X-Men Origins: Wolverine
DVD Reviews | Sep 23rd, 2009
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Taylor Kitsch, Will I Am, Ryan Reynolds, Lynn Collins
Written By: David Benioff, Skip Woods
Directed By: Gavin Hood
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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X-Men Origins: Wolverine could have been an excellent movie. Instead, it’s just a mediocre movie that will entertain and make you forget everything that happened in it. While I didn’t outright hate this movie as much as X-Men 3, X-Men Origins: Wolverine
is still a mess and has many flaws.
The movie starts out in Canada, around 1845; where young James sees his Father get killed by the groundskeeper. The death triggers off James’ mutated claws and he kills the man, only to find out that the man was his real Father. Whoopsie. James escapes with Victor Creed, who’s also a mutant and James’ real Brother. The credits show the brothers (Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber) growing up and living thru centuries of different wars (because they have regenerating powers). During the Vietnam War, Victor strikes a commanding officer after they try to stop him from raping a local villager. James and Victor are sentenced to death by firing squad but they survive and end up in prison instead. Major Stryker relieves them and enters them into a special program called Weapon X where they are grouped with other mutants. After awhile, Wolverine doesn’t like what they are doing and leaves. By doing so, the program eventually closes down and Victor is pissed off and starts getting revenge on each member. Wolverine and his girlfriend Kayla Silverfox are enjoying the quiet time in Canada, until things get disruptive when Victor Creed pays them a visit.
From a non-comic book nerd’s perspective, the movie was entertaining enough but it was still a mess. I just had a “eh, it was okay” feeling after the end of the movie. The opening credits could have been handled differently, because those scenes could have been really cool to see in their entirety. Instead, we just get a quick glimpse of Wolverine and Sabretooth fighting in each of the wars. I felt the special effects weren’t as good as the X-Men movies. It seemed Wolverine’s claws were strictly CGI now whereas before they used actual metal claws for some shots. Or maybe the CGI just wasn’t as good for this movie? I liked the cameos from different X-Men characters but I’m sure people will be pissed at the way they handled certain people like Deadpool. That’s the one complaint I kept hearing about from various friends, how they messed up his character. I don’t know enough to raise an argument.
I’m still on the fence with the way they handled Gambit. He didn’t look the way I thought he should have. Doesn’t he have wavy red hair? Not this pretty boy with a slight Cajun accent? Honestly, I felt they could have given that role to someone else. But then again, I think he’ll turn up in real X-Men movies in the future. Grumbling about his minor role in Wolverine’s movie isn’t that big of an issue. Despite the bad script and dialogue, I felt Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber made the best of it. They weren’t bad or anything, I just think the dialogue could have been better. I would have definitely done away with the cliché screaming at the sky scene. “NOOO!!!” I couldn’t believe Silverfox said the even more clichéd line of “It’s cold.” Were the writers trying to come up with every line that has been said in a movie before? I’m surprised they didn’t use the line “go on without me,” oh wait they did in a way when Silverfox said that to her sister.
So, should you see X-Men Origins: Wolverine? Depends on how big of an X-Men fan you are because the hardcore you get, the more problems you will find. If you turn off your brain and just watch the movie, it’s okay. There are some cool action scenes, especially at the end with Wolverine, Sabretooth and Weapon XI but everything else in between has its flaws. This DVD only has some featurettes and that’s about it. I would get the 2 disc DVD or the Blu-Ray. If I had to pick which was a better movie, I’d pick this over X-Men 3: The Last Stand.
Features:
Wolverine Unleashed: The Complete Origins Featurette
Videos:
Widescreen 2.35:1 Color
Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 [CC]
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Surround
FRENCH: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles:
English, Spanish
Bottom Line: Could have been a lot better!
Running Time: 107 mins
Rating: PG-13
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating:
