Movie review - X-Men Origins - Wolverine
Wolverine film proves a good offense is the best defense.
Can anyone out there actually admit to being excited to go see this film from the previews? Can you?! If I'm in charge of the second Wolverine film the first thing I do is fire the preview editors. The previews looked way over the top and heavily involving many more mutants than a Wolverine flick, especially an origins story, should dabble with. After going to see this, I have to say the previews don't do this story justice.
The most clever thing about this film is how ingenious all of the comic book story arcs were woven into a cohesive plot. I am really impressed that the writers kept so true to the comics. Granted, they had to skip pretty large chunks to fit the most important aspects in but it was done with considerable skill. From Logan (a.k.a. James) as a boy, through adulthood where he doesn't age as most people, to fighting in all of the major wars, to present where he works as a special ops agent providing muscle where it is needed. All of these comic book stories published over the course of decades in one film... I didn't think it could be done, much less done well.
While I am most impressed with this production, it is not without flaws. Some of the characters seem a bit exaggerated even for comic book personalities. The action is definitely something to see in the theater but be prepared to spot some horridly obvious wire work which breaks the visual flow of the film. I wasn't a big fan of how Creed's claws tended to grow and contract at will. I can buy the knuckle claws from Logan but Victor's fingernails... that's a bit weak.
The other thing I wasn't too big on was there wasn't enough strong women characters. Sure, Logan's love interest was there and was strong but she wasn't a dominant character being such a small part of the film. Granted, it's probably being more true to the Wolverine comics keeping most of the characters big beefy dudes but it could have used a woman's touch a bit earlier in the flick.
Do I think they could have made a better origin story about Wolverine? Sure. Do I think they could have done that in a way that would appease the film critic and the fan boy in me? Probably not. It was definitely better than X-Men Last Stand (not the hardest thing to accomplish) so it definitely gets a recommendation from me. Catch it at a matinee if you must but this is one to see in the theater for sure!
