Film review; "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"

I took a little break from reality this past weekend and went and saw the latest Hollyweird adaptation of a comic book character, the Marvel mutant killing machine we all know and love; Wolverine.

The film has been surrounded with the usual hype and even some controversy over the pre release of a pre post production print onto the internet by a now former employee of 20th Century Fox. Was the film worth losing a great paying job over by leaking it out....in two words! HELL NO!

I feel even a bit ripped off and I saw the movie for FREE, hell I even had a FREE bag of popcorn complete with artificially butter flavored sludge to go with my moviegoing experience.

The powers that be at Hollywood missed the mark yet again as far as producing a viewable comic adaptation on film; "Wolverine" joins recent misses like "Constantine", "Catwoman", and dare I say it..."Watchmen" as the latest in a series of less than satisfactory adaptations.

"Wolverine" played effectively by Hugh Jackman(Australia, the Fountain, X-Men) tells of the early years of the claw wielding Cannuck and his big brother Victor (Liev Schreiber-Sphere,Defiance, Manchurian Candidate) who would later become the maniacal killer "Sabertooth", after surviving a rathger angst ridden and somewhat traumatic childhood the brothers travel the world together for quite sometime, well over a 100 years (their mutant ability is a healing factor which also gives their lifespan an amazing longevity), they have experienced many things together, especially wars, they have served in every major American War starting with the Civil war and leading up to Vietnam. Over the years the brothers grow farther apart ,while Victor grows to embrace his more feral nature and taste for blood the younger Wolverine has grown tired of all the killing and death with which he has witnessed and participated in.

The films biggest disappointment for me was the lack of a real story, and way too many supporting characters, there was a big thing to boost this among comic fans by saying X-Men faves "Gambit"(Taylor Kitsch-Friday Night Lights), and "Emma Frost"(Tahnya Tozzi) would appear in the film, alas they were mere cameos and did not really play a pivotal part of the storyline. Logan and Victor end up being part of a merc squad led by a Colonel with a hidden agenda; William Stryker(Danny Huston-30 Days of Night) ,the squad consists of mutants as well including "Deadpool"(Ryan Reynolds), "Bolt"(Danny Monaghan), "Wraith"(Will I Am), and a fellow who will later become; "the Blob"(Kevin Durand). Things get very nasty with this group quick and that's where Wolverine says enough is enough and leaves the group.

Stryker takes exception to this and plots to get him back...no matter what!

I can go ahead and tell you the entire plot of the film but I have become weary of even doing this, the film has its bright spots though, especially in the acting category. Jackman does a great job at portraying the title character, he should have it down by now( its his 4th time playing the character), and Liev Schrieber plays a convincing psychopath in the making in "Sabertooth".

The film tries to cover a lot of ground in just 2 hours where I think it would have been more effective if it had just concentrated on the relationship of the two brothers, the other characters and subplots were just too much for me and detracted from what was the most important part of the film...the main character-Wolverine!

The film is full of action and was well directed by Gavin Hood despite the fact that he had to work with a rather fragmented screenplay written by David Benioff and Skip Woods, yes, it took two guys to write this film! The film is also rated PG-13 when considering the characters and subject matter should have easily been rated R, but never underestimate Hollywood's gift for catering to the masses.

You want a more effective portrayal of Wolverine on screen- watch "X-MEN 2" again...

-peace :)