On Vox: movie thoughts: X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Wow.
I mean, I knew it had received poor reviews, but nothing could have prepared me for how bad this movie was. It wasn't any of the actors' fault - they were trying their best - but the script and the editing was just all over the place.
The only reason I knew what was going on was because I had played the video game which, oddly enough, made a heck of a lot more sense and had a lot better pacing than the movie.
After Bryan Singer's X-Men and X2, the bar was set pretty high for this franchise. When the studio ditched Singer for X3, most of us were disappointed in the film we were given. I'm not sure who or what was behind the mess that is Wolverine, but as much as I didn't enjoy X3, at least it had a plot that I could follow, as stupid as it was.
What frustrates me the most when movies like this fail, is the knowledge that there are comic books out there, books with coherent plots that treat the characters with respect (and the continuity) that were completely ignored in the name of BLOW UP STUFF GUD! I wasn't feeling any love for the studio, all I saw was their equations of comic books + movie = easy money for studio. They always seem to forget that quality plays a part. *sigh*
And they should be ashamed for wasting Gambit, a character popular with so many fans. A story about Gambit and Wolverine would have made a lot of sense because they are very similar characters - walking the line between the good and the bad. But no, this movie brings Gambit in just long enough to feature him in the trailer, and that is it. WASTE!!!
On top of that, the other mutants they introduce as part of Stryker's team, they never properly explain their powers. You can almost hear the director chuckling about how cool it will be just to start the story in this random spot. Yeah, maybe it hits the ground running, but your audience wasn't ready yet, and they are still standing at the starting line.
The movie lacks any of the humor from the original films. And Wolverine is supposed to be a snarky badass, but he spends most of this film moping, an Angel wanna-be (seriously, I thought he was going to give a speech about atoning for the things he had done...he should have, he said every other cliche line in the book).
Yeah, I know this review is late...but if you haven't seen the movie yet...just don't bother.
Originally posted on orangerful.vox.com