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X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review

I didn't expect much going in to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The first X-Men was great, and X2 was even better (X2 remains one of my top five favorite comic-inspired movies of all time*). X3 was solid for the most part, but nowhere near the peak of its predecessors. At least that meant that the bar was set relatively low for Wolverine. Unfortunately, it also meant that I had no strong desire to go see the movie. Fortunately, some friends went to see it this weekend and I was volunteered to go along as well. I'm glad I did: while it was still less than the first two, overall it was a very good movie. Spoiler review after the link...

The best parts were, no surprise, the action sequences. The team overtaking the base, Wolverine vs. the military, and the fight atop one of the Three Mile Island cooling towers were all very well staged. The latter was particularly impressive, with Deadpool taking on both Wolverine and Sabertooth at the same time.



When the movie slowed down, it also lost its way a bit. Family scenes with Wolverine (both as a child and as an adult) felt forced, as did many of the comedic scenes. These scenes didn't ruin the movie, but they definitely didn't add much. There also seemed to be a real lack of continuity in places. The use of Wolverine's civilian name (either "James/Jimmy" or "Logan") was all over the place, the weight of his adamantium enhancements would come and go as needed, etc.



There were also a few changes that are sure to raise the ire of comic fans. The first half of the graphic novel Origin was reduced to a few minutes in a pre-title sequence, and as such was less coherent and had none of the weight of the novel. Spending a little more time on this would've been nice. The second half of the novel wasn't used as such, though some elements obviously inspired scenes in the movie. Deadpool was handled very differently, and I know some fans will hate what they did to him here. I didn't mind it so much, but I can understand why it may annoy some fans.



Lastly, some random personal notes:

  • The opening credits showed Wolverine and Sabertooth growing up together, and the world events that took place during their lives. It was actually a very good sequence, but is sure to draw comparisons to the similar "times they are a-changing" sequence in Watchmen.


  • I thought the adamantium bullet idea was poorly handled. I don't actually mind that the head trauma caused amnesia, but Stryker knowing exactly what would happen before he even loaded the gun was too much. I would've preferred that Stryker used the gun out of desperation, thought that he had made a successful kill, and the amnesia was an unintended side effect.


  • I know they're canon in the Marvel Universe, but I still hate the bone claws. Not from a storytelling perspective, but from a biological one: not only are long, thin, fully-retractable claws unheard of in nature, his forearms would've had to look like Popeye's to include both the bones and the musculature needed to move them.


  • Speaking of claws, I don't know why the adamantium claws looked as bad in this as they did. Maybe they were CGI instead of traditional props, or maybe they were just created differently than they were in the previous movies. Either way, I thought they really looked fake here.




* In sort-of descending order, my top five favorite comic-inspired movies are: The Dark Knight, Men in Black, Iron Man, X2, and Spider-Man 2.


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