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Prequels are, at heart, a lot like mysteries. By telling a story out of sequence (and showing us the result first) the audience is forced to assume the role of a detective, trying to reconstruct what happened after the fact. 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.
Though Wolverine's (Hugh Jackman) back story was hazy after the first X-Men film, the sequels which followed (X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand) made it a focal point. The events of this latest film may be new, but the character's motivations are largely the same. We learn more about the character's history, but not much more about the character himself. The film's core problem is a failure to distinguish between simple rendering, and genuine revelation.
The film's opening thrusts us into what is presumably Logan's (known first as John) first signs of mutation, triggered by the trauma of witnessing the murder of a family member. He runs off with his brother, who shares his abnormally long life span and ability to heal rapidly, and who grows up into the character Victor Creed/Sabretooth (Liev Screiber). This is a bold deviation from the characters' comic-book history (where they have no relation), and though it largely works, the story does little to wring any emotional payoff from it.
This choice, however, does lead to the film's best sequence: a montage of the two brothers fighting in every major American war since the early 1900s. Apart from its technical skill, the scene establishes their age and skill, propensity for violence, and the fact that Victor's supply of the latter often turns into outright bloodlust.
Like most of the film's sporadic highlights, however, the sequence raises as many questions as it answers. Though it makes for an elegant way to establish how the brothers differ, it does little to expound on why they do. Ironically, the film spends a tremendous amount of time dwelling on Wolverine's underlying nature, and whether or not he can (or should) choose to reject it. To place such emphasis on this internal conflict, and yet completely ignore why Victor so readily embraces his base instincts, is a massive oversight.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is also plagued by the "superheros as all-around super-people" syndrome which afflicted the last two X-Men films, as well. The mutants in this film don't merely have whatever powers have been assigned to them; nearly all of them also possess mind-bending acrobatic skills and levels of endurance. Though Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) is said to have the ability to imbue everyday objects with dangerous energy, he can also, for example, easily jump thirty feet in the air.
In the first X-Men film, mutants were otherwise ordinary people who were simply born with an additional ability -- and sometimes, it was more of a curse than a blessing. In the films since, they've become less human, and therefore less relatable. The desire for increasingly acrobatic fight sequences helps to sever any identification we might have had with those fighting.
Technically speaking, the film's events connect seamlessly with the existing continuity of the previous films, though they veer towards over-explanation, and get a little too cute for their own good with the number of linking bridges they throw into the third act.
In the end, the film's primary mistake is showing us merely more of Wolverine, but not more about him. You won't walk out of X-Men Origins: Wolverine with an increased appreciation of what made the character who he is, or how his history has influenced his decisions in subsequent films. All you'll get are the details of how it happened, and a few mildly entertaining brawls along the way.
The problem with X-Men Origins: Wolverine is that, when the veil is pulled back, there isn't much new behind it.
Though Wolverine's (Hugh Jackman) back story was hazy after the first X-Men film, the sequels which followed (X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand) made it a focal point. The events of this latest film may be new, but the character's motivations are largely the same. We learn more about the character's history, but not much more about the character himself. The film's core problem is a failure to distinguish between simple rendering, and genuine revelation.
The film's opening thrusts us into what is presumably Logan's (known first as John) first signs of mutation, triggered by the trauma of witnessing the murder of a family member. He runs off with his brother, who shares his abnormally long life span and ability to heal rapidly, and who grows up into the character Victor Creed/Sabretooth (Liev Screiber). This is a bold deviation from the characters' comic-book history (where they have no relation), and though it largely works, the story does little to wring any emotional payoff from it.
This choice, however, does lead to the film's best sequence: a montage of the two brothers fighting in every major American war since the early 1900s. Apart from its technical skill, the scene establishes their age and skill, propensity for violence, and the fact that Victor's supply of the latter often turns into outright bloodlust.
Like most of the film's sporadic highlights, however, the sequence raises as many questions as it answers. Though it makes for an elegant way to establish how the brothers differ, it does little to expound on why they do. Ironically, the film spends a tremendous amount of time dwelling on Wolverine's underlying nature, and whether or not he can (or should) choose to reject it. To place such emphasis on this internal conflict, and yet completely ignore why Victor so readily embraces his base instincts, is a massive oversight.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is also plagued by the "superheros as all-around super-people" syndrome which afflicted the last two X-Men films, as well. The mutants in this film don't merely have whatever powers have been assigned to them; nearly all of them also possess mind-bending acrobatic skills and levels of endurance. Though Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) is said to have the ability to imbue everyday objects with dangerous energy, he can also, for example, easily jump thirty feet in the air.
In the first X-Men film, mutants were otherwise ordinary people who were simply born with an additional ability -- and sometimes, it was more of a curse than a blessing. In the films since, they've become less human, and therefore less relatable. The desire for increasingly acrobatic fight sequences helps to sever any identification we might have had with those fighting.
Technically speaking, the film's events connect seamlessly with the existing continuity of the previous films, though they veer towards over-explanation, and get a little too cute for their own good with the number of linking bridges they throw into the third act.
In the end, the film's primary mistake is showing us merely more of Wolverine, but not more about him. You won't walk out of X-Men Origins: Wolverine with an increased appreciation of what made the character who he is, or how his history has influenced his decisions in subsequent films. All you'll get are the details of how it happened, and a few mildly entertaining brawls along the way.