In what I hope is the first of a long line of Origins films based of the popular Marvel comics franchise "X-Men", any fan of action, comic book or super hero movies is in for a treat with this film, the only thing I warn you about is that when you go to watch it, don't expect the next The Dark Knight, as a matter of fact, forget about Dark Knight. The Dark Knight, while a brilliant film should most defintley not be the bar by which all other comic book films should be trying to reach, for the simple reason that it's too good. The Dark Knight, apart from being the first comic book film to reach such a level of greatness, is also the first film to really shatter boundries when it comes to adapting a graphic novel to the big screen and as such, not every comic book film can be expected to live up to The Dark Knight's level of awesome. It's like going into every horror film expecting it to be as good as The Shining, or walking into an action film and being dissapointed when it doesn't turn out to be the next Die Hard.
Right, now we've got that out of the way, onto the review! We're going to be going in depth here, so if you haven't seen the film, then I'd stay away if you don't want spoilers. The film starts out by giving us a short scene detailing Logan's (or Jimmy as he's refered to here) childhood. Now, this scene was all fine and good, but what the hell was up with the SKELETON CLAWS~? I haven't read enough comics to know if that's where the claws really come from, but come on, didn't we already get a character the exact same in the animated series, X-Men Unlimited? Did they not remember how gash that power was? (Hell yes I watched X-Men Unlimited. Cartoon's will forever be quality!) But anyway, stupid skeleton claws aside, the intro scene is pretty cool, my only problem is that we never learn much about his family. Like, who the hell was that guy that looked just like Jackman that was looking after him? We'll never know. Oh, and young Sabretooth looked like a cunt, sorry to say.
Anyway, we move on through the scene and get some flashes of their lives, with Creed (Sabretooth) and Logan living through various wars, this is a pretty awesome little scene and I really liked the way they transistioned between scenes. We end the flashes with our heroes being hung to a cross and shot in a firing range, apparently because Creed went a bit mental and started ripping the shit out of some soldiers. If he's so badass, how they took him down and tied him up, I have no idea, but that's not the point. Anyway, scene ends, intro credits flash and BAM.
We're in a dark cell and a young William Stryker open's it up and asks if Creed and Logan want to join his little team. Now, Stryker was always going to be a hard character to recast after Brian Cox's fantastic performance as the older variation on the character, but I take my hat off (or, I would if I was wearing a hat. It's like 3am while I type this. Why would I be wearing a hat at 3am?) to Danny Huston for a good show. I'll admit, I'd rather they had gone the route of using CGI to make Cox younger, but Huston did a good job when you consider what he had to live up too. Even if he didn't really look much like Stryker. He needed a beard. Everyone looks better with a beard!
Next we're introduced to Strykers CRACK SQUAD OF ULTIMATE BADASSES. (Hello Aliens refrence. Ah well, with me writing it was only a matter of time before I snuck one in there.) And in this group we've got characters that those who read the X-Men comics may recognise, and some that you'll probaly know from the cartoons if not. And lemme tell you, they really picked some obscure characters for this variation of WEAPON X. (It's so badass, it needs to be capitalised. Clearly.) We've of course got Wolverine and Sabretooth, are two heroes, but along with them is the Deadpool, or Wade Wilson for that matter.
Now, there's been a lot of complaints around the net about how Deadpool was handled, and if you're a whiny little crybaby that know's far too much about the comic books (Hey, I can't blame you, if someone made a Buffy movie I'd probally spend months bitching about Buffy not having the right hair style for example >_>) then you're likley within your rights to complain, but I have to say guys, remember that as much as some may think he is, Deadpool is not a mainstream superhero. I'd wager that about 3/4 of the total people that watched this film either didn't know who he was, or didn't really care about how little time he had to be his usual wise-cracking self. Yes, I'll agree that Ryan Reynolds, a star in his own right (though not really much of a box office draw since 2004-5) made for an excellent Deadpool and if he get's his own film, it'll probaly be awesome, but you need to remember: this is a film about WOLVERINE. Not Deadpool. Just be happy he was featured, think of it as a slight preview of what could be.
Now that's out of the way, we'll move onto the rest of the cast of Weapon X. We've got The Blob, but he's not a fatty yet. Fair enough, I can buy that, even though I'm pretty certain his power was supposed to be that he was freakin' massive yet agile. Then we've got John Wraith (the black guy that can teleport, for those of you who don't want to wiki it) played by will.i.am, and let me just say, what the fuck is this guys name about? Seriously, that's possibly the stupid thing for a rapper to call himself. Is he retarded, or just plain stupid? Well, despite the silly name he makes the character of Wraith (who's comic book counterpart is called Kestel, I couldn't really find much info on him) a likeable guy. He's not getting a spin off anytime soon, but he played his part well. Speaking off spin offs, I read somewhere that Halle Berry wants a Storm Origins story. Oh, Halle. How silly you are. Last time they gave you a super hero film, you starred in CATWOMAN. The bright shining example of what I like to call "Cinematic Abortion."
Moving on, the next guy on the list is Agent Zero, as he's named. Now, if comic book fans were going to complain about any character being mishandled, I'm suprised it's not this guy. He was relegated from ULTIMATE BADASS (can't you just hear a great booming voice say that every time I type that?) MERCENERY, to Strykers lacky. Oh well. Anyway, the chinese dude that played him did what he needed to, the character nor the actor really stood out, but it wasn't a huge role in terms of this film so meh, no biggie. Last of all, finishing the team is the ultimate killing machine... Domonic Monohogan? As in... CHARLIE FROM LOST? What the hell is everyones favourite Heroin addicted, washed up Rock Star doing with these guys? Apparently his ability is to control machines or electricity, I don't know, it's never really made very clear. Charlie is defintley a bright part of the early bits of the film, he's just got a certain charm that makes you want to like him, his character may feel really out of place, but he brings a welcome innocent charm into the mix. So yeah, that's our crack squad, and their first mission? Retrieve a paperweight from a diamond smuggler. I shit you not. Anyway, it's not as stupid as it sounds, we get some awesome action scenes as Deadpool shows of his sword skills and litteraly cuts the bullets in half, or deflects them into his opponents. (It goes against all the law's of physics, but god damn if it doesn't look freakin' awesome.)
So, they get the paperweight which turns out to be a piece of meteroite and the team then get's sent to some jungle in the middle of nowhere to retrieve more of it, needless to say that towns people have no idea what they're talking about and end up getting needlessly slaughtered by Stryker's crew, especially Creed who has been taking more and more joy in murder as the film progresses. Logan, being our noble hero, stops Creed. "Halt my friend! For we are not killers! We, with our chins chiseled by Michael Angelo himself as the heroes of the piece!". Alright, he doesn't actually say that, but my way sounds funnier. Logan tells the group that he's out, and that he won't kill an innocent, which gets us the typical dramatic action moment that we've seen so many times before: "LOGANNNNNNNN!!!!!" Yeah, it's cliche, but god damn wouldn't you love to scream that out?
We're then given the "X YEARS LATER" treatment and taken to the future (or uh, present, I guess.) Logan has settled into a regular life, married a smokin' hot school teacher (seriously, I'm expected to believe that there's a fit school teacher up in the middle of nowhere in some woods in Cananda? Then again, Trish Stratus was canadian and I think I speak for every guy reading when I say we'd like to do some dirty thing's to that lady.) and he got a job as a lumberjack. Why? BECAUSE HE'S A MAN~ HE'S SUCH A MANS MAN! (Kudos if you got the '96 WCW reference.) The two get into a bit of a tustle on the way home and Kayla (his wife) show's that she has some abilities of her own when she convinces some guy who's being an asshole for no reason, to move his car. Later that night, shortly before the two of them get busy (at which point I realise, holy crap, does this bird look exactly like Evangeline Lilly/Kate from Lost or what? It's insane. She's like a pretty version of her. She also plays Dawn in True Blood, which is an amazing TV series that everyone should watch.) she tells him a some native american legend in which we get the reference to "Wolverine".
The next day, Stryker turns up and tells Logan that Creed has got AWOL and is killing his old team mates (which we saw a little bit earlier when he butchers Charlie. Poor Charlie, first they kill him in Lost and then they kill his character just for a lil' plot development.). Stryker asks Logan to come back with him but of course, Logan refuses. Pretty soon after that, we see Kayla driving down the road when suddenly Creed pulls a Hiro Nakamura and show's up outta nowhere and kidnaps Kayla, then carves her up something fierce in the woods, leaving her for Logan to find moments later. He uses his keen sence of smell to find her. Alright, so let's count, Wolverines super powers include... Healing, SKELETON CLAWS and... Super Smelling? Seriously, what the hell. Next, Logan get's all bent out of shape and let's loose a "NOOOOOOOOOO!" that would make Darth Vader himself quiver in fear before heading to the bar that Creed's sitting in and proceeding to get his ass handed to him. What happens next? Basically, Creed calls him a pussy, Logan cries a lil', Stryker turns up and says "HEY, WHY DON'T WE MAKE YOUR BONES METAL!". It's not as stupid as I make it sound, it's actually quite a good scene, it just sounds funny in writing.
So Logan goes along and get's the experiment done and after a short tense moment where Logan may be dead (Which would actually be worrying if he hadn't already appeared in 3 films set after this one) he wakes up and hears Stryker tell the doctors to erase Logan's memory. Needless to say, he get's a little angry and breaks out of the containment center. Which, by the way, I'm 99% certain that it wasn't in the middle of a tropical jungle in X-Men 2. I'm fairly certain it was somewhere cold, but hey, what do I know? Anyway, Logan wakes up in the middle of nowhere and get's taken in for the night by two kind old folk, the male of which gives him some advice about choices and they have a nice touchy feely moment. And then Agent Zero completely assasinates the two of them. Awesome. Wolverine hops on the motorcycle that belonged to the old people's son and launches an all out war on Zero and the Helicopter he tries to take him down in, a scene you've probaly seen about 20 times over already thanks to it being in every trailer. Zero get's taken out and Wolverine decide's he's out for blood and goes to Las Vegas to find The Not So Blob and John Wraith, to get info about Strykers wereabouts.
Logan arrives and we're introduced to The Blob again, only this time he's gained A LOT of weight. As in so much that it looks just plain silly. Also something I have to wonder, WHEN THE HELL IS THIS MOVIE SET!? Is it shortly before X-Men 1? By my count, It must be about 10 years odd due to the age of Cyclops (Who's in the movie for pretty much NO REASON but to have a cameo.) which means that half of the ages in the X-Men series must be very off. But whatever, I guess. Anyway, Mr. Blobby refuses to tell Logan where the new lab is, so Logan beats him in a boxing match to get the information, with Wraith wanting to come with him because... well, I can't really remember why. Redemption or something I think. Eitherway, the head to New Orleans to find Remy LeBau. Also known as GAMBIT. Hell yes. Gambit was always to absolute coolest X-Man going ever. What follows is a short scene in which Gambit is introduced in a fairly cool way (check out the card skills, that's just awesome) and for pretty much no reason gets into a bit of a tussle with Logan. Now Gambit, played by Taylor Kitsch who I've never really heard off before (then again, his filmography consists mostly of Snake on a Plane and The Covenent) does a decent job at Gambit, but unfortunetly, I don't think he was quite right for the role. Gambit always had a much deeper voice and a certain charm to him that Taylor lacked, of course, I may just still be a little bitter that Joshua Holloway (Sawyer from Lost) didn't get cast as Gambit. That probaly would have been too awesome to contain in one film though. Oh, and just before this seen, Creed captures Cyclops for Stryker. Again, I don't like Cyclops as a character and I didn't see any reason for him to be in the film.
So, Gambit and Logan fight, Logan get's thrown through a wall to the outside where he see's Creed kill Wraith and take some off his blood for... well, I don't really know. Wolverine gets the better off Creed this time now that he has metal claws instead of the SKELELTON CLAWS~, but the fight get's interuptted by Gambit. Gambit agree's to take Logan to the prison island where all of the MUTANT EXPERIMENTS! are taking place. Now, again, I'm 99% certain that this place was in the middle of like... the artic or something. What the hell. But whatever, Logan get's there and has a confrontation with Stryker, he's going to kill him for killing his wife... when it turns out she's alive? SWERVE~, that was a brilliant piece of drama that I really didn't see coming. In an awesome move, it turns out she was Strykers spy and that she faked her own death so that Logan would get the operation done. What a bitch. Pretty soon she reveals that Stryker has been capturing mutants and that her sister is one of them, and that she really did love Logan. Logan leaves because he no longer has a reason to kill Stryker, but Creed get's pissy about it. He then DEMANDS that he get the adamantium implanted in him, but Stryker tells Creed he'd never survive, which Creed interpruts as "You're not as strong as Wolverine". Ouch.
Speaking of Creed, it'd be a travesty to review this film without giving a shout out to Liev Schreiber for an absolutley fantastic performance as Sabretooth that completely blew Tyler Mane out of the water. (Poor guy, first he gets jobbed out through out his wrestling career, then his first big role get's completely redefined by another actor.) He gives us a character that's witty, intelligent and most importantly off all: Likeable. Not in the usual sort of way, but in that "He's a bad guy, but man is he cool." way that so few have managed to pull off well. (Key Examples: Heath Ledgers The Joker, Michael Madsen's Mr. Blonde, Ian McKellen's Magento, Al Pacino's Tony Montana, you get the picture) Back onto the film's plot, Creed decides to attack Kayla (who it turns out is actually the mutant SILVERFOX, hence her name: Kayla Silverfox) but Logan comes back and the two of them brawl once more, with Logan coming out on top this time (though he doesn't kill Creed, deciding not to give in to his "Animal Instincts", whatever the hell that means.) and decides to help free all of the mutants, because he's just a bang up guy like that. He free's most of them and we get a couple more cameos from characters in the series, the most prominent being Emma Frost, also known as White Queen in the comics and is the sister of Silverfox, apparently. Even though they have different last names.
Stryker of course can't have this, and prematurley releases his ULTIMATE BADASS, also known as Weapon XI, also known as Deadpool, also known as Wade Wilson. How many aliases does this guy have? Anyway, what follows is the most epic fight in the entire film, even featuring Creed helping Logan (because "I'm the only one that get's to kill you" says Creed), and we also get a nice suprise in the form of a Patrick Stewart cameo! Professer X helps save the children and helicopters them to safety. Anyway, Logan decapitates Weapon XI and the fight ends, with Logan telling Creed that their relationship is over, only for Creed to tell him that they're brothers: their relationship will never be over. That's kinda gay, but whatever. Wolverine goes back to help Silverfox who got trapped helping to free the captured mutants, only for suddenly Stryker to turn up!
Now this is the one thing I didn't like about the film. During the fight scene with Weapon XI, Stryker gets ahold of a gun and some "Adamantium Bullets" (which is the metal inside Wolverine) and proudly states that it won't kill Logan, but it'll kill his memories if he get's shot in the head with one. ...What? That makes so little sence, it's just... what? Seriously, that's the best they could come up with for why he loses his memory? Fine, whatever. Anyway, Stryker shoots Logan a few times in the head, only for a dying Silverfox to take control of him and instead of shooting him in the head, she tells him to "walk until you're feet bleed". What? Well, I guess they couldn't kill him seeing as he's in the 2nd film, but that's still a bit shit. So, Silverfox dies from blood loss or something, Stryker walks off and Logan wakes up, not remembering anything. We get a nice little scene with him and Silverfox where Gambit asks if he know's her, to which Logan replies "...No" and then the police turn up. Gambit says WE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE MANNN, but Logan decides to go it alone because... well, because he's a LONE WOLF like that. Or a Lone Wolverine! You see what I did there? Genious.
Also if you're willing to sit through the 5 minitues of credits, you'll also be privy to one of two extra scenes and a small pointless one just before the credits. The pointless one is just Stryker being found by the MP and told he's under arrest for suspison of the murder of some military general that he killed earlier in the film. The next two scenes, one of them includes Deadpool's hand breaking out through the ground and touching his head, which promptly says "ssh." in typical Deadpool style, breaking the fourth wall. And the next scene has Logan in a bar in Japan (I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but I'm pretty sure at some point in his life he lives in Japan and does something over there, not sure what.) where a waitress asks if he's drinking to forget (who asks that?), only for Logan to reply "No... I'm drinking to remember.". That's a pretty gash ending if you ask me.
So, in conclusion, apart from some scene's that could have been stretched futher, some characters that weren't really nescessary or cast perfrectly and a really, really stupid explanation for Logan's memory loss, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a fantastic action movie and a enjoyable comic book film, yet there's still a little room for improvement. The acting is great, as I said there were some character's that I didn't feel were cast as well as they could have been, but the performances of Jackman, Liev and Danny Huston made up for any underwhelming performances from others. The action and special effects were fantastic, but I'd expect nothing less from an X-Men film in this day and age. And last of all, the plot, whilst there were a few let downs the script was great through out and made for a compelling storyline.
I'll give X-Men Origins: Wolverine a 7/10. It was a fantastic film with some room for improvement.
0 comments:
Post a Comment