It was a great idea to give Wolverine his own "origin" movie. As the shining star of the X-Men trilogy, it would have been ideal to see the man tear it up without the hindrance of Rogue's relationship troubles and the philosophical musings of Charles Xavier. As expected, the result is a satisfying escapade with thunderous action and a merry band of characters, but struggles to overshadow narrative annoyances.
Beginning in 1845 with the first appearance of young James Howlett's bone claws, the film then fast-forwards through James' participation in major wars alongside his brother, Victor (Liev Schreiber, Defiance). This sequence, shown during the opening credits, is energetic and entertaining; enough so that their wartime adventures could satiate an entire film. James and Victor, for some annoyingly inexplicable reasons, stopped aging in their mid-30's and look the same in the present as they did during the Civil War.
Herein lies the paramount flaw of the movie. The title implies an explanation of Wolverine's mutant abilities, but his lack of aging, healing powers, and claws are just thrown at the audience without a lick of clarification. Instead, the film narrates how James ended up as we found him in the X-Men trilogy, with his metal claws and amnesia. It all has to with a confusing series of bloody events and bad decisions, after which James is given an adamantium skeleton by the U.S. military, which proceeds to hunt him down.
The hunter turns out to be Victor, who has the same retractable claws and self-healing powers as James. But the two share a classic sibling contrast: James is calm and detached while Victor is bloodthirsty and insane. Their strained, violent relationship is compelling, but it is sadly abandoned once James gets his metal implants.
It's always a bad idea to think too much during comic-book movies, but the critics need to say something. Wolverine scores with its countless spectacular action set-pieces, from the Alaskan throwdown between the brothers to the breathtaking finale on Three Mile Island, where every mutant gets a chance to showcase their abilities. But there is a new level of expectations after The Dark Knight, which has raised the bar for superhero movies - perhaps unfairly, since every movie can't have its psychological complexities and legendary villains.
Comic book nerds, such as myself, will drool at the sight of various characters from X-Men lore, from The Blob to Emma Frost to John Wraith (as well as a few others that won't be spoiled). Even with the onslaught of cameos, the film manages a tricky balance - pleasing the geeks without confusing the rest of the audience.
Often times,it feels like Wolverine is serving as an "origin" for other properties that will spin off, much like Wolverine did, into their own feature films. There's Gambit, one of the most popular X-Men from the comics, who is bluntly thrust into the story with little cohesion. It's great to see his staff and card tricks in action, but it's obvious that the Cajun charmer was added for the hell of it. The other offender is Deadpool, whose smarmy wisecracks are a perfect fit for the naturally droll Ryan Reynolds. His astonishing sword skills steal the spotlight from Wolverine, and his lack of major screen time is a clear sign that the filmmakers have bigger plans for the character.
Admittedly, I would be first in line to see Gambit and Deadpool movies (already announced!), but next time, let's stick to just Wolverine, so his befuddling questions can finally be answered. Memorable action aside, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is hampered by its narrative banality and lingering inquires, but it's still fun fluff.
*** out of *****
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Wolverine Review
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Summer Preview: Wolverine!
The summer movie season is nearly here. Billions of dollars are going to be spent during this economic recession on movies that predominantly fall into one of three categories:
1) Big Budget Superhero Movie
2) Big Budget Kid's Movie
3) Giant Robots Destroying Each Other
(500) Days of Summer doesn't count. This week, I will bring a preview of most of the movies releasing in May. I'll do June, July, and August when the time comes.
Summer kicks off with a Marvel comic-book movie, like it did last year to outstanding results (remember how great Iron Man was?). On May 1st, X-Men Origins: Wolverine releases, a spin-off of the formerly great X-Men trilogy that was ruined by the departure of Bryan Singer and the addition of Brett Ratner. Singer, director of X-Men and X2, was seduced by the Man of Steel and made the bore-fest Superman Returns. Marvel turned to the man who brought us Rush Hour 1 , 2, AND 3 and gave us a crap-fest known as X-Men 3: The Last Stand. I love how we could have been treated to a potentially epic X3, but instead we got two forgettable clunkers. I hate you, Bryan Singer.
Back to Wolverine. It was a wise move to give Wolverine his own spinoff, since he was easily the best character in all three X-Men movies. Hugh Jackman gave great performances as the gruff and sarcastic-yet lovable mutant. His body may have been indestructible, but his heart wasn't.
...I can't believe I just wrote that.
From the trailer, Wolverine looks entertaining, nothing more. It has the conventional operatic music to create a sense of greatness. But who are we kidding, this is not The Dark Knight. The scene when Wolverine walks away, back turned, from a helicopter is also eye-rolling. The exact same shot was in Iron Man, when he turns away from blowing up a tank. Pay close attention to the final line, "I'm going to cut your head off." There's an awkward break between 'your' and 'head'. I'm pretty sure he's going to throw in an f-bomb in the final cut. Yippee.
But boy, is it exciting to see Gambit (who I'll cover in detail below) and Deadpool. Additionally, Wolverine's history looks fascinating (was that World War 2? I knew he was old, but not that old).
Liev Schreiber is a talented dramatic actor who looks like he's going to have a lot of fun playing a violently psychotic mutant as Sabertooth. He could be this year's Joker. Even though we already saw Sabertooth in the first X-Men movie, he's the quintessential Wolverine villain and appears to play a BIG role in his past. Not sure what I think about him hopping on all fours, though.
As a former comic-book nerd, it's exciting to see obscure heroes and villains show up in the trailer. We are shown clips of:
The Blob AKA Frederick J. Dukes
Gambit AKA Remy LeBeau
Gambit has been a fan favorite for a long time, with his slow Louisiana drawl and crazy-cool mutant powers
Deadpool AKA Wade Wilson
There's also a chick but I'm really tired and done with typing. Her name is Silver Fox, but I never read any of her comics so I know nothing about her. Danny Huston, playing the general AKA William Stryker was in Children of Men, so you know he'll be excellent. Director Gavin Hood is new to Hollywood, but he won an foreign-film Oscar for the South African drama Tsotsi. Who knows if that will translate to an expensive, high-throttle adventure? It certainly worked for Christopher Nolan, who started off in indie films like Memento.
Early Wednesday, it was announced that an unfinished, high-quality copy of Wolverine is floating around the torrents. I'm not going to watch it, since I'm a big fan of the theater experience. Plus, I promised my little cousins I would watch the movie with them.
Hugh Jackman owned at the Oscars, so I'm sure he'll ride the wave of success to a fun, successful movie. It helps that we've seen Jackman play Wolverine many times in the past. Audiences are already comfortable with the character and his snarky, rage-filled behavior. I'm just hoping that Wolverine will have an actual story, rather than a series of clashes with other mutants strung together. Although, if the action anything like the scene below, I'll live without a plot.
BOX OFFICE PREDICTION: $220 million dollars. Huge opening weekend, but dark themes and the fact that Star Trek opens the next week will kill its returns.
