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Directed By: Gavin Hood
Starring:
Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine
Liev Schreiber as Victor/Sabretooth
Danny Huston as William Stryker
With the premiere of X-Men Origins: Wolverine comes the beginning of the highly-anticipated summer movie season, the time of year where explosions and car chases fill every theater across the country. The box-office is almost always high…but, in the case of this film, the quality is not. The fourth installment in the popular X-Men franchise and the first prequel is a mixed bag of solid performances, faulty special effects, nicely-choreographed fight sequences, and an undeniably hokey plot. In other words, every time I found something that I enjoyed, I found something that I disliked just as much. Compared to Bryan Singer’s masterful visions of the legendary comic book series and even to Brett Ratner’s less impressive attempt, X-Men Origins: Wolverine seems pedestrian and quite unnecessary. Though it certainly is an entertaining action movie, it fails to tell its own unique story, instead choosing to act almost solely as a set-up to the films we have already seen.
Taking place some time before the events portrayed in X-Men, the film details the life of James Logan, better known as the titular Wolverine (Jackman). We learn very early on that he is completely invincible and that those shiny metal blades that slice out of his knuckles were once made out of what appears to be bone. Piecing together what we already know about the character, we can see from the beginning exactly where this film is going. Eventually, his skeleton (and, yes, the blades) will be covered in an indestructible metal alloy called Adamantium and his memory will be wiped clean. We know this because this material has already been covered before. The question posed by this origin story is this: how did these events come to occur? The film tells of his ill-fated love with the beguiling Kayla (Lynn Collins), his tumultuous relationship with his brother Victor (Schreiber), and the beginning of his long-lasting war with the vile William Stryker (Huston).
Screenwriters David Benioff and Skip Woods encounter their first pitfall simply by making Victor and Stryker such important characters. Knowing that Victor will eventually become Sabretooth in X-Men and that Stryker will return in X2: X-Men United, we also know that neither of them can be defeated and that they will both somehow escape Wolverine’s vengeance. Another enemy, the long-awaited Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), is introduced in a role that amounts to little more than a cameo. It’s especially unfortunate because, had the screenwriters focused more on this character as the primary adversary, I believe that it would have been easier to overlook the noticeably flawed technological side of this occasionally silly-looking film. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is proof that, though a film has a $150 million budget, it still can occasionally look like it belongs on the Sci-Fi Channel. Its computer effects especially pale in comparison to those presented in the previous films
Am I being excessively hard on X-Men Origins: Wolverine? Sure I am--when a film has such a huge budget, features a truly talented cast, and is the prequel to a remarkable trilogy, it is difficult to not expect something more than what is offered here. For full disclosure, I must say that I enjoyed myself on a very basic level. After all, the computer effects aside, Gavin Hood is very good at crafting nearly wall-to-wall action set pieces that are masterfully-constructed and undeniably exciting. In addition, numerous nods to the previous films and intriguing revelations about the character of Wolverine did keep me interested for much of the duration. Still, audiences deserve better…in fact, the franchise itself deserved better. The compelling political overtones and the captivating relationships that propelled the original trilogy are often replaced with even more explosive action and dialog that always sounds as though it was meant to be a sound byte in the movie trailer. It’s unfortunate because, though the film isn’t bad, it could have been so much more.
Taking place some time before the events portrayed in X-Men, the film details the life of James Logan, better known as the titular Wolverine (Jackman). We learn very early on that he is completely invincible and that those shiny metal blades that slice out of his knuckles were once made out of what appears to be bone. Piecing together what we already know about the character, we can see from the beginning exactly where this film is going. Eventually, his skeleton (and, yes, the blades) will be covered in an indestructible metal alloy called Adamantium and his memory will be wiped clean. We know this because this material has already been covered before. The question posed by this origin story is this: how did these events come to occur? The film tells of his ill-fated love with the beguiling Kayla (Lynn Collins), his tumultuous relationship with his brother Victor (Schreiber), and the beginning of his long-lasting war with the vile William Stryker (Huston).
Screenwriters David Benioff and Skip Woods encounter their first pitfall simply by making Victor and Stryker such important characters. Knowing that Victor will eventually become Sabretooth in X-Men and that Stryker will return in X2: X-Men United, we also know that neither of them can be defeated and that they will both somehow escape Wolverine’s vengeance. Another enemy, the long-awaited Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), is introduced in a role that amounts to little more than a cameo. It’s especially unfortunate because, had the screenwriters focused more on this character as the primary adversary, I believe that it would have been easier to overlook the noticeably flawed technological side of this occasionally silly-looking film. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is proof that, though a film has a $150 million budget, it still can occasionally look like it belongs on the Sci-Fi Channel. Its computer effects especially pale in comparison to those presented in the previous films
Am I being excessively hard on X-Men Origins: Wolverine? Sure I am--when a film has such a huge budget, features a truly talented cast, and is the prequel to a remarkable trilogy, it is difficult to not expect something more than what is offered here. For full disclosure, I must say that I enjoyed myself on a very basic level. After all, the computer effects aside, Gavin Hood is very good at crafting nearly wall-to-wall action set pieces that are masterfully-constructed and undeniably exciting. In addition, numerous nods to the previous films and intriguing revelations about the character of Wolverine did keep me interested for much of the duration. Still, audiences deserve better…in fact, the franchise itself deserved better. The compelling political overtones and the captivating relationships that propelled the original trilogy are often replaced with even more explosive action and dialog that always sounds as though it was meant to be a sound byte in the movie trailer. It’s unfortunate because, though the film isn’t bad, it could have been so much more.
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