X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Finally, the movie about what's arguebly the most hardcore good guy on the X-Men is OUT. Ever since the comic series about Wolverine's origins was published, I was kinda excited about the movie. Bryan Singer made X-Men awesome =)

*SPOILERS AHEAD

Now Wolverine is not exactly my fave X-Men here. Partly because of his part in the love triangle with Scott Summers & Jean Grey. As well as the numerous other mutant and non-mutant females he has been romantically linked with thoroughout the X universe.



Anyway, the movie had plenty of action and some cool fight scenes. Action as in, extensive property damage. Seriously. Even in that short scene where Scott Summers got captured, the school building was wrecked beyond repair (because he lost his sunglasses).
(THIS IS NOT THE ABOVE-MENTIONED SCENE BTW)

So imagine the kind of destruction whenever the main lead comes in. Whenever Wolverine fights, it is without any of the sleek moves of typical martial arts experts.

No clever manipulations, no acrobatics. Just pure brawn and the rough, brutal blows which are more like those in real life. Of course, he destroys a whole lotta things which happened to be in his way while fighting. That’s real (property damage) for you.

The best fight? The one where Deadpool kept teleporting at a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it speed and had all but pwned Wolverine & his brother left me gaping. That was wicked awesome!

This guy is not any sleeker than Deadpool, but he will be, if you get what I mean/watched the movie. ;-)


The best part, nevertheless, was the sound effects. I don’t know how on earth they generated such sounds to begin with. But whatever they did, it was a stroke of sheer genius. They made the fight scenes so much more real. I don’t ever recall the sound of bones breaking more vividly than in this movie. It’s this indistinguishable mesh of the cracking of hard bones splintering against the soft but firmer flesh and tearing it beyond repair. In an instant. Like a squelch and a crack. I don’t know how to describe it. But honestly, it is this sound which made one wince from the brutality of the onscreen blows.

The other X-Men cameos didn't make much of an impression on me. Since they didn't have enough lines and all. But I guess the casting was okay if the whole point is to make them fade a little into the background and focus on Wolverine.
Gambit was boyish-looking though.
And while he does some cool card tricks (LEVITATION), I don't really see the Cajun charm which this Prince of Thieves possessed in the comic universe. I suppose it's because Gambit is kinda young here. But since Gambit & Rogue had both appeared in X-Men movies...I wonder if they'll be matched up (like their on-off romance in the comic) in future movies?

*LOOK AT THE BLACK GUY AT THE RIGHT CORNER LOL!

Then Gambit's 'fight' with Wolverine wasn't quite what I expected. Gambit can change potential energy in any object into kinetic energy. Hence the cards can fly and all. But his most notable move is to use the cards as explosives. He did a variation of it in that fight by charging a STAFF then swinging into the scene like Tarzen and banging it on the ground causing a massive shockwave.

I'm not particularly impressed. While the move's kinda cute, I still want to see how he makes use of exploding poker cards to win a fight. By the way, he didn't stand a chance against Wolverine.


To be frank, I was kinda disappointed with the other X-Men cameos. Scott Summers probably had one of the larger cameos, aside from Gambit. At that time, he was in high school and got captured by then William Stryker for his mutant-torturing Weapon X program. Gambit appeared because he was the only one to have escaped the hellish island facility where they did the experiments, and thus had to aid Wolverine into finding it. Hell, even Professor X appeared at the very end to whisk them all to safety.

Yeah, and Emma Frost appeared as the sister of Wolverine's beloved. Who got captured. And coincidentally became the automatic leaders of the young mutant escapees along with Scott Summers.

It sorta resonates with the comic. Because the two 'leaders' were involved at one point. But I highly doubted their future dallience started with this. (When Jean became the Dark Phoenix thing and supposedly died but actually was in suspended animation somewhere because a small part of her consciousness wasn't destroyed with the Dark Phoenix persona) Confusing, right? This Jean Grey transmorgification into the Phoenix thingy made me ignore the comic for a while.

I heard Storm was suppose to have a cameo too. You can see a brief scene of child Storm in the unedited trailer ARRGH. Why did they cut her out anyway?

Yeah, that was pretty much how they were weaved into the main plot. While the whole movie is supposed to tell how Wolverine came about and all, just slotting the other characters in like that just…ruffles my feathers. I mean, Cyclops & Gambit played key roles in the X-Men universe and having them regulated to minor placements (damsel damn man in distress and helper respectively) in this manner doesn’t quite do them much justice.

I’m a comic fan in a way and thus comparisons between the original comic and the movie adaptation is inevitable. For all the fuss about Wolverine’s origins in the comic, the movie is an understatement of sorts. The mystery surrounding the Weapon X program was stripped away completely. The truth was laid bare. Perhaps a little too bare.

I know again that the point of the movie was to reveal the truth about everything, but I’d prefer if they hinted at a greater conspiracy hidden within the exposed truth itself. I usually don’t like being kept in suspense, but I feel that they should keep some of the dark mysteriousness that shrouded Wolverine’s origins for years in the comic. Making everything crystal clear in one fell swoop lets down the fans’ expectations somehow.

The part about him losing his lover then wasn’t as heart-wrenching as I thought it’ll be. All the heart-stopping action (and mass destruction of the surroundings) probably destroyed the mood for that kind of romantic scene. When I watched that, I just thought it was a great pity. That’s all.

But one thing though. I don't know who this guy is, but he has that near-perfect wide-eyed look of the innocent.
He plays young WOLVERINE.

Which made for a good comparison if you want to take note of the whole lost innocence thing. It's like mutating from a lamb to a...Well...Wolverine. See here. He went from this:
to this

Wolverine's brother is named Victor. Victor Creed, I think. The name rings any bells? SABRETOOTH! WTF RANDOM CAMEO AGAIN!


The movie was fast-paced and cut straight to the point without any long conversations and other distractions to take your attention away from the hardcore battles. One might have to possess some knowledge of the issues concerning Wolverine in order to fully appreciate the movie (and understand some parts). Yet, if when a comic fan watches it, he/she might be somewhat disappointed. The ending was a little unsatisfactory (as with most movies). But tis good nevertheless. So go watch it!