Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

Director: Gavin Hood (Tsotsi)

Cast: Hugh Jackman (X-Men, Van Helsing, The Fountain), Liev Schreiber (Defiance), Danny Huston (The Aviator), Lynn Collins (True Blood), Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights), Ryan Reynolds (Smokin' Aces, Blade: Trinity), Will i Am, Daniel Henney, Dominic Monaghan, Kevin Durand

The Deal: Chronicles the origin story of James Logan (Jackman), aka Wolverine, including his complex relationship with Victor Creed (Schreiber), romantic involvement with Kayla Silverfox (Collins), and association in William Stryker's (Huston) Weapon X program.

Thoughts: The film is so juiced-up on adrenaline that it neglects most everything else. Wolverine's origin story, which is complex and should make for a very interesting film, is reduced to one rage-induced action sequence after the next. It does make attempts to blend James the man with Wolverine the animal, but ultimately gets stuck on what was felt to be more important for a summer blockbuster, the animal. As cool as the action is, it's over-the-top and the CGI is a little ridiculous. It's exciting and entertaining, but lacks substance.

The performances are just more of what has come from the previous X-Men films. Jackman is the same Wolverine fan's have loved from the last films, full of his rage induced yelling. It's not great, but he plays the character well. Schreiber and Huston were both solid as Creed and Stryker, respectively. The two performances that stood out the most were Kitsch's and Reynolds'. I thought they both did excellent jobs portraying the characters Gambit and Deadpool. Kitsch was a cajun accent away from absolute perfection in his role, which will please the fans who had to wait until the fourth film for Gambit. I thought Reylonds was hilarious as Deadpool, but unfortunately, that character has a whopping 5 minutes on screen before vanishing. 

The most disappointing part of the film was the "climactic" battle between Wolverine, Creed, and Weapon XI (formerly Deadpool). This is where the poor CGI stood out the most, as almost nothing but the characters looked remotely real. In what will certainly upset fans, Deadpool becoming Weapon XI failed. I understand they needed some ultimate mutant villain, but the cost of which was wasting the film's funniest character. What we get instead as unfulfilling enemy equipped with essential every relevant mutant power. In the comics these were two separate characters, and I like it better that way. My favorite part was the opening credits, as we get a cool little intro that phases through all of the wars James and Victor fought in (it reminded me of the opening credits from Watchmen).

Verdict: Loaded with action but lacking a compelling story, it ultimately disappoints. It makes no progress from the previous X-Men films, but all in all, it was still fun to watch. ☆☆☆