Director: Gavin Hood
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Ryan Reynolds, Danny Houston
In Cinemas: 29 April 2009
Even before premiering at the box office, X-Men Origins: Wolverine has had a controversial life to say the least.
Its troubled past includes rumors of ‘creative differences’ between Gavin Hood (director) and Thomas Rothman (20th Century Fox Executive and head honcho) throughout production, hardly making for a nurturing creative environment.
Then, but a month from the theatrical release date, an unauthorised work print of the unpolished film found its way onto the internet to be downloaded by any novice computer user. This left a lot of people wondering how the film would stand up, especially compared to the hugely successfulX-Men, the first in the franchise.
When the first X-Men movie hit our screens in the year 2000, it was extremely well received by both moviegoers and critics alike. Based on the popular (and extremely large) Marvel comic book series, it told the story of a group of misfits forced to form their own community and live outside of mainstream society, simply because they were different. This doesn’t sound like a huge blockbuster, except for the fact that these people are known as “mutants” due to being born with the ‘X-gene’ – a genetic mutation that empowers each individual with different super-human abilities....
X-Men was one of the rare ‘comic book’ movies that managed to stay faithful to its source material without alienating those viewers who wouldn’t know the difference between the characters Wolverine and Storm. It could also be argued that the first X film was the catalyst for the large number of superhero movies that followed – a wave which was helped along bySpiderman in 2002. Praised director Brian Singer (Usual Suspects) returned to direct the sequelX2, which received similar praise from fans and critics and displayed huge numbers at the box office.
X-Men was one of the rare ‘comic book’ movies that managed to stay faithful to its source material without alienating those viewers who wouldn’t know the difference between the characters Wolverine and Storm. It could also be argued that the first X film was the catalyst for the large number of superhero movies that followed – a wave which was helped along bySpiderman in 2002. Praised director Brian Singer (Usual Suspects) returned to direct the sequelX2, which received similar praise from fans and critics and displayed huge numbers at the box office.
The franchise took somewhat of a dip in quality with X3: The Last Stand. It still pulled impressive numbers financially but the general consensus seemed to be that the story was rushed, full of too many characters and lacking in overall polish. This was also hampered by Singer’s decision not to direct, with Brett Ratner taking the reins instead. It seemed that fans were left with a slightly bitter taste in their mouths and were eager to rinse their cinema palettes clean with agood addition to the franchise – enter Wolverine.
Personally, I’m a fan of Hugh Jackman, I’m a fan of Liev Schrieber, I love the character of Wolverine (although I’m not a big reader of the comic) and I was pumped to see this movie.
But X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not the film fans were waiting for, nor will it do much for the average moviegoer. It’s pretty much disappointing all around. I hate to say it, but in a post Iron Man and Dark Knight world, a ‘comic book’ film – simple fun, or gritty and dramatic – has a lot to live up to, and Wolverine doesn’t step up to the plate.
As the title suggests, the story is focused on the character of Wolverine or Logan (Jackman),and the relationship he has with his brother Sabretooth or Victor Creed (Schreiber). Both brothers possess similar powers; the ability to heal almost instantly and heightened, animal-like senses. Where they differ, however, is in their ‘weapon’ mutations. Wolverine has retractable bone claws, while Sabretooth is able to increase the size of his…fingernails.
The film opens in 1845, with the reveal that Victor and Logan are brothers. It’s a first minute twist that feels out of place. Why not begin with them already knowing they’re related? Especially since this information is revealed literally within the first five minutes.
We’re then shown a credit sequence that details their long lives, as they fight through the American Civil War, WWI, WWII and the Vietnam War. Due to their healing abilities, their aging process is very slow. It’s a pretty entertaining introduction to the film, which is a shame because everything that follows falls short of the mark.
Victor and Logan are recruited into a special military unit, Team X, which apparently exists solely to help the exploits of the shady Colonel William Stryker (Huston). Suffice to say, the brothers have a falling out, Victor kills Logan’s girlfriend, Logan wants revenge. Col Stryker offers to turn Logan into an indestructible beast, Logan accepts, a procedure takes place in which Logan’s skeletal structure is covered in a metal called adamantium. Col Stryker, having conducted his experiment, attempts to kill Logan (who now calls himself Wolverine). Wolverine escapes, continues to hunt down his brother whilst on the run from Col Stryker and his crew.
Phew…make sense?The biggest problem with Wolverine is the writing, and having passed through the hands of so many writers, it’s not too much of a surprise that it is lacking. The story jumps from one point to another with such a fast pace that you have no idea what the hell is going on. The same applies to the characters introduced; they’re given extremely little screen time to establish themselves, so that when they appear later in the film you’re scratching your head thinking who is he again?
It’s all well and good for me to dislike the story (or not understand it), but Wolverine has been marketed as an action film, and it does have a lot of explosive set pieces. The problem is that none of them stand out. They all seem to pass by without consequence, and you never get the impression that Logan/Wolverine is in danger because each sequence seems more absurd than the last. I understand that’s a formula for the genre, but unless it’s pulled of effectively (such as in Transformers), it can ruin any investment you have in the character.
Likewise, the effects don’t quite have the polish you would expect. Some of the green-screen work is quite obvious (forgivable) and a lot of the time Wolverine’s claws look incredibly computer generated (unforgivable). I’d go so far as to say that they looked better in the first X film. Why use computer generated imagery when you can easily apply a physical effect?
That said, I didn’t go into the cinema wanting to dislike this movie and I don’t want to come across as overly critical. But being a fan of the character and the first two movies, I was hoping for a fun action film that delivered a little of an insight into the mind of Wolverine. Perhaps I was fooled by the marketing or sucked into the hype machine, but I was extremely disappointed in this film. It is quite ambitious at times, and both Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber deliver solid performances, especially considering what they were working with – yet it doesn’t quite deliver on everything it promises.
