So I saw Wolverine...
Stop now if you don't want to be spoiled or if you have no stomach for rants.
First let me say that I love, love, love Hugh Jackman and I think he makes an awesome Wlverine (I choose to ignore the fact that he's too tall). He captures the character completely and Xmen1 and Xmen2 were terrific movies. So, I can get past some of the changes that many comics fans still gripe about.
That being said Wolverine Origins is a terrible movie and here's the bad along with some good (very little good.)
The plot involves Wolverine walking away from a special ops role to find a normal life. When Sabertooth kills his girlfriend he volunteers to have the adamantium procedure so he can kill Sabertooth. Sabertooth is presented as Wolvie's brother so that they can have the emotional arc of going from best buds to rivals. Except Sabertooth IS NOT Wolverines brother in the comic books. When Striker sends Deadpool after Wolvie to bring him back to Weapon X, Sabertooth is back at his brother's side.
Did I mention the girlfriend isn't really dead - she only seduced Wolvie because Striker threatened her sister - Emma Frost, who was never in the weapon X program and neither was Cyclops who ends up there too (and don't get me started on the ridiculous capture of Scott Summers to get him there)
Deadpool is an awesome comic book character and Ryan Reynolds was perfectly cast. The thing that makes Deadpool great is his snarky mouth and running commentary. In the beginning, they get this right but in the end they completely F@%k up his character. It seems Striker is collecting mutant powers to create the ultimate mutant weapon. He turns Deadpool into this freak that has Cyclop's eye beams and teleporting abilities from John Wraith and even Saber swords embedded in his wrists like Wolverine's claws. But the kicker is that Striker sews his mouth shut. WHY!?!? The mouth is what makes Deadpool who he is. Why destroy the character this way and then kill him?
Gambit has one nice scene but is completely wasted and while they get his character right he is now ten years older than all the mutants we see in X-men1.
They introduce John Wraith - who is well played by Will.I.Am and then they kill him - such a waste of a good character.
But the biggest sin they commit is the deux ex machina they pull to erase Wolvie's memory. According to comic book canon there are two explanations for his memory loss. 1) His healing factor wipes his memory just like it was a physical wound when the pain to the adamantium procedure becomes to much to bear or 2) the Weapon X program wiped his memory on purpose while he was vulnerable during the procedure. Neither of these ideas work for the movie because the story line demands that Wolvie have his memory so he can seek revenge on Stryker when he finds out he was tricked into the procedure.
So what do they do to have him without memory at the end? Striker shoots an adamantium bullet into his brain to wipe his memory. HUH?!? How would that even work? If his body can't flush the adamantimum out of his system why wasn't he left with any brain damage beyond memory loss. It's just so stupid I'm not going to even go on about how much this solution bugs me.
So good casting and Hugh Jackman did the best he could with a bad plot and severe character assassination. Plus did I mention it was all rather boring.
First let me say that I love, love, love Hugh Jackman and I think he makes an awesome Wlverine (I choose to ignore the fact that he's too tall). He captures the character completely and Xmen1 and Xmen2 were terrific movies. So, I can get past some of the changes that many comics fans still gripe about.
That being said Wolverine Origins is a terrible movie and here's the bad along with some good (very little good.)
The plot involves Wolverine walking away from a special ops role to find a normal life. When Sabertooth kills his girlfriend he volunteers to have the adamantium procedure so he can kill Sabertooth. Sabertooth is presented as Wolvie's brother so that they can have the emotional arc of going from best buds to rivals. Except Sabertooth IS NOT Wolverines brother in the comic books. When Striker sends Deadpool after Wolvie to bring him back to Weapon X, Sabertooth is back at his brother's side.
Did I mention the girlfriend isn't really dead - she only seduced Wolvie because Striker threatened her sister - Emma Frost, who was never in the weapon X program and neither was Cyclops who ends up there too (and don't get me started on the ridiculous capture of Scott Summers to get him there)
Deadpool is an awesome comic book character and Ryan Reynolds was perfectly cast. The thing that makes Deadpool great is his snarky mouth and running commentary. In the beginning, they get this right but in the end they completely F@%k up his character. It seems Striker is collecting mutant powers to create the ultimate mutant weapon. He turns Deadpool into this freak that has Cyclop's eye beams and teleporting abilities from John Wraith and even Saber swords embedded in his wrists like Wolverine's claws. But the kicker is that Striker sews his mouth shut. WHY!?!? The mouth is what makes Deadpool who he is. Why destroy the character this way and then kill him?
Gambit has one nice scene but is completely wasted and while they get his character right he is now ten years older than all the mutants we see in X-men1.
They introduce John Wraith - who is well played by Will.I.Am and then they kill him - such a waste of a good character.
But the biggest sin they commit is the deux ex machina they pull to erase Wolvie's memory. According to comic book canon there are two explanations for his memory loss. 1) His healing factor wipes his memory just like it was a physical wound when the pain to the adamantium procedure becomes to much to bear or 2) the Weapon X program wiped his memory on purpose while he was vulnerable during the procedure. Neither of these ideas work for the movie because the story line demands that Wolvie have his memory so he can seek revenge on Stryker when he finds out he was tricked into the procedure.
So what do they do to have him without memory at the end? Striker shoots an adamantium bullet into his brain to wipe his memory. HUH?!? How would that even work? If his body can't flush the adamantimum out of his system why wasn't he left with any brain damage beyond memory loss. It's just so stupid I'm not going to even go on about how much this solution bugs me.
So good casting and Hugh Jackman did the best he could with a bad plot and severe character assassination. Plus did I mention it was all rather boring.