There are major spoilers in this review, past the jump on the main page, but if you’re reading the article page or via RSS there will be no jump, stop reading now, you have been warned. You will not be warned again.
We took the chance to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine at our local Showcase De Lux (sic) in Derby. The sound and picture were really good, the leather reclining chairs were okay (not as comfortable as we’d hoped), the service and prices in the bar were shocking (prices not so surprising, service disappointing). Combined with the price and the cost of parking (during the day) we’ll probably stick to the premier seats in the Nottingham Showcase.
Anyway.
I thought X-Men Origins: Wolverine was okay. The movie tells the story of the (apparently) most popular X-Men member, Wolverine. Unfortunately, a lot of that was already covered in the first few X-Men movies, so there’s a little bit of repetition. Sure we learn some new stuff (for people who’ve never read the comics) and we see a little back story about how Logan started out, and we get to see how he turns from man-with-bone-blades to man-with-adamantium-bones. The problem is that there’s no tension. Spoilers follow.
Logan’s love interest dies about half way through the film, required as a driver for his turn from man to animal (although it later turns out to be a ruse). But once she’s dead, where else will we get tension from? We know Logan survives, we know Striker survives, we know that Scott Summers (Cyclops) survives. When the kids are escaping at the end (a replay of whichever one of the X-Men movies has Logan saving the kids) we either know they’ll make it or we don’t care since we don’t know them. We don’t care about Gambit because well, he’s just a bit part. And when Logan’s love turns out to be alive again it’s too late, we’ve already grieved for her once and didn’t need to do it again.
The only part of the movie that really tugged a heart-string was the death of the couple that take Logan in briefly.
Maybe if you’re a full-on X-Men fan you love seeing all your favourite characters and you were worried in case Gambit died, but if they only play to the well-read fans it’s a small customer base. As a movie for general action movie loving movie goers – it’s just average.
The special effects were okay, the action sequences were okay and the dialogue was okay – just nothing special. Nothing really bad, just, nothing really special.
Shame. (Ryan Reynolds was a brief highlight, I’d watch him in anything).