Review of X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) by Anuj & A — 19 Feb 2017

Not incredibly original but a whole lot of fun, X-Men Origins: Wolverine directed by Gavin Hood brings us a cool film to begin "timeline A" for the X-Men universe, with some extra cheese.

With what ultimately serves as a prequel to the original X-Men saga and a beginning to the overall universe, Wolverine is a cheesy, action-packed comic book movie that doesn't make much attempt to deviate from the norm or drive too deep into the story of why our main character is who he is other than the cliché change of heart you'd expect in a cop drama . That being said Jackman's performance is stellar given the George Lucas style dialogue he is given to work with. Liev Schreiber and Danny Huston also do well with their performances and Lynn Collins does okay but a soft script makes it hard to connect or care about anyone else than our heavy-handed lead narrative that is presented.

With decent effects which are expected for a film of this budget, the film really falls down with its biggest draw, the action. Quick cuts and what feels like a thousand shots for each fight scene keep the viewer from keeping a proper eye-line during the fights resulting in a visual mess paired with a score more Bollywood than Hollywood. In what should be the most exciting parts of the film, the nonsensical camera work and edit job just leave you wanting more.

It's not the worst "starting point" and what the film does do well is capture the fun and style of the comic book genre to get the ball rolling for the more adult films to follow.