Starring Keenen Ivory Wayans and Jon Voight Directed by David Glenn Hogan Rated R, with profanity and strong action violence Running time 109 minutes Jack gives this film a rating of 3 out of 10

(Oct. 10, 1997) -- Most Wanted is an overly familiar B-grade action flick, written by and starring Keenen Ivory Wayans.

Apparently inspired by his supporting performance in Steven Seagal's The Glimmer Man, Wayans puts aside his family's comic reputation for a foray into guns, crashes, explosions and assassination.

Wayans plays Sgt. James Dunn, a decorated Gulf War hero who's been imprisoned for killing a superior officer. In a twist right out of The Dirty Dozen, Dunn is given a chance to go free if he'll join an elite, covert squad of government assassins.

Soon, though, he discovers he has being set up. He is to be the fall guy in a nefarious scheme to kill the First Lady. Once she is shot, the film follows Dunn in his attempts to avoid arrest or death, while he tries to clear his name. Imagine a Rambo whose jungle is Los Angeles.

Though the tall, robust senior Wayans has the makings of a muscular, tight-lipped action hero, his script for Most Wanted is too obviously derivative, and too many of his co-stars ham it up under the sloppy direction of newcomer David Glenn Hogan.

The most serious offender is Jon Voight, who chews too enthusiastically into the part of the evil Lt. Col. Grant Casey, with a good-old-boy accent that drips Dixie. Voight has had great moments in his career, but this isn't one of them. In fact, this performance surpasses in infamy even his slimy snake hunter who gets regurgitated in Anaconda.

Though Casey is initially identified as the leader of the covert assassin squad, we quickly learn he's really part of a widespread conspiracy in which Dunn is a mere pawn.

The only major actor -- besides Wayans -- who escapes unscathed by Most Wanted is Paul Sorvino, effective as the head of the CIA. Implausibility piles upon implausibility as Dunn eludes capture and tries to uncover the roots of the plot to kill the First Lady.

As melodrama, Most Wanted falls short. Too bad. With just a little more effort and exaggeration, Wayans might have fashioned a comic satire worthy of In Living Color.