Wowed by Wolverine

There's an old adage: don't believe everything you need. Never has that been more true regarding the overly harsh reviews I've read of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

In a previous post, you may have read I was umming and ahhing over whether or not to shell out the spondulaks and go and see this latest X-Men movie due to the less than luke warm reception it's been getting from movie critics and geeks masquerading as critics.

Well, I did (thanks, Steve - you're wisdom guides me as ever, sir). For what it's worth, I thought it was great. Sure, not Oscar-winning, not critically-acclaimed, not even superior to X2 great, but still a fun and action-filled fight-fest (go me with all the alliteration) that had me thoroughly entertained for two hours. So there were a few plot holes; so what. They weren't that glaring and you hardly noticed with all the cool action going on. There were loads of great cameos - you could literally play 'name the X-Man' at one point, and some nice one-liners from ol' mutton chops.


The opening to the movie, charting Wolverine and Sabertooth's careers (pre-Weapon X) over no less than four major wars was stunning and so well shot - it possessed a real gravitas and atmosphere for me that left its mark just as indelibly as one of Wolvie's adamantium claws. Great stuff - it really was.

Let's remember something here: this is an X-Men movie in name only. It is. When you think about for a moment. It's a Wolverine movie, which is a completely different ball game if you ask me. Levelling critique at something because it wasn't what you expected, frankly is a little lame. Fault of the marketing teams, the trailers, the misleading titling prefix or your own erroneous beliefs - it doesn't matter. This was a movie about Wolverine, plain and simple. It's not about any of the other ancillary characters, so no need to bemoan their lack or otherwise of screen time - it's Logan's film; it's his story. He's an ace character, so get over it.

I thought it built well and the narrative kept me interested between the fights.

I'll concede, there were a couple of moments of ropey CGI, which had me a little baffled (why, when the other X-Men movies managed Wolverine's claws just fine?), but nothing that detracted too much from my enjoyment.

Scott Summers a bit of a push to be around for this movie? Hmm, I'm not so sure. In the movie, Wolverine and Sabertooth got shipped out of Vietnam when? Well, it could have been as late as 1975, when the war ended (or there or thereabouts). Wolverine then joins Weapon X and starts killing and subjugating warlords all over South America, Africa and any other foreign hellhole that would have them. This could've been another couple of years, maybe more. So that leaves us at 1977. So then Wolverine goes AWOL, done with the killing etc, etc, and hangs out in Canada for another six years - 1983, then. Scott Summers could've been as young as fourteen when Sabertooth goes after him, which would make him about 31 when X-Men comes in (the movie). That's no so unreasonable is it? I didn't think it was.


Let's not analyse too closely here - it's a comic book movie, it's supposed to be far-fetched and stretch the boundaries of realism and plausibility (even if that means a dubious 'adamantium bullets won't kill him but will wipe his memory' shtick - I've read worse).

My issue here is that I, as a comic book fan (oh, and hang continuity by the way - at least all the mega-detailed stuff - how are you supposed to pay homage to decades worth of character background in two hours?), I might have not gone to see this movie based on some pretty harsh critiques (two/two and a half stars - no way). I'm glad I listened to reason and went to make up my own mind (thanks for lowering my expectations, though, oh gurus of film and comic lore). It just goes to show you that your critique is all that really matters. And sure, I appreciate that this is all reviews can ever do: offer us a, sometimes, well-considered opinion and then allow us to make up our own minds. Dangerous territory, though, if you don't have the determination to follow your own beliefs.

Look, I won't bang on any further. Go and see for yourself what you think of this film. Personally, two stars (or the slightly less committed half - ugh!) suggests poor quality to me and that's just not a fair assessment of this movie - the criteria is all wrong, folks, it really is.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is no best-movie ever, but it's actually a very cool film about a very cool character with loads of action and some awesome character cameos (Gambit deserves a special mention - potentially show stealer right there...). Go see it!