Thursday, Sep. 24, 2009

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I could just come out and say, “oh this is the best action movie since the inception of comic book adaptations” or I could make vomit sounds about how this movie has furthered the dumbing-down of the X-Men franchise that started out so brilliantly. So to be fair, I have decided to analyze this film from the four different perspectives from which it should be judged.

1. The Comic Book Fanatic – From the viewpoint of the comic collector, this is an atrocity. The characters were snatched from three decades and thrown together in a loose plot. Plus the beloved Gambit was not only underused but came off as a bit flat.

2. Fans of the X-Men Film Franchise – There is no denying that the gold-standard of the X-Men movies were the first two directed by Bryan Singer. Singer addressed this film’s content in “X2” through flashbacks that were perhaps more effective than this movie could muster in two hours.

3. The Chick Factor – Hugh Jackman is ripped and naked, some times in extended scenes with his muscle sinew shining as he runs bare-ass in the sun. Ryan Reynolds and the supporting cast are also easy on the eyes.

4. The Action Movie Fan – If you are not taking notes on the character’s back-stories in relation to the original comics; if you are just looking for a good action movie with wall- to-wall action, then this may be the movie for you. Liev Schreiber is a top notch bad guy and the movie is filled with as many colorful characters as they could pack in to allow Wolverine to kick-ass in any given manner. So the verdict is not quite vomiting noises but far from cheers. It doesn’t live up to the rest of the franchise, but give Jackman props for hanging in there, to see the character through from the sequels to the prequel.