"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" has finally officially been released. I have to admit that I've been a little nervous about this movie. I still feel the sting after X3. The other concern was the obvious fact that things would be drastically altered in adapting Wolverine's story. My goal is to try to review this not only from a comic book reader's view but also from a simple movie-goer's perspective.
Let's start off by saying this wasn't a great movie. At the same time, it wasn't horrible either. There were several things that I liked but they were usually coinciding with things that bothered me. Starting off with James Howlett as a sick young boy was good. Most comic readers know that part of his history but I've seen comments on other sites where they were not aware of this or that he actually had bone claws. Now we all know.
What about Logan's "half-brother"? That I didn't like. I understand that we can't have the whole Dog Logan character and his story involved. I don't like that they changed the story of this "half-brother" for the movie but fine, I can live with it.
Wolverine fighting in the wars was a nice touch. It helped to show that he has been around a while. He is good at killing. This adds street-cred to his "I'm the best there is at what I do..." motto. I do wonder why he would involve himself so much in American wars since he's proud to be Canadian.
"Team X" was good. I'm sure we will all agree that Ryan Reynolds was a blast as Wade Wilson. If only his scenes could have lasted longer. What's the bad part of this? What ends up happening just seems crazy. Ever since the spoiler on his fate came out, I've been trying to figure out why they decided to go this route. It does seem unnecessary. It could've been another character that was experimented on. The good news is, there is some hope for Deadpool. Ryan Reynolds has been talking about wanting to do a Deadpool movie as long as it's done right. Let's hope that happens.
What about Gambit? I didn't really like him when he first came on camera. Yes Gambit is a cocky character. I just didn't really feel Taylor Kitsch right away. Maybe because he's supposed to be a younger version of Gambit. Perhaps if we get a Gambit spin-off movie, we can see why he'd be so cocky at this young age. His short time with Wolverine on screen did get better. We've been waiting a long time to get to see his movie debut and it wasn't bad.
What about the others? Liev Schreiber was good as Sabretooth. I didn't care for Danny Huston as William Stryker. That has to do more with the character rather than the actor. Agent Zero was shown to be a bad-ass in the beginning but quickly became annoying. Will i Am was good as John Wraith and Kevin Durand did a decent Blob.
What about Silver Fox, or should I say "Kayla Silverfox"? I may be wrong but I just don't recall her name actually being Kayla. Lynn Collins' performance was fine. I liked parts of what they did with the character. Her fate and what happened afterwards was similar to the comics so that was a nice touch. What bothered me was the fact that they made her have a sister. Why they created her having this sister is beyond me. Yes this falls into the "changes in adapting the characters" part but I just don't see the purpose. It was meant to push a certain part of the plot along but it just wasn't necessary. They could have had anyone be her sister and I don't see why they did what they did.
I know with all of that, maybe I'm just nit-picking. How was the movie overall? Box office predictions put it at $75 million for the opening weekend. I mentioned that it wasn't a bad movie. But you have to accept that things are going to be different than what they should be for the sake of moving the movie along. They were able to capture key moments well but others fell a little flat. When Logan underwent the Adamantium process, it wasn't a picnic. In the movie, he got a little angry but was fine afterwards. His memories were left intact and he didn't really go into berserker barrage-mode. Yes he does lose his memories later to fit things together with the other X-Men movies but I won't go into the weak solution that was used.
Should you see this movie? I'd say yes, as long as you can accept that changes were made. It was entertaining for the most part. I did find myself getting a little bored towards the end. There were lots of good parts (along with some bad). It's hard to look at this movie with an unbiased opinion after movies like "Iron Man," "The Dark Knight" and "Watchmen." The bar has been raised but Wolverine didn't quite reach it. I think some people will like this movie. There will be angry comic-fans as well. Bottom line, it's a comic book movie. You almost owe it to yourself to check it out. You just need to decide if you're looking for a movie to entertain you or a movie to capture the "essence" of the character.
For me, even though I tried to accept the changes, the movie gets a 3.5 out of 5. It was good. It was fun (at times). There was just parts that bothered me. Perhaps Hugh Jackman will get his wish and the next movie will focus on his time in Japan. That could make for a better story. Don't forget the different endings. At first I thought I got one of the weaker ones I'd heard mentioned. Do stay until the end of the credits, just in case. I did get a "good" ending. All I'll say about it is "Shhhhh..."
I think you were a bit generous with the 3.5 out of 5. I would give it 3.5 out of 10. I agree with most of the points made in this review, and want my $7 back.
Not sure why there are SOOOO many haters, but me, I loved this movie. Wade Wilson was awesome that's exactly how I pictured the movie adaptation would be. Deadpool was equally badass. Who cares if it deviated from the comics? Most comicbook movies do. I just cant believe all the complaining surrounding not only Deadpool but the movie in general. But enough about them lets get to the good stuff :)
Origins was everything I hoped it would be and then some. I remeber when I was kid and use to collect Marvel cards and they had hinted Wolverine and Sabretooth could possibly be related. Always liked that idea. I'm glad they added it into the film. The fights scenes were cool, especially the first Creed/Logan fight outside the bar. My boy Gambit did his thing as well. The cards, the acrobatics, the arrogance, even his kinetic blasts, were all handled perfectly. Blob was kinda funny and Agent Zero was straight out of a John Woo flick, very cool. Prof. X's cameo was unexpected but I liked the way they played on it. I believe all the kid prisoners besides Cyclops were the Hellions which some people may or may not have picked up on. All in all this movie was a 5 outta 5. Easily as good as Iron Man and better then the Hulk. Its to bad not everyone enjoyed it as much as I did but hey its all good. I'll definitely be watching this again.
Man... I thought there was supposed to be different endings to the Movie in the Theatrical Version ? I saw the same fu#king ending that they had in the Bootleg Version... now that kind of pissed me off
"Man... I thought there was supposed to be different endings to the Movie in the Theatrical Version ? I saw the same fu#king ending that they had in the Bootleg Version... now that kind of pissed me off "
Oooooooh Mom! King Saturn watched the Bootleg Version!
"Man... I thought there was supposed to be different endings to the Movie in the Theatrical Version ? I saw the same fu#king ending that they had in the Bootleg Version... now that kind of pissed me off "
Oooooooh Mom! King Saturn watched the Bootleg Version! "
For me it was a decent action movie....but as a comic fan I was appalled and I could could make a page long list of the dumb, illogical, and plain out of character moments in this movie.
I have to agree with the review. Not a terrible film, but not good either. Iron Man and to a lesser extent, The Hulk have set the bar way higher for a comic movie. This one really just failed to reach that new mark. I could understand that they didn't follow the Origins and Weapon X story lines closely if they had something better in mind; however, the plot seemed so contrived at points it really makes you wish they would have stuck closer to the source material.
The same things that bothered you bothered me as well. But you did not touch upon Sabertooth's claws extending with wolverine's claws. The thing that annoyed the most was what happened to deadpool and that the secondary characters like gambit were only on screen for about 5 minutes.
"For me it was a decent action movie....but as a comic fan I was appalled and I could could make a page long list of the dumb, illogical, and plain out of character moments in this movie."
Agreed half way threw the movie i turned off the comic fan and tried to forget about the crap they tried to present to me as Agent Zero and I enjoyed it.
Well, I hated this movie. I'd say it's the second worst X-Men movie (second of course to X3). Yes, fighting is cool, and yes explosions are big, but could we please put a little thought into it
!AHEAD ARE SPOILERS!
For example, during Wolverines first encounter with Gambit, he finds Sabertooth and knocks Gambit out... Like, out cold.. On the ground kinda out... no more than 5 seconds later, Gambits on the rooftops half-a-mile away coming back to the fight scene!! How'd he get there? Not only that, but wasn't he fighting Wolverine in order to make a getaway? Why's he returning? You make no sense, Wolverine movie!
Second, the scene where he's in the Bathroom checking out his new claws. They werent doing anything. They were just kinda out. So why make them CG? Not only that, why make it blaitaint and Obvious CG that seems to be from the 1990's? The 3D guy for this movie sucked. Sparks don't come flying out when adamantium claws barely touch eachother. And Wolverine's Girlfriend's car must be made out of warm butter for Sabertooths claws to ever-so-gently rip the shit out of it.
If they plan on making a sequel, they better get a bunch of new things, like an actually good Scriptwriter, CG guy, and director for starters.. I believe it was Roger Ebert who said this movie only served to make the character of Wolverine less interesting "Why should I care about this guy? He feels no pain and nothing can kill him, so therefore he's essentially a story device for action sequences."
Something I thought was kind of funny... The scene with the harley chase was supposed to be approx. 6 years after the Vietnam War. Why were there hummers in that scene? Hummers weren't created until the mid 80's.
I felt like they missed details like that... but over all I really liked the movie and I am really hoping they do end up making a good Deadpool spin off.
It was a decent watch but as usual some bits annoyed me. Poor Deadpool's story and Gambit himself. The endings in my view were trying to save the film but ehhh to little to late. Deadpool solo film was the only saving grace i could think off. "Manicure?"
Well let me say i was actually pleased with how the Movie did, and how close to the Origins they actually kept it! When it comes down to the Characters in the film and the Actors that played them, i was very pleased!
Sabretooth was my favortie in the Movie, Liev just added depth to the character and made you actually feel alittle for him and get more of an inside to who he was! if another Wolverine movie is to come out, they Have to Include Sabretooth, he is now that CRUCIAL of a CHARACTER!
If they made an acurate movie about the Weapon X story, it would be a gore fest Horror movie. I wish they would have, but the love of money has tainted the FOX industry and, well, the result is compromise with comic cannon. I just have to view it as an alternate reality and a story arc. Or I just get mad..lol
73 Comments