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Ever since The Dark Knight, it has seemed to me that every comic book movie has had some shoes to fill. Which, I'll admit, seems completely unfair to the comic-book-movie genre to begin with. Not every movie will have such a high budget and high quality cast, and not every film will need such depth to it. Which is the mindset I walked into Wolverine with, and exactly the mindset that got me through it.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a story focused on the background of the featured character, Wolverine. Deviating slightly from the comic book storyline, the story deals with Wolverine's early mutant powers, and how he comes to gain his iconoclastic metal claws and metal skeleton. The story follows the original storyline for the most part, and covers all of the necessary information without taking any wrong turns with the liberties of the story.
The cast includes series of performers which fit into their roles as comfortably as gloves, with Hugh Jackman playing an incredibly convincing and personable lead role. I was also impressed by Taylor Kitsch's (Gambit) dedication to the New Orleans accent, and reproducing it incredibly accurately. Despite the cast fitting the roles perfectly, the script itself left a lot to be desired, and ending up dragging down the stellar job the actors and actresses were doing.
Despite that, the story itself made for a capable (though certainly not stellar) movie, threading one fight and action sequence to the next in a simple and relaxed pace, making the movie's progress quite comfortable for both the audience and the plot. The only part where the story hiccuped is the dialogue, which felt stiff at best and completely forced at worst.
http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/x-men-origins-wolverine-image1.jpg
The action and fight sequences were really the cost of the movie ticket, and it lived up to its cost very well. The action was "energetic", and never really felt like it was being coreographed or filmed in a movie. The more feral aspect of Wolverine's and Sabertooth's characters made for a very convincing series of fights. Most of the individual fights were very well done. Although the individual versus machine fights felt much more unreasonable, and pumped a little too much Hollywood. Especially when Wolverine had to go against a helicopter.
Fans of the comic series are going to recognize a lot of familiar faces, but will probably be somewhat upset by their remarkably short screentime. No character aside from Wolverine and Sabertooth are primary features, and many of them see little action aside from very short sequences. Although for what little screen time they're given, the characters aren't misrepresented. This is certainly another shout of praise for the cast, which did very well with the faces many viewers already knew before stepping into the theater.
Sadly, direction in the film managed to detract quite a bit from the overall experience. Looking up at the poster, you'll have a good idea of how dramatic the entire film tried to be. Every bit of drama was wrung dry, shot dramatically, and then had special effects added to make the scene more dramatic and emotive. The end result seemed to jump the gun on an already overly dramatic film.
Oh, and fan service. Lots of fan service.
Bottom Line: Even if you're not into comic books, it's a good movie that does a lot right, including a very likable cast of actors and characters.
Recommendation: Go see it. Just expect lots of Hugh Jackman in various states of undress.
Ever since The Dark Knight, it has seemed to me that every comic book movie has had some shoes to fill. Which, I'll admit, seems completely unfair to the comic-book-movie genre to begin with. Not every movie will have such a high budget and high quality cast, and not every film will need such depth to it. Which is the mindset I walked into Wolverine with, and exactly the mindset that got me through it.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a story focused on the background of the featured character, Wolverine. Deviating slightly from the comic book storyline, the story deals with Wolverine's early mutant powers, and how he comes to gain his iconoclastic metal claws and metal skeleton. The story follows the original storyline for the most part, and covers all of the necessary information without taking any wrong turns with the liberties of the story.
The cast includes series of performers which fit into their roles as comfortably as gloves, with Hugh Jackman playing an incredibly convincing and personable lead role. I was also impressed by Taylor Kitsch's (Gambit) dedication to the New Orleans accent, and reproducing it incredibly accurately. Despite the cast fitting the roles perfectly, the script itself left a lot to be desired, and ending up dragging down the stellar job the actors and actresses were doing.
Despite that, the story itself made for a capable (though certainly not stellar) movie, threading one fight and action sequence to the next in a simple and relaxed pace, making the movie's progress quite comfortable for both the audience and the plot. The only part where the story hiccuped is the dialogue, which felt stiff at best and completely forced at worst.
http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/x-men-origins-wolverine-image1.jpg
The action and fight sequences were really the cost of the movie ticket, and it lived up to its cost very well. The action was "energetic", and never really felt like it was being coreographed or filmed in a movie. The more feral aspect of Wolverine's and Sabertooth's characters made for a very convincing series of fights. Most of the individual fights were very well done. Although the individual versus machine fights felt much more unreasonable, and pumped a little too much Hollywood. Especially when Wolverine had to go against a helicopter.
Fans of the comic series are going to recognize a lot of familiar faces, but will probably be somewhat upset by their remarkably short screentime. No character aside from Wolverine and Sabertooth are primary features, and many of them see little action aside from very short sequences. Although for what little screen time they're given, the characters aren't misrepresented. This is certainly another shout of praise for the cast, which did very well with the faces many viewers already knew before stepping into the theater.
Sadly, direction in the film managed to detract quite a bit from the overall experience. Looking up at the poster, you'll have a good idea of how dramatic the entire film tried to be. Every bit of drama was wrung dry, shot dramatically, and then had special effects added to make the scene more dramatic and emotive. The end result seemed to jump the gun on an already overly dramatic film.
Oh, and fan service. Lots of fan service.
Bottom Line: Even if you're not into comic books, it's a good movie that does a lot right, including a very likable cast of actors and characters.
Recommendation: Go see it. Just expect lots of Hugh Jackman in various states of undress.