Review 70: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine...   well to be honest, structurally it's a mess, but it's a watchable mess.

In Canada’s Northwest Territories in 1845, two mutant brothers, Logan (Troye Sivan) and Victor (Michael-James Olsen) go on the run to help Logan avoid a murder charge.  They become fighters and killers, living from war to war through U.S. history. During the 70’s, the two of them (Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber) are recruited by Major William Stryker (Danny Huston), as commandos for the elite squad Team X. When Stryker’s methods become to brutal for Logan to countenance, he quits and retreats to a remote part of Canada, where he becomes a lumberjack, falling in love with a local teacher, Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins). But Logan’s comes back to haunt him in the form of Stryker and Victor who has become disillusioned by what he believes to be his brother’s betrayal and abandonment.

The plot is very messy. The films storytelling feels very rushed - it feels as though the film never really stops to develop any tension or drama or between Wolverine and any of the supporting characters. Its attitude seems to be, here's Wolverine and the rest of the supporting cast, here are the adapted details from the comics, here are the action scenes, lets get on with this come on, move it!

How rushed you may ask? After just 15 minutes, James Howlett/Wolverine is introduced as sickly child, discovers his mutant powers, killed his real father, ran away from home, fought in various wars, been recruited by Stryker and then left Stryker - after one mission! All of these parts of his life are potentially really interesting to explore but the film sadly glosses over them as though they're not that important and they aren’t given the time to be explored in any depth.

It defiantly feels like the writers of this film chose random bits and pieces from various Wolverine comics and story arcs and just threw them together like the toppings from two dozen different flavoured pizzas. The film clearly has a story it wants to tell and is passionate to tell but doesn't really know how to tell it and in the end it comes off as a browny green mush of loads of Wolverine stories. The opening 

Throughout the latter half of the film when Logan gets his skeleton bonded with Adamantium, he goes on this vendetta to seek revenge on Victor which becomes one of the films primary driving forces, yet feels completely pointless since Victor always happens to pop up wherever Wolverine is just like Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. In scenes that repeat themselves, he tracks down a lead from one of his old Team X members, gets into a scuffle with them. It becomes tiresome and slows down the pacing.   

The film reportedly had a troubled production and it shows: Filming began without a completed script whilst popular characters like Gambit and Deadpool were added late into production.

It doesn't really have any twists or surprises or at the very least none that you can't see coming from a mile away.

Director Gavin Hood's direction is fairly standard for this genre of film, he creates shots, they look alright but nothing outstanding or spectacular and it basically feels like he's stuck with a rather haphazardly written screenplay and generic action scenes and is unable to craft the film he had in mind. Ultimately, he does a perfectly serviceable workmanlike job with the material he's given albeit lacking the pinach of the previous trilogy or Nolan's The Dark Knight.
The cinematography is beautiful and captures the beauty of Canada in 1979, the special effects are just okey, not awful but not great either and defiantly not what you'd expect from a summer blockbuster.
The score by Harry Gregson-Williams is catchy and captures the wildness and the loneliness of the character and helps to convey the long, violent life he’s led. The production design is  The costumes are fine, the make up is rich, the action scenes while competently shot feel oddly by the numbers and not particularly memorable, it feels very much like 80's action which doesn’t match the style Hood seemed to be going for. The sound effects are solid, and the props are well crafted.

Another big problem with this film, it has more characters than it knows what to do with.

The major players are well cast and the actors play their parts well.

Hugh Jackman practically carries this film playing James/Logan/Wolverine-which I guess is to be expected from this guy. He just does an excellent job as usual capturing the inner, demons and emotional struggles of the character. He clearly hates what he is and actively goes out his way to avoid violence, even when he does resort to it he clearly doesn't do it with any joy, he does it because he has no other alternatives.

Liev Schreiber is also terrific as Victor Creed/Sabertooth and I think he Hugh Jackman have a great screen presence. Sabertooth is almost the polar opposite to Logan. Whilst Logan is more disciplined and restrained, Victor shows more bloodlust and takes more pleasure in killing. Over the course of Logan's odyssey through life and what tidbits we get, he and Victor become enemies yet they can't live without each, they're brothers, they're all they have and they look out for each other, brothers do - there's an extreme love/hate relationship between them.

This is relationship is rendered somewhat mute with Logan constantly seeking revenge on Victor   yet he's always somehow just around the corner from him.

Danny Huston makes for a very compelling young William Stryker, he brilliantly portrays a guy who both loves and hates mutants because his son was a mutant and drove his wife to suicide. As a result of this experience he understands what mutants are going through but despises their destructive force. He also comes across as the right kind of prejudices and bigoted

Lynn Collins is luminous and lovely as Kayla Silverfox and has great chemistry with Hugh Jackman. Kayla is meant to represent Logan’s light in the dark.

Ryan Reynolds (despite his small role) is great as Wade Wilson, expertly playing him as a guy who enjoys his own wit way more than anyone else does. The character is crass and doesn’t care who he annoys. He just cares about entertaining himself and the audience.   

While his screen presence is minimal, Taylor Kitsch shows a lot of potential as Remy LeBeau/Gambit and gives a very witty and sly performance, being very suave and charismatic. 

Dominic Monaghan, Kevin Durand, Daniel Henney, Will.i.am (yes really) round out the film’s overstuffed cast playing Bradley/Bolt, Fred Dukes/Blob, Agent Zero and John Wraith; fellow members of Team X who although capable and interesting are generally interchangeable.  

Final Score: 2.5/5, it's average, perfectly, perfectly average. Not exactly awful, but it could have been so much better - a wasted opportunity.

The Anonymous Critic.