Some summers you look forward to the movies that come out. There are glorious summers where almost every week has a movie that looks amazing. We are in one such summer right now. With Star Trek, Terminator, Battle for Terra coming out in May, Year One, Transformers and The Hangover (ok I am also looking forward to Harry Potter) in June and many others (I am also looking forward for 9/9/09 for the movie 9). This summer looks to be a movie tour de force...and then there is Wolverine.
Wolverine, voted the number one super hero by Wizard has a long and convoluted history like any super hero. What made him cool was a combination of mystery, looks, and a bad ass anti hero attitude we did not have in comic before he came on the scene. Some might argue that Batman is the original anti hero and the Punisher did appear a few month before Wolverine's first appearance but Wolverine had something that everyone loved. It's just too bad the movie did not have the same qualities.
I am not going to spoil the movie but the feel of X-Men Origins: Wolverine is off. Gone is the mystery and anti hero mystique we came to love about the character. Gone are the emotions that are conflicted with the comic hero. This movie presents Wolverine as a pretty well together hero. Sure there are a couple of scenes that show him doing slightly the wrong thing but all in all he knows that it is wrong and he should kill every one he used to work with because of it.
Wolverine's powers are very selective, he can hear people while he is under water and they are a floor above him but his sense of smell can be confused. It's just not in line with the other movies and smells of bad writing.
The plot itself is just weak. Some movies your can ignore the plot hole and just have fun. THis movie has you tripping everything you go to the next scene. Like Hancock, the first 30 minutes of Wolverine are really well done. You also expect the movie to be better than all that you have heard before. That child like innocence is shattered by trouble dialogue and the need to cram as many super heroes into a movie as they can.
The cameos are abundant in this film. We have Bolt, Agent Zero, Wrath, The Blob, Gambit, Deadpool, Cyclops, White Queen, Silver Fox, QuickSilver, Toad, Sabortooth, and Professor X. I was suprised not to see more cameos like Omega Red or Captain American. Is that what we like in our comic book movies? We don't need a ton of cameos, we just want a good story. Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber gave it their all and really try and make the material work. But in a post "Dark Knight" world we need to hold comic book movies to a higher standard. The nod to the fan boy with a dozen cameos is no excuse for a mediocure movie.
If you are an X-Men fan then X-Men Origins: Wolverine is worth a viewing, if you have just want to see the first summer movie of the season, I would wait for Star Trek.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment