X-Men Origins: Wolverine
May 3, 2009
I’ve been like a child for the past few weeks. Since the marketing campaign surrounding X-Men Origins: Wolverine really kicked up a gear, I’ve been pretty giddy with excitement. Like any other child of the Nineties, I was bought up on a staple diet of Spiderman and X-Men cartoons, with the added benefit of my mum getting me hopelessly into the comic books, too. Like any other child of the Nineties, I was impressed with X-Men, indifferent about X-2 and horrified by X-Men: The Last Stand. I expected so much of this film, mostly because Wolverine is one o my favourite fictional characters of all time, but also because Gambit is in it, who is my favourtie X-Man EVER. I was left…unimpressed.
The film is, in every sense of the word, cool. There are a lot of really good fight scenes, sharp one liners and explosions. There is a sense of desperation, however, making the film a bit too cool, thus going full circle and looking daft. There are far too many instances where Wolverine walks casually away from an explosion or appears shot from a low angle with the open sky spiralling around him. You may know this shot as The Michael Bay Technique. This all serves to make the film just a little silly.
This silliness is expanded upon when Deadpool/Weapon XI/Wade/WHAT? turns up to confront Wolverine. It seems as though the filmmakers need an ultra-adversary that Sabertooth just couldn’t live up to. Or was it that they needed the “back to back” reprisal scene towards the ed of the film to produce a bit more of a conventional Hollywood feel? Wolverine’s story has always been a tragic one, and Sabertooth has always acted a complete prat.
The thing that really upset me is the fact that Gambit is a complete tool. He’s known for his charm and wit, but this gurning idiot just doesn’t do him justice. I feel like this is a personal insult, as will a lot of other pethetcally single fanboys the world around, especially since Gambit has been rumoured for all of the previous films and has yet to make an appearance. One of the risks you run when making a movie about one of the most popular comic book series of all time is that one half of your audience desperately want to see certain events or certain characters true to the way they were written whilst the other half simply don’t care that much. I feel tha Gavin Hood hs very much optedto cater for the latter here.
I must admit that I enjoyed the film. It was a great cinematic experience and the effects were truly tremendous, but I still left the cinema feeling as though I’d missed something. There is genuine emotion in the film, most notabely when the elderly couple who care for Logan are shot by Agent Zero, which made his death all the more sweet. This emotion if not carried all the way through, and when Logan’s girlfriend is killed (both times) the audience finds it hard to relate.
I’ve always wanted to make my own superhero movie, and I’ve learned that this is a minefield to be playing in. I would stick as rigidly to the subject maerial as possible out of respect for the superhero, but would bring it to life with my own slant and vision. That’s not to say that I’d completely recreate a story. t’s fair enough that thee are different Marvel Universes, but if a filmmaker is going to try and recreate one visually, they’d bettr stick within it’s walls.Not even Wolverine’s healing powers could mend my broken heart…
6/10
