X-Men Origins: Wolverine

(2009)

Cinematic Review




My Personal Review

Short
The premise: get ten big guys on screen, give them mutant powers and have them fight for two hours. At first glance, this premise is genius. However, it is only after watching the movie that you realize the flaw; it is near impossible to create 15 fight sequences that are all well done. The movie spends each fight trying to out-do the last and then starts to fall into the realm of 'stupid' about 3/4 the way through as fights become almost silly. But on the positive, Jackman is great, many of the fights are still very cool, and the story is legitimately interesting. In summary, see it. It’s entertaining enough.

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Full

Sigh…I was so excited about this movie. I’m not particularly a comic book fan, but I am a super hero fan; and as such, I get excited every single time Marvel makes a movie. And as we all know, only 7 of the 18 movies and 2 remakes were any good. For everything else in life, if the odds are 35%, you could count me out. But like a fool, I let me expectations and hopes sore when I see the trailer for "Wolverine". Unlike its Byran Singer directed predecessors, which made the franchise cinematically profitable, Wolverine does not succeed as a great movie.

The plot
The movie starts with a child Logan developing his mutant ability to project claws from his knuckles. Being outcasts from society, Logan (Jackman) and his brotherly-friend Victor Creed (Schreiber) protect each other through nearly a century of history bringing them to present day. It is here that their paths separate when Logan realizes that he does not have the blood lust that his ‘brother’ has. This realization is brought about when Logan and Victor join a secret military task force run by William Stryker (Danny Huston). On a mission in Africa, Logan refuses to kill innocents and abandons the group, including Victor. Refusing to be denied his most valuable mutant, William Stryker sets out to make Logan’s life miserable, using Victor as his tool. Wolverine must now fight the military and their mutants to win his freedom; even if he has to kill Victor to do it.

Reasons to see it
Hugh Jackman! I don’t really think I need to say more…he’s awesome. And for you ladies, his shirt comes off frequently, so be prepared.

The first 30 minutes of the movie are great. The movie starts with an incredible amount of promise. The opening credits are well done and help to establish the relationship between Logan and his brother Victor with minimal dialogue—a task not easily achieved in film. The two are recruited into a task force and we are introduced to a slew of pretty cool mutants. They go around for 15 minutes engaging in some pretty solid action sequences. The first 30 minutes contain what are likely the best action sequences you’ll see in the film.

It is also in the first 30 minutes that we are introduced to the only person the only character capable of outshining Logan (Jackman), Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds). Wade was my favorite character in the movie and Reynolds my favorite actor (aside from Jackman, obviously). Unfortunately, his screen time is limited—but very quality. I’m very pleased to hear that Reynolds is getting a spin-off. Let’s just hope it is better then the movie at hand.

Another great actor that needs to be mentioned is Liev Schreiber. The is the best portrayal of Saber tooth/victor Creed that we are likely to get. It’s not just his acting, but his appearance is spot on. The shaggy side burns, the running on all four, what a great rendition of a classic villain. I will tell you up front that the fights between Victor and Logan are by far the best in the film.

The Negatives
Though there is tons of action in this film, it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. After the exposition, the movie falls into a pretty repetitive formula: ‘two guys cross paths, say “hi” to each other, and fight. For the first 30 minutes this formula works like a charm. However, by minute 31, you begin to realize that the film is not going in any other direction. For those who don’t mind mindless combat movies, this is just fine. I happen to fit into this category, so I continued to enjoy the movie for another 20 minutes. But tragically, it is about an hour into the movie when the script writers and choreographers run out of ideas. The result being another 47 minutes of some pretty silly action sequences.

The most noticeable being the fight involving Gambit. Gambit fans please don’t get excited. Gambit is my favorite character in the X-men universe (as judged by the 1990’s animated series), but he might as well have been a towel wrapped around Wolverine’s shoulder for all the good he contributed to this film. So sad… But Gambit isn’t the only comic character to suffer in this movie. One of the greatest factors that amped my anticipation for this film is one of the greatest factors that contribute to its flaws. I was very excited when I found out that there would be nearly 13 mutants in this flick. Unfortunately, that just means there are nearly 13 mutants that are put at risk for being ruined. Not to be pessimistic, but did you see “X-men: The last stand”?

In summary…
…the movie is just a bunch of guys fighting for 2 hours with a very loose scaffold of a story. To be honest, the scaffold is stronger than you’d think, but it is primarily built to promote fighting, and those plots are never very strong. As I’ve mentioned earlier, there are a lot of great fights scenes in the first 30 minutes of the film that almost make the movie worth seeing at a matinee, but even they suffer from poor visual effects. (I know! A big budget movie with computer animation that is easily outdone by some television shows.) In the end, see it if you like superheroes, but shy away if you’re on a budget; hold out for “Star Trek” or “Terminator Salvation