternity’s integrity. She is at a turning point in her life, caught in a bitter struggle between her values and reality. In the end, both characters’ deeds literally alter the course of history. After everything is said and done, Wesley uses all he has learned from his magical gun-slinging adventures to forge a new future for himself. BEWARE OF SPOILERS.
Wanted Plot Synopsis
Wesley Gibson leads an unhappy life because he is stuck with a girlfriend who is cheating on him with his best friend, Barry, and he works in an unappreciative office job under a controlling boss. When an enigmatic woman named Fox tells him that his father was a legendary assassin who was recently killed and that Cross, the murderer, is now pursuing him, things take a different turn. Wesley is compelled to escape during an unexpected gunfight between Fox and Cross. Later, he awakens to find himself in a textile mill full of assassins under the command of Sloan. Wesley discovers that his panic attacks are actually a genetic trait associated with strong adrenaline surges, which gives him abnormal reflexes, after being forced to shoot the wings off the flies at gunpoint.
According to Sloan, Wesley’s father was a member of the Fraternity, a covert organization whose members eliminate threats in order to preserve world peace. He wants Wesley to come along and assist in getting rid of Cross.
Wesley initially refuses, but everything changes when he finds millions wired to his bank account overnight. Suddenly emboldened, he confronts his boss and beats up Barry before returning to the mill for training. Under the Fraternity’s brutal methods, Wesley begins mastering his heightened abilities. Once trained, he is introduced to a fabric within which lies a secret code written in Loom’s mystical language, discovered by the Fraternity, a clan of weavers from thousands of years ago. Sloan interprets these names and assigns targets accordingly.
Wesley then starts working on his assignments and eventually runs into Cross in a shootout where one of his allies is killed. After sending Wesley to kill Cross, Sloan surreptitiously gives Fox the order to kill Wesley as well, suggesting that the Loom has identified him.
Wesley finds Cross’s bullet elsewhere and traces it to a man by the name of Pekwarsky. He locates the man and, with Fox’s assistance, coerces him into setting up a meeting with Cross on a moving train. Wesley and Cross battle until the train derails, but Cross saves him before he falls, only to be shot shortly after.
He confesses, with his last breath, that he is Wesley’s biological father. Fox acknowledges that he was recruited because he was the only person Cross would never hurt, and that this is the truth. Wesley breaks through the glass floor and falls into a river to escape before she can murder him. After Pekwarsky finally saves him, Wesley realizes the truth for the first time.
Wanted Ending: Why Does Wesley Kill Sloan?
Wesley murders Sloan in the film’s climactic scene as payback for his father Cross’s passing. In the lead-up to it, Sloan learns that Wesley has returned to his normal work and shows up to kill him. The person seated at a desk, however, turns out to be a dummy, and the real Wesley has deceived Sloan into standing at the precise location from which he can be killed. To accomplish this, the main character shoots a bullet from a great distance, which eventually reaches Sloan. This assassination’s execution is significant because it captures the essence of Wesley’s motivations.
Wesley discovers before this point that his father, who is regarded as one of the most renowned assassins, is actually the person he attempts to kill throughout the entire film and eventually succeeds in doing so: Cross. The young prodigy retaliated after Sloan was revealed to have deceived the protagonist for his personal benefit.
According to Wesley’s final monologue, his actions are also a way for him to regain agency. Since he was used to murder his own father, he first finds it difficult to find purpose in his assassination abilities. He quickly learns, though, that Sloan, the one who has been controlling everything, is the target of his resentment. With this, the main character completes the attack on Sloan and everything he represents, which his father initiated. Cross eliminates one of the assassins earlier in the narrative by positioning him atop a “X” in a similar manner.
mark, then took a long-range aim with his rifle. Therefore, Sloan’s passing signifies the end of a cycle and demonstrates how Wesley has matured to finally take over his father’s responsibilities. This also ends Sloan’s misuse of the fabric and the assassin’s code.
Pekwarsky’s backstory provides the full context for Sloan’s descent into evil. He discloses that the fabric announcing the Fraternity’s targets already bears Sloan’s name. Sloan, however, decided to conceal this and has been creating fictitious targets for the assassins to murder in order to benefit himself.
This behavior violates every rule that all Fraternity members are expected to follow. Cross is among those who discover the truth first. He decides to leave the Fraternity and kill Sloan because he is furious. Instead, the antagonist distorts the story to make Cross appear like a renegade agent who needs to be eliminated. Cross’s part in the narrative is thus reframed, with his son continuing the tradition.
Why Does Fox Take Her Own Life?
Wesley storms the Fraternity’s secret base after deciding to exact revenge on Sloan, but assassins soon surround him. He decides to speak the truth and expose the antagonist’s evil tactics after realizing that he cannot fight his way out of this. Everyone is shocked by this, especially Fox, who has become one of Sloan’s most devoted agents. The Fraternity leader chooses to come clean after realizing he is in a tight spot. He declares that everyone in the organization has their name on the cloth, not just him.
He goes on to say that he concealed this information for their mutual advantage, but Fox has had enough. She chooses to take her own life because she is a strong believer in the principles of the Loom. But Fox doesn’t stop there; her last move, which doubles as her greatest display, is a bullet that travels around the entire circular room, eliminating every assassin in its path. There are numerous factors that led to her decision, but two stand out as the most significant. She must first destroy everyone whose name appears in accordance with the Loom’s rules, since they are designated to cause trouble in the future.
Since everyone except Fox agrees when Sloan offers them the option to reject the Loom and join him in ruling the world, the second reason is just a confirmation of the first. The ability to kill and employ the methods they do entails a great deal of responsibility, and abusing it could lead to the end of humanity. Consequently, the remainder of the Fraternity turns into her last task, which she completes without fail.
Another explanation for her behavior comes from a detail she tells Wesley earlier in the narrative: an assassin who didn’t complete his task was killed, along with his loved ones. Given Sloan’s treatment of Cross, it’s plausible that the leader killed the unidentified assassin himself as retribution for disobeying his orders. Additionally, although her fate is never revealed, Fox’s account also features a young girl who is threatened by the murderers. As a result, Fox might be remembering her own history and the young girl is just her younger self. However, these acts demonstrate how the Fraternity has strayed from its ideals and started to deteriorate, which supports their eventual demise.
What is Next For Wesley?
Wesley finds himself back where he was at the beginning of the story after the Fraternity has disbanded. He discovers that he has lost all of his money when he checks his bank account, and since he has no way to use his skills, he starts having anxiety attacks again. Wesley demonstrates that there is more to his life, though, by deciding to get back up and murder Sloan, the cause of his issues. Thus, his path turns into one of regaining authority and eschewing all of his life’s detrimental influences. His bullet piercing his boss’s doughnut and his former best friend’s soda serve as symbols for this.
As a result, Wesley is likely to begin the next phase of his life with a revitalized, self-assured identity, free from social pressures and dishonest relationships. Wesley’s role as a guardian is also far from over because he remains one of the few people who can use supernatural abilities. Since the fabric’s mystic language is still alive, he could become its new guardian by abiding by its guidelines and understanding the names it evokes. Pekwarsky is still involved in the story, so it’s likely that the two work together to create bullets that the former can use to kill the bad guys in the world.
This gives Wesley a new sense of purpose in addition to releasing him from the exploitative, routine life he despises. The show’s last narration, in which Wesley asks the audience what they have been doing recently, is a direct call to action, imploring them to find a worthy endeavor in life as well.
