About a week or so ago, my roommate decided to show X-Men Origins: Wolverine to his friend for the first time. I needed to write another superhero post for my blog, so I decided to watch it with them. During the movie, about 10 people walked in and out of our apartment (everybody does that here) and almost all of them have never seen this movie before. This totally shocked me — how could you go so long without seeing this movie? Maybe a lot of them were on their missions when it came out, or maybe it's just a really bad movie. Maybe a combination of the two. So anyway, here I go with another superhero movie review, starting with a score of 5 out of 10 and adding or taking away points during the movie.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine came it in 2009. It was directed by Gavin Hood, and starred Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth, and Danny Huston as William Stryker. I remember enjoying this movie as much as I hated it when I first saw it. And I've also discovered that I am very picky about my X-Men, so be warned.
Right off the bat, I am going to take a point off for its stupid title. It's clunky, confusing, and probably one of the reasons nobody saw it. It also almost destroyed the X-Men film franchise. To be fair, it had a hard time coming after X3, which painted itself into a corner, but this movie ultimately killed at least two other movies. After X3, there were plans to make a movie about Magneto's origin and two movies about Wolverine's origin — the first about him becoming Wolverine and the second about him training in Japan. Fortunately, they were able to modify the Magneto story and come out with X-Men: First Class, despite the failures of Wolverine.
The starting was a bit confusing and rushed. After reading the comics, it makes a lot more sense, but they really should have spent more time on this in the movie. It's actually a really good story and would have brought some much-needed emotion to the film. However, it would have meant more screen time without Hugh Jackman, which is something they tried to avoid at all costs possible. The first time I saw this, I was a little annoyed that Wolverine is over 200 years old, but after watching the first X-Men again, I heard them explain that his healing power keeps him young looking, and they even guess that he is older than Xavier. So that takes away my complaint. But it does remind me of a general rule I have with some comic book characters. As much as I like origin stories, there are some that I like more because they're ambiguous — like the Joker. Wolverine also falls under that category. I think the less we know about his past, the better. So really, I kind of wish they never made this movie, but instead did a Magneto origin or an X-Men 4.
I'm now going to take off another point and drop this down to a 3 because of William Stryker. He was my favorite character in X2, and here they ruined him. Why couldn't they get the original actor, Brian Cox? Did they just want someone younger? Then why didn't he look more like and act more like the original Stryker? They tried to make this a direct prequel to X-Men, but their continuity is flawed with inconsistencies. Are we also to assume that the Sabretooth we see in X-Men is a completely different person than the one in Wolverine? Or did he also lose his memory and suddenly grow taller?
One minor complaint: Why does Wolverine hate flying? He's Wolverine! The toughest guy in the world! (Practically invincible in this movie.) He's also been in every war since the Civl War. Shouldn't he be used to planes by now?
This movie does go back up to a 4 thanks to the performance of Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson. He was funny and cool, especially his line: "OK ... people are dead!" Unfortunately, they had to ruin his character later on, but I'll get to that later.
The score goes up to a 5 thanks to the cool death scene of Bradley, played by Dominic Monaghan. I liked the lights going and his scream transitioning to Wolverine's scream.
I have to bring it back down to a 4 because of the dumb story Wolverine's wife tells him about a wolverine howling at the moon. I know they wanted to explain the name Wolverine, but wolverines don't howl at the moon. Wolves do.
There is a cool scene where Stryker swears on his son's life, but he's really lying, which works because he hates his son. The characters in the movie don't know this, but the geeky fan boys like me do.
It is a little annoying after they put the adamantium in Wolverine, Stryker says they've made him invincible. But two seconds later, when Wolverine escapes, Stryker tells Agent Zero to take his head off. How is he supposed to do that? You just made him invincible!
The special effects really failed in an important scene. When Wolverine is in the old people's bathroom, he has his first chance to examine his adamantium claws up close. Unfortunately, his claws looked very CGI and cartoony, effectively killing what could have been a nice scene. This was enough of a distraction to drop the score another point, bringing us to a 3.
I'll give a point back because of the great scene with the old man and Wolverine. The old man says those who go looking for blood usually find it. And when Wolverine says his choice has been taken from him, the old man answers with a harsh, but awesome, "B.S." (Only he actually swore.) I also liked the sudden deaths of the old people. Great stuff.
But I take away another point for a few more leaps in logic. Wolverine tells Stryker he'll find and kill Victor, then kill Stryker. Why not kill Stryker first? You know where he is! Also, I don't mind him killing Agent Zero, but it was a rather strange way to do it. Striking the ground to light the gasoline on fire to eventually blow up the helicopter? I just can't suspend my disbelief enough for that one.
It's nice to see Scott Summers, but why doesn't he have a doctor's note to allow him to wear sunglasses? He's a good kid, he'd do that. I guess they just really wanted to put him in detention so he'd be alone when Sabretooth came for him, but there still should have been some people there.
The score falls to a 2 because of Gambit played by Taylor Kitsch. We were so happy to finally see him, but they messed him up. First off all, he had really vague powers that only kind of resembled what we've seen in the comics and cartoons. Secondly, his accent was never consistent. Thirdly, he starts fighting Wolverine because he thinks he works with Sabretooth and wants to take him back to Stryker's facilities. That makes sense. But then he sees Wolverine fight Sabretooth and continues to fight Wolverine. Ugh ... what a disappointment.
Another quick quibble: Why do they say "Weapon X?" I know they say it's the Roman numeral 10, but they also say Weapon 11. So there's Weapon 8, Weapon 9, Weapon X, and Weapon 11? It doesn't really work for me.
The movie score goes back up to a 3 thanks to a rather neat plot twist of having Wolverine's wife still be alive. I really didn't like her at all, or how she and her sister were Emma Frost split into two people, or how Wolverine continued to love her after she betrayed him. I mean, if she wanted to save her sister, why didn't she use her invincible husband to free her? However, finding out she was still alive was neat enough to add a point.
But, I'll take away another point because of the sin they committed with Deadpool. Why seal his mouth? One of his most distinguishing characteristics is his mouth. He's constantly talking, joking and breaking the fourth wall in the comics. Why change that? I also didn't like them giving him powers he didn't have, like Cyclops' optic beams. Cyclops can't control them, so why can Deadpool?
Another dumb part: How does Stryker know an adamantium bullet will erase Wolverine's memories? I don't mind that happening, but I do mind having Stryker intentionally shoot Wolverine with the express purpose of erasing his memories. So dumb. Also, what a stupid punishment to give Stryker. Walk until your feet bleed and then keep walking. Oh no! He's going to be so uncomfortable! Come on, he's an old army man, who's fought with and against mutants. That's not going to bother him.
The cameo of Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier was cool enough to bring this movie back up to a 3. As a whole, this movie wasn't unwatchable, just frustrating. The biggest problem with it is that only geeks can truly appreciate it, yet they hate the flaws in it.
Final score: 3 out of 10
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