May 1, 2009
Review - " X-Men origins: Wolverine " - (in Theaters) By Roland Hansen
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X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Directed by: Gavin Hood
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schriber, Danny Huston, Will I Am, Lynn Collins,
Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and Hugh Jackman
Alright, let's face it, everyone's favorite X-Men character is Wolverine, and
even more specifically Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. As the old saying goes -
Women want him and men want to be him. He's cool, he's sexy with a 'fuck the
world' attitude we all wish we could have. So it makes perfect sense for 20th
Century Fox to try and jumpstart the X-Men franchise with this sexy beast.
Let's get it straight right from the start. The name of the movie is Wolverine,
so that means anything that happens of relevance in the movie is for
Wolverine’s sake. This is a Hugh Jackman vehicle plain and simple. There are
lots of side characters in here that appear and are not given the movie
treatment they richly deserve (Cyclops, Emma Frost, Gambit, Deadpool
et al) but frankly anything that features them is a either slight bonus or a royal
two fingers up to what history has been previously established in the books
and movies.
Is this movie enjoyable? In short "Hell Yeah!". My favourite part is the first 20
minutes where you get to see Wolverine and Sabretooth’s pasts, growing up
through and fighting in several World Wars (all during the credits) and then
very quickly you are introduced to the team that William Stryker (Danny
Huston) puts together in the form of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman),
Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber), Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), Wraith (will.i.am), Bolt (Dominic Monaghan) and Agent X (Daniel
Henney). The team is then sent to Nigeria beat up some random bad guys (probably to prevent all those $$Millions sitting
in the dead oil ministers bank account from disappearing into some gullible American's bank account - no really, it's on the
up-and-up. But that's a different story) in a series of very cool sequences that displays their talents. What caught my eye
was how we get to see Reynolds at his best being a smart-mouth and at the same time kicking a lot of ass in the space of 3
minutes - I had never even heard of the Deadpool character at all. Shame what happens to him the end, eh?
Anyway, it was nice to see that the movie had made way for the violence that goes with characters being shish-kebabed
and others being brutally killed, especially when you compare it to the kid-friendly first X-Men movie. More blood would've
been better though. Several times Wolverine’s bone blades are shown graphically penetrating people yet no blood appears
when retracted. WOW, I just realised how much double-entendre is within that sentence.
Gambit as played by Taylor Kitsch is almost good although he doesn’t really attempt a cajun accent so no “mon cher”s or
mention of his “momma’s gumbo”. In fact, there’s not much difference between the character he plays on the Friday Night
Lights TV series and Gambit, except the exploding cards and lightning rods he uses of course. The movie allude to the love-
hate relationship between him and Wolverine, which was a nice nod to the fans and could easily develop in movie sequels.
Special mention should go to Liev Schreiber though who is entirely watchable and makes the Sabretooth character work in
his own way. Forget the rabid, hairy, neanderthal-like version that we are accustomed to, his is a sharp, devious and
enjoyably evil iteration that deserves recognition in its own right.
Oh yeah, there’s a romantic plotline in there as well for Wolverine but I won’t bore you with the details. Wolverine has a lot
of ladies in his storyline and this one doesn't really stand up to Jean Grey. The action set-pieces are quite awesome. Great
action, great fx, decent story and they manage to explain why Jimmy Logan loses his memory of how he became Wolverine.
Word of advise, stick around till the very end of the credits - there's a bit of a surprise.