X-Men Origins Wolverine

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Live Schreiber

 

Fox’s X-men franchise is a curious beast, the first two films in the series X-Men and X2: X-Men United, directed by the very capable Bryan Singer, were widely regarding as tremendous successes, managing to capture the feel of the comics and create an engaging cinematic experience.  Singer, however, could not to return for the third film, due to his commitment to Superman Returns.  Fox turned to the decidedly controversial Brett Ratner for the third film, X-Men: The Last Stand, the film was widely considered a failure due to its lack of clear direction and extreme diversion from the source material.  Three years later Fox has once again released an X-Men film, this time under their new Origins banner and involving the ever popular Wolverine character.

Fox has opted, this time, to go with a director possessing serious credentials, nabbing the Academy Award winning Gavin Hood(Tsotsi) to bring Wolverine’s origins to life.  Hood makes an admirable effort with the film, attempting to ground Wolverine firmly in the real and opting to focus on character relationships, at least for the first half. 

This film opens in the backwoods of Canada in the 1850’s.  Young wolverine, James Logan, is sick in bed with Victor Creed chastising him for his apparent lack of health.  Soon an altercation ignites between the fathers of the young boys, during which Logan’s father is mortally wounded.  Logan, thrown into a wild rage, discovers his bone claws and uses them to kill his father’s attacker, only to find that the man he has killed was his biological father.  Logan, fleeing from the scene, is tracked down by Creed who tells Logan their father had it coming and proclaims they must stick together as brothers should.

This scene sets up the beginning of the film with Logan and Creed battling through various wars side by side.   Eventually Creed’s sadistic tendencies get the best of them as Creed murders several officers who attempt to stop him from having his way with a foreign girl.  The two are sentenced to death by firing squad, which due to their healing abilities fails.  Enter William Stryker, who recruits the two for his mutant squad.  The squad, including Logan, Creed, Wade Wilson, John Wraith, Fred Dukes, and David North serve as Stryker’s personal mercenary squad, helping him pursue the adamantium he desperately wants.  Logan, no longer agree with Stryker’s do anything necessary approach, quickly leaves the group. 

Logan begins a new life with a school teacher, Kayla Silverfox, in the back country of Canada, working as a Lumberjack and struggling with his past life.  Stryker comes calling again, needing Logan’s help to hunt down someone who is killing their old team.   Logan refuses, but it forced into action when his Silverfox is murdered by Victor.   Logan, seeking revenge, goes after Creed but ultimately is defeated, leading to his agreement to help Stryker and enter the weapon X program yielding his new adamantium body. 

What follows Logan receiving his adamantium body feels and plays like a completely different film.  The first half of the film strongly focused on the relationships between Logan, Creed, Stryker, and Kayla and this part works well on its own.  There is a strong sense of why the characters do the things they do and the connections between them are believable and entertaining.  In particular the relationship between Logan and Creed is a highlight of the film with Schreiber and Jackman truly embracing their roles as Sabretooth and Wolverine respectively.   The interactions between their characters jump off the screen and highlight Hood’s ability to develop character relationships.    

The problems with the film really start to occur immediately after Wolverine gets his shiny new body.  The pace of the film goes from moderate to breakneck with dialogue and character development  shelved, exchanged for explosions and action sequences.   The rest of the film involves a motorcycles chase scene; a boxing match between Fred Dukes and Wolverine; a street fight between a criminal underused Gambit, Wolverine, and Sabertooth; and a fight scene between Weapon XI, Wolverine, and Sabretooth.  The entire second half is made up of action scenes or scenes to set up action scenes.  These scenes are not particularly effective either, Hood obviously is not in his comfort zone directing action sequences and it shows.  The scenes are cliché ridden and while they aren’t bad, feel like they are following along familiar territory which is disappointing considering the potential opportunities Wolverine presents.

Another problem for the film is what can only be described as horrible CGI, I do not know if Fox was just lazy and hired the first name on their list or if the companies who created the CGI are just terrible but, the results on screen are less than stellar.  At times Wolverine's claws look so fake it is distracting and entire CGI sequences look like they could have come from a direct to dvd film, for a summer blockbuster this is less than acceptable.

What Wolverine ends up being is a seriously missed opportunity, while the first half of the movie is passable on its own the second half manages to take what is good, blow it up, and continue blowing things up and smashing them until the end credits roll, reducing the movie to a mindless action film.  While the film manages to cram some fan favorite mutants into the film they are given very little screen time, Gambit and Deadpool are barely on screen, fading into the background for extensive periods of time.   If you are looking for a movie with explosions and mutant fights, this may satisfy your appetite, but if you are looking for a return to form for the X-men franchise this is not it.

For those interested, the film is only marginally different than the work print released online, while the polished version is an improvement it is probably not worth the cash, unless you are a hordcore wolverine fan.  Wait for the dvd to see the easter eggs endings, they are sure to show up as they set up sequels.

 

Score: 5/10