X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Ever since the bad taste of X-Men 3: The Last Stand left in my mouth, I’ve become relatively indifferent to most movie renditions of my beloved comic book characters. In fact, I didn’t even blink an eye when Wolverine began to gain more steam in its completion. I didn’t even know it was close to being finished until the pirated version sans SFX hit the interwebs.

Why the ambivalence? Well, as stated, X-Men 3: The Last Stand left me very very dissatisfied. Similarly, Spider-man 3 left me wanting much much more. Even on the small screen, the badly written foibles of Heroes and Smallville have left me more gravely displeased than even apathetically disinterested. Heroes has been taken off the DVR list – PERMANENTLY. Smallville has its priority on said list by Bones. Basically, the world of comic books in live action hasn’t left me fully satisfied in a long time.

The Dark Knight was obviously an irresistible success creatively and performance wise. The Watchmen was alright for the most part, but it’s not even right to compare. I think The Dark Knight, Watchmen, and other comic book-based films transcend the genre; not only due to their darkness, but also to the weight of their aspirations. Actually, come to think of it, I would place Hellboy 2 in that category. There was more put into Hellboy 2 than there was in other action-movie-based-on-comic-book-characters.

So, what of Wolverine?

Although my interest in the movie developed just a week or two before it premiered, I began to gain some interest as it approached. Nothing about it that I saw through trailers told me that I should expect any more than the typical fare, but the core X-men nerd in me couldn’t really compete with logic. I was excited. I wanted to be entertained – and I wanted it done well.

That is the rub.

Wolverine as a character in funny books has evolved drastically from my knowledge. I feel like he came in as a ass-kicker that asked no questions. And we loved him for it. It wasn’t until the 1980s that his backstory became more apparent. It wasn’t until the late 1980s when Wolverine really began to expand to a fully-fleshed out character. Nowadays, comic book characters are incomplete without their origins – hence the big run of origin stories in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Now back to the movie.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine combined various aspects of Logan’s origin story (from the comic books and the X-Men movies) – but focused mainly on the Weapon X storyline – the one in which he gained his adamantium skeleton and lost his memory. The movie also focused on Logan’s inner turmoil of dealing with the animal inside of him. Overall, the unveiling of his origin wasn’t all that bad.

The was entertaining for the most part. I think it picked up tremendously after Logan agreed to the Weapon X process. After that point, the revenge story became clearer and the delivery of the movie became more digestible.

I did have to talk to myself at some point in the beginning of the movie to remind myself of what it truly was. Because of some shooting angles and devices that I can only think of describing as “cheesy” that were accompanied by some similarly cheesy scoring, I thought I was watching another highly marketed Marvel-based B-flick. At first it bothered me. Then, I let it settle in that this movie wasn’t made for anything else but to be a bit of B-movie: bad guy, large anti-hero, a chick for romance, and a plaid shirt and physically laborious work for said anti-hero.

This makes sense when we reflect back at what Wolverine really means to the X-verse. He’s not meant to be the tormented hero that Batman is even though he is tormented. He’s not meant to be a social icon in his world like Superman. He’s not meant to be conflicted between his superhero and alter-ego personas like Spider-man. Wolverine is meant to kick ass. He is a human canon-ball just like Colossus turned him into. Yes, he has a backstory and is a full character, but that is not why Wolverine is loved. He is loved for the “SNIKT” of his blade. He is loved for the eternal beatdown that the next “Bub” was going to take.

And, so, the writers and director provided the world a Wolverine movie. We saw his powers used extensively in the movie, as they should have been. Healing factor? Check. Numerous Checks. Keen scent? Check. Numerous Checks. Super strength? Check. Numerous Checks. Adamantium blade-led destruction? Check. A million-times Check!

So, did Wolverine deliver? Let me review. I thought Deadpool.. I mean Wade Wilson could’ve been expanded more. I thought the Sabretooth fights.. I mean the Victor Creed fights became mundane. The SFX left me wanting more – or maybe less. The scoring was weird. I’m not sure if there was an intentional nod to the 80s style action movies since a bulk of the movie was set in the 80s. If there was, I can see why I thought it was very B-movie-ish. If not, the scoring left me dissatisfied. As well, a problem that torments most of our contemporary Hollywood offering (OVER-scoring) was present in this movie. There was also some pretty obvious symbolism after the first Sabre.. err.. Victor Creed and Logan fight at the bar. When Logan ended up on the train tracks and Victor was villainesque in his soliloquy about how Logan’s inner-animal had to be freed – and he had to choose what side he was on. I guess we love Wolverine because he straddles both sides of the tracks. Get it?

Final thoughts? Not sure. If it’s on HBO in HD, I’d obviously watch it again. Would I buy it? No. If it wasn’t Wolverine – and say Ghost Rider, Daredevil, or Elektra (ahem, Mark Steven Johnson, ahem) for example – would it have kept my attention? Not sure. Daredevil done well is a compelling film character. Elektra and Ghost Rider – probably not so much. But they all fail in comparison to the general bad-ass-ness of Wolverine.

And, I guess, at the end of the day, this is what should settle the score: Did Wolverine do what he’s best at doing? Pretty much.

posted by breakfast boy@ 5:01 PM