Opening weekend of Summer Blockbuster Season, for the movie theaters it's the best time of the year for them. But for the movie enthusiast I claim to be, it's the 2nd best time of the year (Oscar Season being the 1st). But what better way to start Summer 2009 then with a prequel to a personal favorite X-MEN TRILOGY (okay, I don't include X3 but it's still a trilogy).
When word broke that Wolverine (aka Hugh Jackman) would be getting his own film, I couldn't be shocked. If you know comics or the X-Men franchise at all, you know Wolverine is the go to guy for the X-Universe, and a big icon in the comic industry; so it's only natural he'd get a solo title. Though I'm not that big a Wolvie fan, I use to despise him in my early days of comic book reading (HE WAS FREAKING EVERYWHERE...not that he's not these days) but over time I got over him and considered him a some what dynamic character.
If you're not knowledge to the Marvel Comic lore, then you should probably know nothing was really known about Wolverine's past until 2001 when Bill Jemas and Joe Quesada brought out a 6-part mini story called ORIGIN that revealed a lot of Wolverine's past. And that is where a good portion of the early movie comes from, and how an origin story could be crafted into the big screen.
As I said, Wolverine is quite the dynamic character and has so much back story that I doubt that this will be a stand alone Wolverine movie. But we shall see.
In the first days of the X-MEN movie, Dougray Scott was the name attached to play Wolverine, but due to time restraints he was released from the position and it was handed over to Hugh Jackman. What a great outcome. I'm not that big of a fan when it comes to Mr. Jackman (2008 People's Sexiest Man Alive) but then again I've only really seen him in the X-Films, but I do love him as Wolverine. He's not the short stack, psychopathic killing, knucklehead that avid comic readers know but he definitely gives his own twist to make a really good Wolverine. And in this solo film, he continues that tradition.
Hugh Jackman resuming as Wolverine, Liev Schrieber taking over as Sabretooth, and Ryan Reynolds as the Merc with a Mouth Deadpool (who by the way will be leading his own solo DEADPOOL movie in the foreseeable future) were the saving graces of this film. Though I had no serious problems with the rest of cast accept for the replacement of Brian Cox's Stryker for Danny Huston's, those three were the best ones in the film. Schrieber is a very talent actor and a step up from the quiet, hairier Tyler Mane version of Sabretooth from the first X-MEN film. And Ryan Reynolds I felt always if ever belong in a comic book movie, it'd have to Wally West's Flash or Deadpool. Glad I'm not the only one who saw it.
With out giving away to much of the plot, I'd have to say it's fairly flaw. The throwing together of random characters from different "eras" of the mutant world didn't fit well into the developing story. With my biggest peeve being Gambit. I've loved this character since the beginning of my comic book days but putting him into this film for the sake of just having him was a mistake. And he didn't really add anything to the story as a whole accept for some flashy special effects. The build up to Wolverine joining the Weapon Plus Program and getting his adamantium wasn't exactly the best, but it worked for a good portion of it. And the ending, the ending need a good strong re-write. Once again, not going into to much detail other wise I'd be giving stuff away.
It's easy to be very critical of this film because it's based on a 30 something year old comic book character, who is still kind of new in comparison to other characters. But something the things they did in this film just so they could add characters and connect it to the first 3 films just didn't do Wolverine justice. There's a lot more they could of done, and a lot less as well. I didn't expect a film as good as X-MEN or X-MEN 2, but I was definitely more impressed with this than Brett Ratner's trash that is X-MEN 3.
Overall, I'd say an entertaining film. As I've said over and over again, as an avid fan and pretty knowledgable comic reader it doesn't work that well, but if you're looking a fun action packed film than I'd say you found one.
Because of my bias, I give it a mid 7/10.
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