X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Directed by Gavin Hood
Starring Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Ryan Reynolds
Rated PG-13
Release date: May 1, 2009
When X-Men Origins: Wolverine was leaked onto the internet and the flood of angry fanboys littered the interwebs forums with negative reactions, I was one of the many fanboys that were hesitant to go see the film in the theater. But mulling it over, I realized that many of the comic book films that I actually like are ones no fanboy will admit to liking (e.g., Watchmen, Daredevil, Fantastic Four), so I decided to jump feet first into the movie.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine explains the film in a nutshell. The movie tells the tale of how the mutant James Logan (Hugh Jackman) became Wolverine, the Adamantium-laced killing machine we all know and love. Want to see Wolvie as a small child with bone claws? Fall in love with a Canadian hottie? Fight in various World Wars and battle his brother turned nemesis Sabertooth (Liev Schreiber)? It is all here in the movie filled with action, surprises, and a tale of a man who has loved, lost, and killed along the way.
While not on par with other comic movies like The Dark Knight or X-Men, Wolverine is certainly not a boring movie. Written by David Benioff and Skip Woods, there are many exciting fight scenes and thrilling moments (most notably the insertion of Adamantium into Wolverine’s bones) that will whet any fanboy’s appetite. The direction by Gavin Hood is also solid. I especially liked how he set up the war montage at the beginning of the movie, which was visually impressive for the guy’s first action movie. This, along with the inclusion of fan favorites Gambit (Taylor Kitsch), Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), and many others should more or less make up for some of the movie’s problems.
This film is by all means, not perfect. It suffers from a severe case of the Summer Blockbuster Film Flu. The explosions are huge; the dialogue is extra cheesy (“Drinking to Forget?” “No, I’m drinking to remember”) and some of the special effects are just downright awful. In some cases, the green screen is very evident and on more than one occasion, Wolvie’s claws looked like they were added in during post-production. Plus, some of the action sequences are just too over the top, even for a comic book movie.
Depending on how one feels about the liberties the screenwriters took with some of the characters’ powers and origins (Deadpool in particular) though, many of the serious problems can be overlooked. I know it is hard for fanboy/girls to take, but many moviegoers are not aware of the major changes that Deadpool was given or the slight alterations on Gambit’s powers. They are not comic book fans themselves. As a comics fan, do I like the changes? No, of course not. Everyone involved in the film would love to appease the comics fans but at the end of the day, they want to make a movie entertaining enough to put moviegoers in the seats and they have done just that. I doubt an average movie fan would not watch the film because Gambit has suddenly developed an ability to walk on walls. It just won’t happen.
Whether you love or hate the film, one thing is very clear: Hugh Jackman is Wolverine. Every time he is on the screen, he just raises the movie up twelve notches and makes the movie fun and entertaining. You can tell he is a huge fan of the character and it definitely shows when you see how much effort he puts into the role. The man just embodies the role in every way.
The other actors in the cast do their best to hold their own in Jackman’s presence, with varying results. Reynolds’ (in his first drama/action role without his beard!) Deadpool and Kitsch’s Gambit hit the mark, even with the changes to the characters, both big and small. Deadpool’s fight scene with Wolverine and Sabertooth is one of the highlights of the film. Listen up filmmakers: SOMEONE GET RYAN REYNOLDS A SUPERHERO MOVIE TO STAR IN AS THE LEAD SO HE DOESN’T BECOME MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY!!!! Liev Schreiber’s Sabertooth and Danny Huston‘s William Stryker are satisfactory villains but just aren’t menacing enough for Wolverine. Hopefully for the sequel, better villain casting will come along for the ride. Even Will.I.Am‘s John Wraith is tolerable, despite my personal hatred for musicians who try act.
If I had to sum up X-Men Origins: Wolverine in one line, I would have to say that Wolverine is the best at what it does, but what it does isn’t always pretty. Wolverine is the perfect embodiment of a summer popcorn movie and has comic cameos that any fanboy would love but it’s the script’s summer blockbuster tendencies and bad special effects that keep the movie from rising up to the occasion as X-Men and X2 once did.
Ye i agree mainly, i personally loved 98% of this movie becuase i love huge explosions and over the top fight scenes. I also loved spotting all the mutants they had thrown in there, especially when Prof X came. Anyways, my major low points were the moment i noticed they had ruined deadpool (eg cyclops’ optic blasts) and correct me if im wrong but i always thought Wraith was leader of Team X, and the whole stryker thing they got going seems silly as there was a real character like him from the comics.
Jackman great as usual, Blob as hilarious and there were many superb cheesetastic lines. My favorite being the one about wolverine needing to save his country, with Logan replying, “I’M Canadian.”
All in all a great night of action, explosions and Snikt-galore
Comment by Dr Blitzgeek — May 3, 2009 @ 12:17 pm
Being a huge fan of Wolverine, Gambit, and Deadpool – I have to say I was thoroughly disappointed in this movie. Hugh Jackman I love but he can only do so much with a craptacular script. The guy playing Gambit looked like he phoned it in with no attempt at a reasonable Cajun accent. Ryan Reynolds I thought was actually a really good choice for Deadpool but then he was in the movie so little. What really gets to me though are the liberties taken with the known history of Wolverine. They had years and years of source material and the writers make up crap just for the movie. Ridiculous! A few changes I would’ve dealt with if only they had proper character development. I mean, really, would it have taken Wolverine over a 100 years to see that Victor was a vicious douchebag? No! Not to mention that they never hung out in that way – at least in the comics I’ve read. They completely squandered a brilliant character in Deadpool by that idiotic final fight scene. They gave him all the mutants powers? How retarded can you be?? Then to top it off they sewed his mouth shut – that’s the best part of Wade Wilson. The movie certainly could’ve used some Wade Wilson quips to infuse some life. And then – the final straw was the adamantium bullet to erase Logan’s memories. Give me a frackin’ break! What a dismal disappointment.
Comment by Firewoman — May 3, 2009 @ 6:08 pm
Hopefully this movie will tank at the box office so we won’t have to suffer through anymore “hollywood” versions of comic book movies. Marvel is doing a better job with their own studio films (Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, and all the upcoming Avengers related films) of staying true to the characters. It’s ok to change some things, update the character to the modern age like with Iron Man’s origin, but don’t just completely change the character. If they were going to do that, they should have just made up a new character just for the movie. The writers of this movie raped Deadpool. It was a joke how stupid that was. And the Bugs Bunny fire escape chopping scene was ridiculous. The rest of the movie sucked so bad, Gambit’s accent troubles didn’t even bother me. I did like Liev Schreiber much more than Tyler Mane as Sabertooth. But that’s the best thing I can say about this crapfest. I think Daniel Way (the writer of the Deadpool comic)should have a certain Merc with a Mouth go and take care of the writers and director of this steaming pile of crap. They deserve it.
Comment by Deadpool — May 4, 2009 @ 3:09 am
Nice review, I personally thought there were way to many unanswered questions for it to be a great movie but I enjoyed it and had fun. I will say its not worth seeing twice, I went again to catch the other ending and fell asleep through most of the movie.
Comment by Vactor — May 4, 2009 @ 9:43 am
Well, as excited as I was to see Ryan Reynolds sans a beard (WTF? You guys get excited about the most inane things sometimes)… This movie was just laughable.
Cons: Screaming at the sky, chopping a fire escape, cheesy dialog, wolfman mythology, dumping on Deadpool, plot holes galore (how do the ambulances get to a secret island?) and I personally liked the Tyler Mane-look Sabertooth. Pros: Jackman, the opening sequence and that’s about it.
Comment by Enduro — May 4, 2009 @ 3:32 pm
I agree with all that has been said. I’ve read wolverine comics since the very first issue and I don’t call myself a die hard fan but I do know the material. So when I saw that their making sabertooth and wolverine brothers I just wanted to puke. It’s akin to making lex luthor and superman brothers, YOU JUST DON”T DO IT!! Stryker all of a sudden becoming a brain surgen and without a doubt in his mind says a bullet to the head will wipe wolverines memories ( WHAT THE!! ) that is pathetic script writing. And did anybody else notice that his claws were coming out inbetween his knuckles now instead of the back of his hand like they always have been in any other mediums for the past 35 years? And deadpool although good at the start was just tragic what they did to him. Even though at the time wolverine was part of the weapon X program deadpool wasn’t even born yet, neither was gambit ( I could be wrong here but wasn’t gambits last name pronounced La beuw not La bow? ). Why couldn’t they use the original weapon X team? They were better in my view than the crap team they put together. The blob was never a part of weapon X in the first place. I’m really getting sick of hollywood trashing my childhood memories for the sake of the almighty dollar. Part of the reason I became a 3D animator was to make these movies in the exact way they were told in the comics. Those who say it can’t be done should get out of the way of those doing it. And this movies script was a butchery. Ahh now I feel better :) As for something good to say, I will say that if your not a fan your going to like it. The actors did all do a good job in my view. But the best oactors in the world can’t save a movie with a crap script. As the immortal Stan Lee says ” Nuff Said” ;)
Comment by Ttandc — May 5, 2009 @ 1:06 am
i thought Liev Schreiber in particular did an awesome job from all the way through; he brought some genuine acting prowess to the whole production
Comment by Nomad — May 8, 2009 @ 11:31 pm