| Not even Hugh Jackman can save this one... Overloaded with CGI and mishandled by director Gavin Hood, X-Men Origins: Wolverine lacks the bite of the early X-Men titles
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| X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
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After the unbelievably disastrous third entry in the X-Men series, X-Men: The Last?Stand, Fox attempts to recharge the batteries on its lucrative superhero franchise. Hugh Jackman takes up the reins, signing up as producer to ensure quality control over the screen role that's come to define him.
Problem is, the film's all sound and fury with little story or substance; a mundane beginnings tale overstuffed with CGI.
Opening in the Northwest Territories circa 1845, Wolverine tampers with comic book gospel only minimally. The picture launches into action with the violent incident that takes the gifted, misunderstood brotherly mutants Logan/Wolverine and Victor Creed/Sabretooth (played by Jackman and Liev Schreiber in adulthood) away from their family homestead.
The film's title sequences depict the strapping (and well-aging) duo through the decades, fighting victorious skirmishes in the Civil War and both World Wars before the aggressive Victor misbehaves in Vietnam, resulting in the two being locked up.
A shadowy government official, William Stryker (Danny Huston), recognizes their powers and inducts the siblings into a secretive tribe known as Team X.
The other cunning mercenaries, namely Fred Dukes/The Blob (Kevin Durand), transporter John Wraith (Will.i.am), electricity-charged Chris Bradley/Bolt (Dominic Monaghan), sniper Agent Zero (Daniel Henney), and blade specialist Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), band together as the skilled muscle behind Stryker's devious missions.
Once Logan realizes Stryker is willing to kill innocent bystanders for experimental projects, he leaves the team and retires to a comfortable existence as a hard-working logger with girlfriend Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins).
Stryker's manipulative actions catch up with Wolverine six years later. He concocts a long-winded ruse to ensure Wolverine will agree to a vengeful rebirth involving banding the fictional metal adamantium within his bones.
Suffice to say, the results are the feral, near indestructible Wolverine of legendary comic lore.
This scene of the beast's evolution into the form we all know and love was much more effective when it was shown in mysterious flashes in X-Men. After this letdown, director Gavin Hood settles down for a lukewarm final act, with CGI-loaded action stunts, interchangeable villains and a last-minute shock that negates all that came before.
It's as if the filmmakers realized that Wolverine might be wearing out his welcome, so even the long-rumoured (and fan favourite) Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) puts in a late appearance without a whole lot to do.
Jackman and Schreiber give all they can to their roles, and their dedication to the flimsy material is the only thing that gives this prequel any oomph. In fact, it's this unchanging of the guard that de-claws Wolverine, relegating it to substandard material more in line with the third entry than the initial two helmed by Bryan Singer.
— Aaron Graham |
Uptown
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