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X-Men Origins: Wolverine
(2009)
 
While not without its flaws, this film is an entertaining action-
oriented prequel to the X-Men films, featuring the most popular
X-Man, Wolverine.
Beginning in 1845 and ending in 1979, the film explores the backstory
of mutant superhero Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and his relationship
with his older half-brother Victor aka the future supervillain
Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber), and their involvement in the Team X
black ops squad created by Colonel William Stryker (Danny Huston).
Director Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, Rendition) gets as much as he can
out of the script with several well-conceived big action set pieces
and capable performances from the main cast. There were reportedly
major disputes between Hood and studio executives about the tone and
direction of the film, and executive producer Richard Donner
(director of Superman and the Lethal Weapon franchise) spent time on the set to smooth
over the tensions. The creative differences may explain the uneven
tone of the finished film, but Hood still proves capable of
delivering exciting action scenes that fans will enjoy.
The screenplay by David Benioff (Troy, The Kite Runner) and Skip
Woods (Swordfish, Hitman), while faithful in broad strokes to the
character's comic origin, suffers from rushing from one action scene
to another while leaving characters and sub-plots undeveloped.
Benioff's original draft had some good buzz attached to it and was
reportedly more character driven, so the contributions of Woods and
three other uncredited writers may represent what the studio wanted
more than what the director wanted. It's satisfactory as far as
summer action flicks go, but there was room to do much more. Still,
it's not the disaster that X-Men: The Last Stand was.
The productions values are high, with contributions by
cinematographer Donald M. McAlpine (Moulin Rouge!, The Chronicles
of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), production
designer Barry Robison (Rendition, Nim's Island), costume
designer Louise Mingenbach (X-Men, X2: X-Men United), and
composer Harry Gregson-Williams (Shrek) leading the way. The CG visual
effects are good and effectively add to the action scenes.
What really makes the film work are the performances of Jackman and
Schreiber, both individually and together, providing some depth
lacking in the script. Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine through four
films has been iconic, and this has been true even when the scripts
were lacking, and he carries this film with grit and determination.
Schreiber delivers the goods as Victor, so alike his brother in some
ways but also so very different. Where Wolverine struggles to
control his dark side, Victor embraces his. I would have liked more
screen time devoted to the dualism of these two characters and their
relationship.
The rest of the cast is adequate to the task at hand, including
Huston as Stryker (an older version of the character was played by
Brian Cox in X2), Black Eyed Peas' singer will.i.am as John Wraith,
Lynn Collins as Kayla Silverfox, Kevin Durand as the Blob, Dominic
Monaghan as Bolt, Taylor Kitsch as Gambit (although his Cajun accent
is weak), Daniel Henney as Agent Zero, Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool,
Scott Adkins as Weapon XI, Tim Pocock as a teenaged Scott Summers
(the future superhero Cyclops), and Tahyna Tozzi as
Kayla's sister Emma (possibly Emma Frost). There's also a fun cameo
that I don't want to spoil for anyone, but fans should love it.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine sacrifices character development and plot
coherence for action, but despite its flaws it manages to be an
entertaining start to the summer film season. If you like Wolverine
and you like action, this film should satisfy you.
-Danielle Ní Dhighe
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All contents ©
2004-2009 Thoughtsonfilm.com |
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Director:
Gavin Hood
Writer: David Benioff, Skip Woods
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Will i Am, Lynn Collins, Kevin Durand, Dominic Monaghan, Taylor Kitsch, Daniel Henney
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Runtime: 107
min
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: May 1, 2009
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