X-men Origins Wolverine

Running time, 1 hour, 45 minutes

Okay, I'm not sure what I can add to what's already been said about Wolverine. He's been named the greatest Marvel Comics character of all time, he's been in countless comics, video games, and the star of the first 3 X-Men movies. So all I can offer is my opinion... I should preface this that as a big fan of comics, I could go through a nitpick all the things that were changed. In fact, I did this for about 15 minutes with a really die hard Wolverine fan at work the other day. This would be pointless, as this is a movie, and bottom line, I think it does a pretty damn good job of condensing 30 some odd years of Wolverine history into a fairly coherent movie. I'm also going to try and avoid any major plot points that haven't been shown in the previews, so if you haven't seen the previews, then don't read what follows

A lot of the internet reviews compare this film to X-Men 3, the Last Stand, which I don't think is really fair. In both movies, there are a lot of mutants and a lot of characters all together, but this in and itself isn't a terrible thing. I mean, the Lord of the Rings movies had literally dozens of characters, and they were pretty awesome. The problem with X-Men 3 was it had too many plots: you had the Mutant Cure (1), the Phoenix story (2), and Magneto and his Acolytes attacking mankind (3), not to mention introducing important characters like Beast and Angel.

X-men Origins Wolverine is actually a fairly linear story about James/Logan/Wolverine. I think the strongest part is the two opening sequences. First, you get Logan as a kid, followed by him and his brother Victor fighting in a lot of the major wars. Then, he gets recruited by the government and joins "Team X" or the "Weapon X" team, a bunch of mutant mercenaries who do covert ops type missions. There's also a fairly well done love story, and when the movie shifts into the present (there actually aren't too many flashbacks, most of the movie is in chronological order), you get some fun cameos from the first 3 X-Men movies.

I have to take a plot recap break and talk about the casting. In general, the Marvel movies have done an absolutely superb job with casting. After DC ruined Batman by casting the biggest Hollywood stars they could, (Jim Carrey, George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, The Governator) Marvel has consistently strayed from big names for more acting talent. Obviously, Hugh Jackman is once again fantastic as Wolverine and he has a little more range to cover in this movie. He's in absolutely fantastic physical shape and I found it cool that he focused on being amazingly toned and muscular without being overly bulky, which fit the character. Acting wise, I especially liked the touching scene about half way through when he befriends an older couple on a farm.

The best new character for me was Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth (You may remember Schreiber from the Scream movies as Cotton Weary or the psychotic kidnapper from Ransom). I know most people remember Sabretooth as the hairy 7 foot tall goon from the first X-Men movie which was closer to how he was depicted in the X-Men comics. In the Wolverine comics, he was a lot more of a three dimensional, yet still menacing human character. There's a good combination of aggression, physical menace (he's seems a lot taller and bigger than Jackman even though he's 6'3"... a whole inch taller), and a sense of fun that he has with the character.

I also have to mention Danny Huston as a scheming Stryker (although I preferred Brian Cox's take on the character from X-Men 2, apparently he was busy with a Day of the Triffids remake or something), Will. I. Am. (I feel dumb typing that) as the suave teleporter John Wraith, and Lynn Collins as the sensual SilverFox who all do a fine job. A little gem for me personally was Dominic Monaghan (better known as Merry from Lord of the Rings or the rock star in Lost) who really portrays the sad reality of living with mutant powers (one of the better elements from the first 2 X-Movies). Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool was also spot on, with his usual charismatic sarcasm being a perfect fit for the merc with a mouth. One final supporting cast star goes to Kevin Durand as the Blob, yes it's a pretty comedic, one note performance, but with how serious most of the rest of the movie was, it was a nice change of pace.


Finally, Taylor Kitsch as Gambit... To preface this section, I'm a huge fan of Gambit, I loved him in the 90s animated series, I thought then if they did a movie that Jean Claude Van Damme should play him (Before you laugh, Van Damme could do the stunts, had the accent... okay, I was 13, it was a dumb idea, laugh) (I also wanted Dolph Lungdren as Colossus, so he could bust out "I will break him") The producers of X-Men tried to get Gambit in both part 2 (in the X-mansion invasion scene) and part 3 (in the military transport that housed Juggernaut and Multiple Man), but decided he was too important for a glorified cameo. Well, that's pretty much what the character ended up with. Kitsch looks the part, but his accent isn't Cajun at all (it sounds more Texasish then anything else) and isn't much of an actor either. Also, since when did Gambit's mutant ability turn into jumping long distances? If they do a spinoff movie and this was just an introduction to the character, I'd be okay with that, but if this is it, its pretty sad and pathetic (and really distracting to the important WOLVERINE story).

It actually reminds me a lot of Venom in Spiderman 3, where it seems like some producer was like "If you make another X-Men movie, you HAVE to use Gambit" and the director was like "But it's a Wolverine movie" and then the producer says "Pick one of Gambit! Giant Metal Spiders! Wolverine fights polar bears" and the director is like, "fine, Gambit, let's see, replace Maverick or Forge, add in Gambit, DONE!"

Overall though, really nice, well done action movie. Gavin Hood, who directed, is more known for drama, and he really takes all the time he can for character scenes/development. Aside from my Gambit gripes, most of the acting is really well done for a superhero movie. There is some subpar CGI at times with his claws (how is it they look worse and the final sequence/fight seemed really unnecessary and a little silly (especially if you recall the Darth Maul fight from Phantom Menace).

You probably know if you want to see it or not already, but overall, it gets from me...

8/10... and that's all I have to say about that