X-Men Origins: Wolverine

→ in
Tools    





Here's my review of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which I saw on Saturday afternoon.

Had to wrack my brain a bit to figure out why this movie was so mediocre. It seems a lot better on paper, and had a few interesting bits, but after circling around the flick in my head, I decided it failed to resonate because it didn't have anything new to say. Seeing how this stuff happened to Wolverine is kind of like going on a field trip to a pencil factory, when you've already see how they do it on Sesame Street. You get a level of detail you hadn't been privvy to before, but that in and of itself isn't really interesting, because there's nothing about that detail which enhances your understanding of things.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine



Prequels pull back the veil and let us see the chain of events from start to finish for the first time. They allow a fragmented story to make sense. The problem with X-Men Origins: Wolverine is that, when the veil is pulled back, there isn't much new behind it. ...READ MORE




I'm not an X-Men fanatic, so my expectations weren't high.

I found the movie entertaining and agreeable enough -- though its narrative was predictable, and I wasn't impressed with Jackman's performance. (But his brunette love interest was a fine piece of work.)
__________________
www.examiner.com/x-4322-LA-Film-Examiner

"She could talk her way out of a sunburn."
- Gene Hackman in Heist



I ain't gettin' in no fryer!
It seems that those of us who saw it (and reviewed it) all pretty much think the same thing.
__________________
"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg



Excellent review Yoda , even though you didn't like it you made it sound like a pretty interesting movie.
That's probably because the character is so interesting, and there's a lot of thematic depth around him waiting to be mined. There's a lot to work with there, particularly once they made the decision to turn Sabretooth into his brother. That created all sorts of potential contrasts and overarching morals, on topics like nature vs. nurture, and mankind's ability to rise above its baser instincts. The result is a very enticing plot synopsis with a lot of potential, but a surprisingly shallow final product.

Not that the story necessarily needed thematic depth. They could have gone in the opposite direction and turned the whole thing into one big rampage...but they didn't do that, either. I would've been very pleased with an introspective take on why Wolverine was different from Sabretooth, and why they went in different directions. And I would have been satisfied with a mindless rampage, too. But we got neither of those.

I give this one a big, full-throated "meh."



You ready? You look ready.
It seems that those of us who saw it (and reviewed it) all pretty much think the same thing.
Ya, probably because the movie is fun, but we were all hoping they'd do more than what they did. I certainly know I was, but I'm not entirely bummed by my experience with it. The scene on the smokestack was my favorite, and talk about very well done.
__________________
"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza



I ain't gettin' in no fryer!
The scene on the smokestack was my favorite, and talk about very well done.
It was really the only scene in the movie that had any amount of fighting going on, in daylight anyway. Like I said in my review, Hood did a good job with what he had considering Ratner pretty much capsized the franchise.

WARNING: "Wolverine" spoilers below
Deadpool's existence was purely a joke, if you ask me. I wish they wouldn't have used him at all. I was hoping for a little more out of his scenes than what there was, but I guess it wasn't really about him anyway.


Maybe that wasn't a spoiler, but maybe it was.



My Review:

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
(directed by Gavin Hood - Robin Hood's son, 2009)



Above is what I wanna see when I take a bath.

Surely, X-Men Origins: Wolverine will be taking home my Sex It Up! award for 2009. Not only does Hugh Jackman run around butt ass naked for a few scenes (although, at a distance, and frustrating!) you also see him in all of his hairy maleness quite a lot -- well, the film is all about him -- and then they also put in LIEV SCHREIBER! -- and, and, and, and, and....

Ryan Reynolds!


(just pretend the women aren't there)

Ohhh, if this movie was a person, it better have a rape whistle 'cause I'd be on it like whipped cream on a banana split.

Unfortunately, I think it does have a rape whistle cause I hear something blowing -- the story!!

Beginning with Wolverine as a child, we witness the shocking (?) event that began everything. He and his mutant brother (Liev Schreiber) run away and make appearances in every war (they're immortal, don't ya know). Eventually, they join forces with the government for special projects, but Wolverine breaks off and goes to live a life alone with his Native American girlfriend (she gives him his name, Wolverine, through a story). An angry Liev Schreiber comes back and gets revenge and then we see Wolverine on a quest for blood.

Oh, and he evolves thanks to some scientist who puts him in the sexy bathtub. Oh, and the scientist goes a little science happy and tries to make new and improved mutants that follow his commands.

There's lot of fighting, lots of cool action scenes, but the one death scene that I wanted to witness did not occur ---

When Wolverine, naked after his becoming an evolved mutant in the sexy bathtub, runs into a barn to hide, an old lady spots him, and her old farmer husband who lives there goes to check it out, rifle in hand. Discovering naked Wolverine crouched down and breathing heavily, the old farmer hands him something to wear.

"Don't want the old lady to see ya and have a heart attack," the old farmer tells the muscular, sexy Wolverine.

I was like... Die, Old Bitch.

For God Sakes! Send him out there to prance around naked in front of her, let it flop around in her face, let him wiggle and shake his hard, beefy buttocks before her --- give that old lady a heart attack! She'll at least die happy... and then the old farmer could go gay have Wolverine to himself! That would have been my plan.

But, nooooooo -- Wolverine had to put on some clothes. The old lady didn't see anymore of him.

WARNING: "Wolverine" spoilers below
And the old lady still died soon after! She must have been really pissed. I mean, she didn't even have time to kill her husband so she could bring Wolverine up to her warm bed - the old farmer made him sleep in the barn!!


So, yeah... more fighting, a twist ending of sorts, no more nudity.




My review:



X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Gavin Hood, 2009)

I really loved the original X-Men series, yes even the third, but I’ve always like X2 the most. When I first saw the bootleg comic-con trailer for this, I immediately thought that this was going to be another X2. Sadly I turned out being really, really disappointed. When the work-print version leaked about a month ago, some really bad things had started to go around about this. I really tried to ignore all that stuff, because of how much I loved the trailer. I kind of wish that I would’ve watched that version when it leaked, though, because then I wouldn’t of had to waste my money seeing it in theaters. I even tend to like superhero movies too, so I was hoping that would help me enjoy this than most people seemed to be enjoying it. I don’t even know if I could say that it worked well as an action movie, which is actually pretty sad.

One of the main reasons that I even went to go see this was because of its action. Sadly that didn’t even turn out good. I seriously think that whoever worked on the special effect for this movie should be banned from ever doing it again. I don’t think there was a single shot in the movie that didn’t look totally fake. Even Wolverine’s claws didn’t look real, and it was pretty obvious that a lot of the scenes were shot in front of a green screen. Usually, action movies do a good job hiding that, but this one didn’t. Not only that, but they literally screwed every character, except Wolverine and Victor.

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine was one of the saving points of the movie, for me. I guess I’ve just gotten used to seeing him as Wolverine because of the past X-Men movies. Liev Schreiber did a great job playing the villain, which was pretty much the best thing about the movie. He was so darn convincing as the villain, so they actually made a good choice on that one, surprisingly. I really liked seeing cameos of previous X-Men characters; well actually this would take place before all of the other movies. Cyclops and Toad were my two favorite cameos in the entire cast. I really hated how Deadpool and Gambit seemed to just get pushed out of the whole movie. I actually really like Ryan Reynolds as an actor too, so I feel that if he could’ve gotten some more screen time, it would’ve been a little bit better. The one good action scene that Gambit had was great, though, and it was probably one of my favorite scenes of the movie.

This was a pretty crappy way to start the summer off, especially after having a great movie like Iron Man starting the summer movie season off last year. Hopefully Star Trek will be able to recover for this atrocity they call a movie. It’s been getting some pretty good reviews and it just all around looks better, so I’m sure it will. I’ll probably get around sometime next weekend to seeing it. This was once my most hyped movie for the summer too, but I’m glad that changed. One of the best things about seeing this in theaters, though, was seeing the Transformers 2 trailer on the big screen. Which just happens to be my most hyped movie for the summer right now, and I’m sure that won’t disappoint. Something I have noticed is that every other Marvel movie turns out good; like Spider-Man 3 sucked, then we got a great movie like Iron Man, but then this turned out bad. This means that Iron Man 2 next summer should be great.




28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Yeah, everyone seems to feel pretty much the same.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Gavin Hood)



"Much Better Than I Thought It Was Going To Be"

This is the origins story of the mutant known as Wolverine and how he was attached to the weapon x project.

When I first heard they were going to make this flick, I thought that the series was going to go into a nosedive. The third film in the X-men franchise lacked everything that made the first two films enjoyable. Now a spin-off? I wasn't having it and the fact that they seemed to ruin one of my favourite x-men characters in the trailers didn't seem to help either. Well, I can say this, the film is not that bad. It's actually decent and a step up from the horrid Last Stand. Although they do miss a few steps that really hurt the film as a whole.

First off Hugh Jackman was born to play this character, here he is given more room to dive deeper into the animal and he does a great job. Mixing both comedic and dramatic elements, there is nothing new here to the character, just more of the same. More of the same though is fun and kick ass. Liev Schreiber plays Victor Creed, aka Sabretooth. His look is different from the first time we see him and he actually has some speaking lines here. Excellent casting choice, Liev really lets go here and you can see the fun he is having with the character.

Now, onto the two things that are ruined, from a "fan" perspective. Deadpool and Gambit. Many fans knew going in that these two guys were both kick ass and that the film was not going to do them justice. Well, it's true. These two guys lacked the screen time and the badass personas that people have come to love. Ryan Reynold has 5 minutes of screen time, he does he usual jokey bits like in Blade Trinity, but here it fits for the character. We see one scene in which he uses his blades to deflect bullets, quite cool. Then he is gone for the rest of the film. Gambit shows up 3/4 of the way through and the guy playing him looks too pretty boyish to be Gambit. Like he came right off of One Tree Hill or something. His scenes lacked a lot of punch too and it seems that his character was only used to draw in fans. The character in the film could have been anybody else and it wouldn't effect the story, but they chose Gambit cause fans wanted to see him. You will be disappointed.

The final fight sequences is nice, I don't want to go into details cause that would give away certain plot points, specifically who the final fight scene is with and why he is fighting him. I have to raise another complaint though, as for the explanation for Wolverine's so called memory loss. They don't explain it very well in the film, they just say that this will make him not remember. Why? I don't know. Fighting fire with fire just doesn't make sense to me.

There are cameos from a lot of mutants, cyclops as a kid is one and another one at the end that fans will enjoy. I thought that they could have trimmed the running time down a bit, currently 1:46. Lose Charlie from Lost, cause his little scenes don't do too much for the film except egg on that run time. Also the subplot with his love interest, just doesn't work.

The action sequences are nice and enjoyable, sometimes they looked a bit hokey, but the version I saw was still in production. the opening credit sequences is neat and mirrors what Watchmen did. I think the fans will enjoy this one, if they can get pass the nitpicking of certain characters. It's leaps and bounds over the last film, but doesn't hold a candle to the second one. It's interesting to see if they are going to try and fit another one in between the events of this film and the first X-men, cause if we go by continuity sake here, somethings just don't fit.

__________________
"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews



Originally Posted by spudracer
SC, I had to give you rep simply because you made me think back to the In Living Color Men On Film sketches.
I never saw those until yesterday (if I did, it was a long time ago when I was a kid and I don't remember them). I watched some on Youtube. They were a hoot. Definitely the original Sexy Cineplexy.



I ain't gettin' in no fryer!
I never saw those until yesterday (if I did, it was a long time ago when I was a kid and I don't remember them). I watched some on Youtube. They were a hoot. Definitely the original Sexy Cineplexy.
Yeah, they were, and still are, hilarious to watch. Until you said something about it, I would've guessed you'd seen them repeatedly.



Seeing how this stuff happened to Wolverine is kind of like going on a field trip to a pencil factory, when you've already see how they do it on Sesame Street.
What a great 1-sentence review, Yoda!

And apparently your criticism is shared, or maybe even raised. In the May 1 WSJ Joe Morgenstern called the film "grindingly unpleasant." He also noted "the shoddiness of the computer-generated effects" and "the mismanagement of an unusually personable star." His conclusion: "'Wolverine' may have been made for teenage boys, but they get bored too, don't they? Or don't they?"

But that was nothing compared with his put-down of Ghosts of Girlfriends Past in the same article, in which he asks, "Does anyone love to watch Matthew McConaughey act? As in 'I can't wait to see that movie because Matthew McConaughey is in it?'"



The WSJ missed the mark. I think the USA Today got it right...

"Although it's a quintessential popcorn movie, Wolverine is not mindless. Hood and Jackman bring depth to a comic-book tale of anti-heroes with anger issues."

I'm happy and a bit surprised to say it easily fulfilled and the exceeded all expectations. All the hate this movie received prior to release actually worked in its favor for me. I was genuinely worried and my expectations were lowered out of fear. It's the best thing that could've happened. As the movie unfolded I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. It never did. Just the opposite, it gets better as it gets rolling. The impressive special effects perfectly add to the dynamic sense of presence this film has from opening credits right to the end. I was very impressed with the direction and cinematography. The final showdown was a standout and will be remembered as one of the best comic book confrontations of all time. Wonderful action mixed with perfect drama that so fit the main characters. Hugh Jackman simply shines as Wolverine unleashed.



The WSJ missed the mark. I think the USA Today got it right...
Not surprising that the reviews differ. Wall Street Journal is more buttoned-down and serious, no photos on the front page. USA Today is more on edge and splashy--never runs copy if a multicolored pie-chart will do. WSJ's review is for people like me who are mildly curious but will never, ever buy a ticket for the film. And who chuckle at talk of "bringing depth to a comic-book tale," vs. USA who writes for a younger, more sporty group who still read comic books. Different strokes.



In the Beginning...
Had to wrack my brain a bit to figure out why this movie was so mediocre. It seems a lot better on paper, and had a few interesting bits, but after circling around the flick in my head, I decided it failed to resonate because it didn't have anything new to say.
Well, the magic of Wolverine has always been his ambience of mystery anyway. I think he works best the less you know about him, because once you start delving into his past - and this is evidenced by the fact that Marvel Comics actually did - the things that made the character so interesting begin to dissipate. I don't want to know where Wolverine came from. I like believing that his backstory is way better than I could ever imagine (or rather, than any writer could ever invent). But that's just the by-product of any popular character with a secret.

But you know, this film was never about revelation. It was about sticking that popular character back up on the silver screen, along with some fan favorites who never quite made the cut in previous films, for the sake of getting your money. That's all.

And I can't get over that, from what I've heard, they portray Wolverine as an American during the war sequences. He's Canadian!



Seen it last weekend, I have to say I was bored out of my mind. It seems to me that getting into so much detail as to his past sort of killed what the character was supposed to be, a mysterious loner. Especially considering that Stryker's dialog in X2 was sufficient for explaining what happened, there really was not a need to revolve an entire film around it. Plus, the villains seemed to do bad things, just because they were the villains, there was no logic to most of their actions. For instance, after Stryker gave him the Adamantium they then proceed to attack him with full military force, "to test his capability." Then they act shocked that he survives and vows revenge.
__________________


...uh the post is up there...



I am burdened with glorious purpose
I can't say I was bored with the film -- it was even an enjoyable Saturday night for my son and I -- but you guys have nailed what is wrong with this movie. Telling this story took all the mystery out of Wolverine. I wasn't even sure what was wrong with this film until I read this thread.

Hugh was fun to watch, though. Having him naked in my barn, now, that's quite enjoyable to contemplate.