So, I’ve got good news and bad news.
The good news is that the latest Hugh Jackman vehicle, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, is light-years better than the last X-men movie, X-Men: The Last Stand.
The bad news? That’s akin to saying the flu is better than lung cancer.
Delve inside to find out what the jury wants to say about the movie.
Mystery is what has always defined Logan, aka, Wolverine. In the previous three X-Men films, Logan, an angry mutant with remarkable healing powers, an adamantium-laced skeleton, and retractable claws, slowly started connecting the dots about his sketchy past. X-Men Origins elaborates on that, depicting a previously unknown familial relationship with Victor Creed. And we get to fill in the blanks about his relationship with Stryker. Unfortunately, that part is wholly unnecessary and convoluted. We learn a great deal about Logan’s past, from early childhood in 1845 (no explanation given in the film, but Logan and Victor age slowly due to their healing powers) through about a decade or so before the first film. We learn the first time he discovered that he possessed his deadly claws, how he acquired the adamantium skeleton, and how he lost his memory.
The problem is, where does one go from here with a character like Logan once all of his mysteries are explained? What once seemed like a character with complicated motivations, becomes two-dimensional after some of the reasons behind what drives him are dealt with in such a perfunctory and superficial manner. Wait until you find out how he gets the name Wolverine, and better yet, do you really care?
X-Men Origins is shorter and a lot less heady (or pretentious, depending on how you liked it) than Watchmen, but almost programmatically unmemorable, a hodge-podge of loose ends, wild inconsistencies and stale genre conventions. Vengeance is the default motive for most of the mayhem that is perpetrated, and for good measure there is a military-scientific government conspiracy overseen by a reptilian bad guy.
Now, there’s still some good in the movie. Jackman is still enjoyable as Wolverine, and Liev Schreiber actually manages to upstage Jackman. Schreiber’s level of menace was understated to the point it seemed natural whereas Jackman seemed to be merely screaming at every possibly turn. This, of course, has a lot to do with the misguided script that definitely could have used another rewrite to clean up dialogue and tighten up the early moments in the story, but considering Jackman’s vocal love for this character you would think he would have been more demanding of how he was portrayed.
The star of the movie is Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds has stated that since 2003, he’s wanted to play the Merc With A Mouth, and he’s a perfect for the role. Unfortunately, he’s got all of about 5 minutes in the film, thus relegating him into a glorified scene chewer. Luckily, it was just announced this week that a Deadpool movie is in the works. Hope springs eternal!
A twist at the end that gives poor Wolverine a bad case of amnesia — turning him into a kind of Jason Bourne with sideburns — is a virtual admission that nothing terribly interesting has been learned about the character. He forgets his origins before the movie devoted to their exposition is even over. With more confidence on the part of whoever was reining this film in, X-Men Origins could have ranked very easily amongst the best of the comic book superhero adaptations. As it is, Jackman and director Gavin Hood get to walk away with their dignity intact and no tarnishes on their reputations, but also without fully realizing the smarts-and-heart tentpole they so clearly wanted to deliver. It’s not a bad movie, it’s just not a great movie either.