X-men Origins: Wolverine, A Review

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (2009)
Directed By: Gavin Hood
Written By: David Benioff, Skip Woods
Plot: Wolverine tells the story of Wolverine's epically violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed, and the ominous Weapon X program. Along the way, Wolverine encounters many mutants, both familiar and new, including surprise appearances by several legends of the X-Men universe.
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Ryan Reynolds, Lynn Collins
Genre: ACTION/COMIC
Time: 1 hr 47 min
Comments: Call me shallow, but as a woman any movie that promises Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, and Gambit in a film gets an automatic go see. And no Gambit isn’t an actor, it’s Taylor Kitsch, but I have never really found him dead sexy until I saw trailers of him as Remy. Gambit was my first comic book crush, so while not exactly how I pictured him, I thought he’d do. But beyond the eye candy, I dig Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. And while the Xmen movies have been very hit or miss, my inner X-men geek was happy to see a new film. I based my excitement on the trailers and did my best to ignore the reviews before Carissa and I went. Admittedly my expectations were a bit low (how could they not be after X3), but I am also a fan of summer blockbusters aka the films that are like cotton candy. If I could see at a drive in it would be even better. Packed theatre. Check. Fangirls and Fanboys present. Check. Should work right?

It started off fairly well, the story of a young Wolvie and his older brother who later becomes Sabretooth, cool war montage and an origin story that was actually fairly entertaining. And then we get to the revenge bits which is not only overdone, but this time poorly done. The moment he gets his Adamantium skeleton it starts to get a bit bad. This is not just because they ruined Deadpool (Loved Wade. And yes Ryan Reynolds with swords makes me a very happy Smirking, and while the fight scene with Deadpool was entertaining, the rest of the Deadpool moments had me thinking WTF) and Gambit (could you at least have tried a Cajun accent and since when could Gambit walk on walls), but the plot gets really thin. Pacing gets a bit frantic and some of the CGI effects are really bad (Wolvie’s claws in some instances, the bad Xavier, etc) Suddenly it becomes the bad summer blockbuster where even though Wolverine is bad ass, the action sequences kind of make you roll your eyes they are so over the top, the dialogue gets a bit cheesy, and it turns into a ‘what superhero would you like to see in a film next?’

But there are some great things about the film. Danny Huston does a decent job as Stryker as does Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth (especially when I have Taylor Mane in my head as Sabretooth), though admittedly I didn’t think either one of them could be as much of a villain as we wanted or expected. There was never a moment of will Wolverine not win? I wanted more of Sabretooth. I wanted him to be more than just a one shot which is what he felt like. Maybe I am spoiled with films like the Dark Knight. I will say that Liev did a great job of doing the sadistic smirk. I just wanted more. I enjoyed Lynn Collins as well and Kayla’s relationship with Logan was believable. I liked her. I liked them. I even liked Lumberjack Logan.

As far as Hugh Jackman goes, he is Wolverine. He plays the part well and yes he looks very good playing it as well. And while I was a bit disappointed about Gambit (see above childhood crush), there was potential there. He has the charisma, though I would love to have more of that swagger. Unfortunately it just ended up like a cool cameo or would you like to see me in my own film sort of thing.

In all I liked the first half of the film, but the second half is fairly forgettable. It’s not a horrible film, but I wanted more out of it. As I said maybe I am a bit spoiled with some of the toher comic book film fare we have had in recent years. As much as I would love to say that eye candy makes a film, I am not that shallow. *smile* At least not this time. A worthy film to see, but I would go for the matinee because admittedly some of the action sequences are fairly fun on the big screen rather than waiting to see it on your small screen.

2.5/4 popcorns