Wolverine is known as James Howlett long before he refers to himself as Logan. The movie rushes through the character’s early life, including a visually exciting opening credits sequence showing all the wars he’s fought in. During his early life, Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber; “Defiance”) is a constant companion. The future “Sabretooth” fights alongside Howlett as an ally and close friend. Creed, however, is dangerous, violent, and acts without remorse. The future “Woverine” begins to see this aspect of his friend just before they are accepted into a new top-secret government organization. “Weapon X” recruits mutants and uses them as a special forces unit to destroy its enemies. William Stryker (Danny Huston; “30 Days of Night”) convinces the two men to join and he leads the black ops unit. When Howlett tires from the killing he leaves the group, seeking respite in the mountains of Canada. But the other Weapon X” members, including Stryker, won’t let him go that easily.
Overall, “Wolverine” is not a bad picture. “X-Men” fans will find enough within the movie to enjoy. But the earlier “X-Men” installments exceeded their genre, bringing in new fans to the comic book world. “Wolverine” is unable to match this high standard. The director, Gavin Hood, tries to put so much into one movie he waters down the important elements of the story. “Wolverine” is supposed to be a showcase of that character’s relationships with Creed, Stryker, and the love interest, Silver Fox. It is not supposed to be a launching point for every other mutant hero and villain who wants a solo movie. Characters like a young Cyclops and the card-playing thief Gambit feel forced into the picture, with little justification. The fight scene between Gambit and Wolverine is unnecessary, surreal, and a poor establishing point for a fan favorite. While I liked the actor’s take on the character, this felt like the wrong place for him.
More egregiously, the Deadpool character, which Ryan Reynolds nailed during the film’s introduction, returns as a very quiet, over-powered killing machine. The Deadpool character could have been a match for Wolverine without giving him super powers he didn’t have. One of the charming traits of the character is his dark wit, which is taken completely away due to what Stryker did to him. A final battle which was supposed to be the most exciting in the picture ends up being pretty standard.
Schreiber does a nice job of portraying the animalistic Creed as a real scary dude. His fights with Logan are the films best because they are the most relevant. If the filmmakers had simply focused on Wolverine and his Weapon X compatriots instead of forcing too many “action-figure-ready” side characters, it could have been better. Instead, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” continues the slide in quality that occurred ever since Bryan Singer left the director’s chair in “X2.”
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity.
