Missing the "Ommph" of the first two X-Men movies, and missing a decent interpretation of the X-Men, 4 May 2009
The X-Men franchise has been riding on the backbone of Wolverine since the very beginning. Hugh Jackman's interpretation of the popular hero made him a major star and the character the frontrunning character of the long-running comic book series. After the mildly controversial Last Stand, 20th Century Fox decides to turn back the clock and focus all their attention on the lead character for an entire movie. Wolverine is the first of potentially many to receive his own movie, his own chance to truly shine. Now, hardcore readers and newcomers can see how he rose from outcast to killing machine. The end result is a totally mixed bag, however, and it boils down to just how hardcore a fan you really are.
If you are hardcore, then you'll most likely receive the same cringing feeling when watching the same movie studio pretty much mercilessly butcher Dragonball into nearly unrecognizable form. Otherwise, you might have a semi-decent time granted you can get past the inconsistent special effects and rather jumbled finale. One would wonder why on earth they skipped past Bryan Singer and even Brett Ratner to hand the director's seat to a man known for drama. One would also wonder why they didn't use the same writers from previous X-Men flicks. Now, this review will tread off into two different paragraphs; one dedicated to the hardcore, one dedicated to the casual.
Hardcore: Prepare to cry. Gambit, easily one of the coolest comic book characters out there, becomes amazingly watered-down and barely is used. Deadpool's look is absolutely different from his comic book counterpart, and is reduced to cameo screen time. As a matter of fact, despite it being a Wolverine movie, the entire film loses a lot of quality when compared to the X-Men movies because of the majority of the heroes and villains sharing such little time on screen. And when they are shown, they don't really resemble the ensemble we are used to seeing.
Casual: The film is a mixed bag in everything. The acting, the pacing, the directing, the editing, the music, the special effects all range from decent to mediocre to even terrible throughout the two hours. The fights themselves aren't very lengthy, and there aren't as many action pieces as one would hope. Jackman definitely isn't to blame here, but he has a tough task of carrying a film that can never quite lift off the ground. Maybe it's because it has to live up to the amazing comic book cinematic one-two punch of last year (Iron Man, Dark Knight). Whatever the reason, Wolverine doesn't quite entertain or overwhelm as much as the better comic book flicks.
Bottom Line: Don't expect the greatness of last year, or even X2 for that matter. The film does have its moments, does have its fun moments. However, the film doesn't appeal well to the hardcore and it doesn't fully explain the mannerisms and history of Wolverine, our famed hero. X-Men works best when the diverse cast of characters share equally good screen time with each other, and it definitely doesn't happen here. Butchered characters also hinder the experience.
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