Genre: Action, Comic Book Adaptation
Director: Gavin Hood
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Lynn Collins, Taylor Kitsch
Running Time: 107 minutes (plus trailers)
Bryan Singers 2000 film X-Men was the beginning of the re-emergence of the superhero movie, a genre that has since become the cornerstone of the summer blockbuster season. It proved that comic book films could be dark and serious and (to a certain extent) grounded in reality. Sam Raimi’s Spiderman, John Favreau’s Iron Man and of course Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight are just a few of the now hundred million dollar film franchises that have been spawned in the last decade, and one could argue that none of them would exist without Singers original. The X-Men series has itself enjoyed two massively popular sequels, as well as now what will surely be the first of many spin-offs. In X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Hugh Jackman reprises his career making role as the adamantium clawed rogue mutant set on revenge. Taking place before the first X-Men, this film sheds light on Wolverines past, his troubled relationship with his brother Victor a.k.a Sabretooth and his involvement in the Weapon X program under Col. William Stryker (the bad guy from the second film). With the commercial and critical success of the earlier films (or at the least the first two), X-Men Origins: Wolverine has a lot to live up to. And sadly, it most certainly does not.
When you sit down to watch Wolverine, something that becomes very clear very quickly is that it is not a smart movie. Whereas X-Men spent enormous time on fleshing out well rounded characters, this movie gets most of its character development out of the way in the opening credits. Where X-Men explored themes of intolerance and belonging, Wolverine explores themes of shit blowing up. Not that there’s anything wrong with action – indeed, one major criticism of the first X-Men film is that there barely is any – but a little balance would be nice. The character work really is the low point of the film; there are so many beloved characters in the comics that didn’t make it into the original trilogy, and so it seemed as though the goal of this movie was to fit everyone in. Therefore, fans will get to see Gambit, Emma Frost and Blob, but their appearances are so brief and/or pointless that it is impossible to form any attachment to them. Don’t worry though...I’m sure they’ll all get their own origin movie eventually.
Not everything story wise is a bust. I found the relationship between Wolverine and Sabretooth really compelling, thanks mainly to the great performances by Jackman and Liev Schreiber. While in X-Men Sabretooth was just a minion, here he is a fairly complex character (complex for a Hollywood action film at least) who becomes consumed by his bloodlust, and Schreiber performs admirably. And of course Wolverine is who Jackman was born to play, and he is excellent in every scene; it’s just a shame that a lot of his role comes down to roaring at the sky and stretching his arms out as far as he can. The dynamic between the brothers is the base on which the whole movie is built, and thankfully it holds up, even when the other major relationship - between Wolverine and his love interest - fails completely.
One thing about this film that surprised me was how mediocre the action was. There’s plenty of it, but poor editing sometimes makes it hard to figure out what is going on. Director Gavin Hood previously made Tsotsi and Rendition, so I’m not entirely sure how he got a job behind the helm of a major action film. A bigger problem than the editing though is that barring the ‘Lagos’ sequence and the final fight scene (which I really enjoyed), most of the action pieces are exactly the same. Wolverine and Sabretooth face off from opposite ends of a room…charge at each other in slow-motion…go flying through a wall/window (also in slow-motion)…trade a few blows until one of them is pinned. Then rather than delivering a kill strike, they chose to exchange banter for a while, during which a distractions comes along and breaks up the fight. Until next round, that is. It’s becomes very boring, and dodgy CGI in many places doesn’t help.
Overall, I think that X-Men Origins: Wolverine succeeds in being entertaining…barely. However, it lacks the intelligence of Bryan Singers films, whose directorial skills are also sorely missed. The last half hour really redeems the film – the quality of the action and special effects pick up considerably, leading to a very thrilling final showdown (even if it is against one of the stupidest looking final bosses of all time.) Jackman is great, and Ryan Reynolds in a brief appearance as the wise-cracking mercenary Deadpool is another highlight. The good news is that since this movie made a huge chunk of cash on its opening weekend, a Deadpool spin-off has been announced, with Reynolds set to reprise his role. Not only that, but Wolverine 2 is also in the works. The truth is that this franchise is a huge cash cow for Fox Studios, and so we can look forward to many, many X-Men Origins films in the future. Let’s just hope they improve.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is in cinemas now
P.S. The Blob? That's a character you probably want to keep confined to the pages of a comic.
P.S.S The CGI claws look retarded. I don't care if he did accidentally stab a stuntwoman, give him a prop!
Director: Gavin Hood
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Lynn Collins, Taylor Kitsch
Running Time: 107 minutes (plus trailers)
Bryan Singers 2000 film X-Men was the beginning of the re-emergence of the superhero movie, a genre that has since become the cornerstone of the summer blockbuster season. It proved that comic book films could be dark and serious and (to a certain extent) grounded in reality. Sam Raimi’s Spiderman, John Favreau’s Iron Man and of course Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight are just a few of the now hundred million dollar film franchises that have been spawned in the last decade, and one could argue that none of them would exist without Singers original. The X-Men series has itself enjoyed two massively popular sequels, as well as now what will surely be the first of many spin-offs. In X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Hugh Jackman reprises his career making role as the adamantium clawed rogue mutant set on revenge. Taking place before the first X-Men, this film sheds light on Wolverines past, his troubled relationship with his brother Victor a.k.a Sabretooth and his involvement in the Weapon X program under Col. William Stryker (the bad guy from the second film). With the commercial and critical success of the earlier films (or at the least the first two), X-Men Origins: Wolverine has a lot to live up to. And sadly, it most certainly does not.
When you sit down to watch Wolverine, something that becomes very clear very quickly is that it is not a smart movie. Whereas X-Men spent enormous time on fleshing out well rounded characters, this movie gets most of its character development out of the way in the opening credits. Where X-Men explored themes of intolerance and belonging, Wolverine explores themes of shit blowing up. Not that there’s anything wrong with action – indeed, one major criticism of the first X-Men film is that there barely is any – but a little balance would be nice. The character work really is the low point of the film; there are so many beloved characters in the comics that didn’t make it into the original trilogy, and so it seemed as though the goal of this movie was to fit everyone in. Therefore, fans will get to see Gambit, Emma Frost and Blob, but their appearances are so brief and/or pointless that it is impossible to form any attachment to them. Don’t worry though...I’m sure they’ll all get their own origin movie eventually.
Not everything story wise is a bust. I found the relationship between Wolverine and Sabretooth really compelling, thanks mainly to the great performances by Jackman and Liev Schreiber. While in X-Men Sabretooth was just a minion, here he is a fairly complex character (complex for a Hollywood action film at least) who becomes consumed by his bloodlust, and Schreiber performs admirably. And of course Wolverine is who Jackman was born to play, and he is excellent in every scene; it’s just a shame that a lot of his role comes down to roaring at the sky and stretching his arms out as far as he can. The dynamic between the brothers is the base on which the whole movie is built, and thankfully it holds up, even when the other major relationship - between Wolverine and his love interest - fails completely.
One thing about this film that surprised me was how mediocre the action was. There’s plenty of it, but poor editing sometimes makes it hard to figure out what is going on. Director Gavin Hood previously made Tsotsi and Rendition, so I’m not entirely sure how he got a job behind the helm of a major action film. A bigger problem than the editing though is that barring the ‘Lagos’ sequence and the final fight scene (which I really enjoyed), most of the action pieces are exactly the same. Wolverine and Sabretooth face off from opposite ends of a room…charge at each other in slow-motion…go flying through a wall/window (also in slow-motion)…trade a few blows until one of them is pinned. Then rather than delivering a kill strike, they chose to exchange banter for a while, during which a distractions comes along and breaks up the fight. Until next round, that is. It’s becomes very boring, and dodgy CGI in many places doesn’t help.
Overall, I think that X-Men Origins: Wolverine succeeds in being entertaining…barely. However, it lacks the intelligence of Bryan Singers films, whose directorial skills are also sorely missed. The last half hour really redeems the film – the quality of the action and special effects pick up considerably, leading to a very thrilling final showdown (even if it is against one of the stupidest looking final bosses of all time.) Jackman is great, and Ryan Reynolds in a brief appearance as the wise-cracking mercenary Deadpool is another highlight. The good news is that since this movie made a huge chunk of cash on its opening weekend, a Deadpool spin-off has been announced, with Reynolds set to reprise his role. Not only that, but Wolverine 2 is also in the works. The truth is that this franchise is a huge cash cow for Fox Studios, and so we can look forward to many, many X-Men Origins films in the future. Let’s just hope they improve.X-Men Origins: Wolverine is in cinemas now
P.S. The Blob? That's a character you probably want to keep confined to the pages of a comic.
P.S.S The CGI claws look retarded. I don't care if he did accidentally stab a stuntwoman, give him a prop!
