For a flick that borrows heavily from The Matrix (think stunning special effects, cartoonish gun violence, vague nods to spirituality, and a main character snatched from a humdrum, oppressive life by a band of renegades in the hopes that he can discover his unique identity and do a job none of them have the ability to pull off) and just a tad from Office Space (think sad-sack, pencil-pushing cubicle drone constantly pushed around by a nauseatingly repellent boss and only slightly less boorish girlfriend), Wanted doesn’t feel like a knockoff. In fact, it’s quite entertaining.

Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is the milquetoasty tenderfoot who’s recruited by an assassin’s fraternity to avenge the murder of his father—whom Gibson never knew but was the world’s greatest killer. With the stony-faced help of Sloan (Morgan Freeman) and Fox (Angelina Jolie), Gibson’s literally kidnapped into a new reality where his natural abilities surface via excruciating training until he’s transformed into a full-blown assassin himself. (And in addition to offing his first victim, Gibson doesn’t forget to put the smack down on that awful office boss, his cheating girlfriend, and the fake pal who’s been sleeping with her.) All that’s left to do is assassinating Cross—the man who killed Gibson’s father.

Of course, things don’t go so smoothly when Gibson goes after Cross—and to divulge additional plot elements would be spoiling the ending.

On the plus side (in addition to Wanted’s entertainment factor) are the object lessons you can glean from it. (It’s recommended, however, that you wait to use Wanted until it releases to DVD—you’d have some explaining to do bringing your students en masse to the local Cineplex to witness this ultra-violent movie for just a few a-ha moments.)

The clearest object lesson is identity in Christ. (Uh, what?) You read correctly. One of the most powerful snippets of dialogue is when Sloan lays some truth on our initially very frightened protagonist, divulging to Gibson his prodigious origins and asking if he really wants to go on being pushed around by life when there’s a roaring lion inside him ready to spring out and take him places he never could have imagined. Clearly there’s no congruity between Christian mission and an assassin’s work, but the sentiments are strikingly poignant: How many of us are timidly going through the motions in our Christian walks when God’s already gifted us with the Spirit’s power—and very well may be waiting for us to take a risk and do something we never could have imagined?

A less-obvious spiritual element is the assassination fraternity’s code—albeit a silly one: They take their orders to kill via hidden messages found in weaved fabric. (Somehow the silliness doesn’t set in ‘til after the flick ends.) But with Sloan being the sole interpreter of the fabric’s messages, it brings up questions about the church and Scripture and who holds the most influence over the ways the Bible is interpreted. The assassins confront the same question—and it’s answered in surprising ways.

It should be obvious by now that the pervasive violence in Wanted could be an issue for you to consider if you decide to use the flick with your students; also there’s quite a bit of course language, as well as a few brief scenes of overt sexuality—although the only nudity is a gratuitous second or two of Jolie’s backside.

Once the DVD hits the shelves, some judicious starts and stops on your part should help you avoid most of the latter issues.