Review of X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) by Simeon M — 07 Jun 2014

The main deal:

Origins is sloppy. It's not terrible, just sloppy. But in early 2008, Iron Man came out and changed everything. Now there's pre-Iron Man and post-Iron Man. Post-Iron Man, sloppy just doesn't cut it.

An good Superhero film that more or less wets your appetite in regards to the most interesting origin story in comic book history. Sadly, there's no attempt at mystery here, Origins just tells the story. Beginning to end. Sometimes rather quickly, too quickly. I still think that the first 30 seconds of the very first Wolverine Trailer was the coolest bit of Wolverine ever produced on screen. I wish the movie made me feel the way that trailer did.

My main beef with Origins: Wolverine is just too short. This is the story we've wanted to see since childhood, when we saw Wolverine's claws come out and discovered Logan can't remember his past. There's enough worthy material here for several movies, but Origin clips through some of the most interesting and previously mysterious bits in about 45 minutes. With films like The Dark Knight reaching an epic 2:45, how is a meager 1:45 of Wolverine going to satisfy our appetite?

The team of mutants is full of interesting and fascinating characters, but these guys are hardly introduced before Wolverine takes off to do something else. It basically gives you just enough to make a good or bad first impression, because you'll need that impression later so you know when to cheer or remorse when they die. This doesn't ruin the film, was just a disappointment. Don't get too excited about Gambit either, he was terribly underused.

And this isn't the REALLY interesting version of Wolverine's Origin either. The Origin Book was mostly ignored, (one of the best graphic novels ever), and Wolverine's plot to assassinate Prof. X was not used here either. This is the Origin for the Movie Trilogy, not necessarily the comic canon.

Alright, enough ripping on it. Once I watched it a second time and had my expectations in order, I liked Wolverine, I really did. It had great action, decent story, and terrific casting: Hugh Jackman was born to play Wolverine. Liev Schreiber was a great Sabertooth, couldn't asked for a better portrayal. I just wanted... *more* from it.

My feelings on the movie are summed up by a comment made to Wolverine towards the end: "when you said you were gonna kill everybody, I thought you were just exaggerating." -Really? Cause I'm pretty sure Wolverine only killed *one* person after saying that. I'm not asking too much, am I? Just give me what you promise? Trailers promised "Finally the origin of Wolverine" and we got "cool, slightly rushed, but entertaining backstory." Just like when we hear a claim like "I'm gonna kill everybody," I'd like to see Wolverine just kick all kinds of butt in an epic climax. Oh well, a psuedo-epic climax works fine.

To sum it up:

A good movie that returns some honor to the X-Men name. It tells the story we've always wanted to know, though sometimes falling short of our imagination. I enjoyed it all the way through, but left the theater feeling a little empty.