Aaaaand welcome to the home stretch as we review the last of the X-Men franchise films. What I found so fascinating in re-watching all of these films in order to review them (again) I love how my perspective has changed. X3 I still have problems with, but I was able to divorce my nerdrage and look at it and see its actual problems in terms of story, effects, character, etc. And Proletaria-tron isn’t wrong in his review, though he may be a little too kind.
But Origins: Wolverine. . . talk about the nerdrage. But, having not seen this since it came out in theaters, I was mostly surprised at how much there is to like in this movie.
The first act is nearly perfect. I say that with a completely straight face. Yes, that was pretty kick-ass. We get to see lil Jimmy Logan’s origin and growing up with Victor Creed, fighting in all the wars. The awesome team of mutant mercenaries, including Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson. And given a few years, I’ve forgiven for the stunt casting of will.i.am in this movie. He’s done much, much worse since then– at least he’s not making “music” with Justin Bieber.
The only downside of this is that Stryker is a little weak. Having just watched Brian Cox have his way with X2, Danny Huston is not Brian Cox. Then again, director Gavin Hood is not Bryan Singer. But, they both do serviceable work here. It’s just not as good as their peers in the franchise.
And you know who else isn’t terrible? Taylor Kitsch as Gambit. I still don’t really like Gambit as a character, but the effects they did with him throwing cards and his parkour-inspired moves was pretty cool.
Who does shine above others in this film is Liev Schrieber. He’s not only menacing, but also charming. He makes a great nemesis and peer for Wolverine. And when he finally utters that line, “Nobody kills you but me,” it’s pretty awesome.
Then there’s that final act. And here’s where it goes off the rails a little bit, with Wolverine as mutant savior, rescuing kids from a prison and then fighting someone who is supposed to be Deadpool and also isn’t Deadpool. (I’ve heard similar complaints recently about how Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla movie did not actually have Godzilla in it. This was not Deadpool. The “Merc With the Mouth” can’t not have a mouth.)
Besides that, just like X3, mutants and their powers were just kind of thrown in haphazardly. Ooooh, there’s a girl with diamond skin. Bu she’s not Emma Frost, see? Oh, but that is young Cyclops? At least “Jubilee” didn’t show up. But Patrick Stewart did show up, with a terrible looking digital facelift. He looked like someone with botched plastic surgery.
But what was good? That final action fight between Sabretooth, Wolvie, and “Not Deadpool” on top of the nuclear reactor. If I forget that it was supposed to be Deadpool and just call him “Weapon 11” or something, then that makes it really enjoyable.
Watching with fresh eyes, I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed this. If I stop to think about it, my nerdrage starts welling up again and I start liking it less, so I have to not do that.
A huge step up from X3, but still not as good as the other films in the franchise, it’s worth re-watching.
Oh, and hey, remember how someone leaked a copy of this on the internet? And it still opened to record-breaking numbers opening weekend? Piracy obviously hurts films, people.