X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (2009)
Written by Davif Benioff & Skip Woods
Directed by Gavin Hood

One thing I have to say about this flick before I get started on the review proper, is that much of the hype surrounding it is based on the fact that this is Wolverine's first solo flick. But... the X-Men trilogy was all about him anyway, which makes this outing much less special. So this is the film that answers all those questions about Wolverine that we were left asking post-X-trilogy. What led to him getting the adamantium skeleton, how old is he (raised in X-Men way back in 2000) - just who the hell is this guy? Let's start by looking at some of the key performances in the flick, really I'll be looking at Wolvie himself, Sabretooth and Stryker - as these are the three most important characters.

Wolverine: By this point, I think Jackman can pretty much turn Wolvie on and off at the drop of a hat. He's come to embody the character in the same way that Chris Reeve embodied Superman. He simply becomes the character. Jackman does a whole lot more brooding in this flick, as Wolvie is really having a pretty crap time. Basically, if you've seen X-Men or X-Men 3, you know what to expect. Unfortunately, we get nothing similar to Wolverine going berserk in the X-Mansion (X-Men 2) here. There's not much else to say, he gives the expected solid performance.




Sabretooth: I'm just gonna say it. Liev Schrieber is the best damn thing about this movie. Really. I hate to admit it, but I was totally opposed to his casting when I heard - because I wanted Tyler Mane. Let me set something straight, I hated Mane in the first X-Men. I hated Sabretooth in that movie. He went from being a fairly interesting character (comics) to being a virtually mute 'muscle-man' in the movie. His whole back story with Wolvie was glossed over, and the sequels never picked it back up.

But as much as I hated 'X-Men' Sabretooth... I hate re-casting. Just do not like it. However, I have to say in this case it was absolutely 100% the right thing to do. Schrieber owns the role, bringing to life a sadistic monster, alien to the mindless brute we saw in Singer's X-Men. He plays the role with such relish that you love the character almost as much as you despise him - thank god Hood decided to ignore continuity and give us an intelligent yet feral Sabretooth over the brick head of the original. The only problem is, due to the nature of the storyline it will be difficult to have Sabretooth return in any future sequels. The hell with continuity - I DON'T CARE. Just get Schrieber back.



Stryker: Here's where it goes wrong. Most X-Fans will remember Brian Cox's turn as Stryker in X-Men 2, which is generally regarded as pretty much the best film in the franchise. In my personal opinion, Cox is one of the best actors working today, and get's nowhere near the recognition he deserves. The man is brilliant.

Here, because the character is 20 years younger he's played by Danny Huston. And it just doesn't work. Huston is a fine actor, but this doesn't feel like the same character. And whilst that work well for Sabretooth, Stryker was one of the best things about X2. Cox gave an amazing performance, and his presence is missed here. I can understand casting a younger actor, but so much effort seems to have been spent making Huston appear older that you really question the point of this recast. Just put a little black through Cox's hair and there you have it. Having said that, Huston does a fine job with what he's given - and since Brian Cox was never going to be in this (despite his own wishes) he's a decent replacement (the character seems radically different here anyway

The Film: A mixed bag. I don't know where I would place it in the franchise... it certainly continues the tradition of a focus on Wolverine whilst the characters around him suffer. Here, many many characters feel wasted, such as: The Blob, Deadpool*, Gambit, Cyclops, Emma Frost, to name but a few. The thing is, with characters people love, such as these, the effort should really be made. They should be given their time to shine properly, or not at all. The story is a simple one of revenge, and to be honest it isn't that exciting. If you've seen X2, you don't really come out of this knowing that much more about Wolverine. The film really fails to deliver on it's promise of an Origin story, instead it feels like 'another Wolverine adventure'. Which is a shame. This coulda been something special. The only real high-point of the story is the struggle between Wolvie and Sabretooth - which only works because of Jackman's and Schrieber's performances. They keep you engaged. It's a real case of performances elevating the film to a greater level than it should be.

*Deadpool get's the worst treatment in this flick. I'm not even gonna talk about what happens to him. It's utter crap.