When a shooting in Mexico leads to the melodramatic deaths of several undercover DEA agents, a belligerent cop must cross the border to retrieve two sex workers who are the only surviving witnesses. Along the way, he’ll meet some zany characters, encounter some challenging situations, and attempt to grapple with the uncomfortable truth that his consistently racist behavior might, in fact, make him a racist.
Dolph Lungren leads the show as Officer Johansen, a terrible police officer who is under fire after he is caught being a terrible police officer. After Johansen becomes the subject of media scrutiny for his use of police brutality and racist language towards a Mexican citizen, his forward-thinking Captain decides the best solution is to send him to Mexico. Sometimes the best ideas are just right in front of you. Whilst in Mexico, he is the victim of a brutal shooting, causing him to have to hide amongst a Mexican family. There he’ll make half-hearted attempts to show interest in the culture, develop completely unearned relationships, and uncover a plot twist so obvious it should get all the detectives who missed it fired.
Amongst the many questionable elements of the film, the most excruciating is Johansen’s gang of friends. A rag-tag team of geriatric rascals, including an exclusively Hawaiian shirt-clad Kelsey Grammar, whose list of complaints includes immigrants, the #MeToo movement, and the dissatisfaction of hanging out at a strip club every single night. If only they knew how to access 4chan. The only bright spot the inclusion of these characters brings to the screen is the chance to see a tiny shot glass in Lungren’s massive hands. Arguably, and unfortunately, the best shot of the whole film.
Despite its shortcomings, the film does succeed in certain areas. Most notably through the action sequences, which are exciting and frequent enough to help lift the film up from its attempts at plot; attempts which are consistently undermined by poor dialogue and even poorer diction (special commendation to the subtitles, they did the best they could with what they had). Unfortunately, the high-stakes violence is undercut by the fact that Lundgren’s character is so odious you can’t help but feel apathetic about his chances of survival. If he dies, he dies.
Wanted Man is a film that wants to be more than just a fun action movie but, in its attempts to be something more serious, fails to even be that. Missing the mark on every issue it tries to cover, the film leaves you feeling largely uncomfortable, as Lundgren’s character never really changes despite the film’s effort to make us believe he’s someone we should support. Ultimately, it’s hard to understand why anyone would want this man.