Wednesday last week I saw the film Wolverine: Origins. This film has gotten mixed reviews, both by fans and critics. What I thought of it? It was okay. Not bad, not good, but simply okay. Cliches around every corner, possible plot holes or just nonsensical decisions made by some of the characters, various characters from the comics handled badly, and rushing the viewers from the one scene to the next too fast for the audience to feel invested in either the characters or the plot. Still, it was entertaining, and seeing mutants and superheroes do their thing on the big screen is always a treat for comic book geeks. Now, to give a few more specific notes…
The most notable cliche scene in the film was when the camera did a close up of Wolverine slowly walking away from a burning vehicle, with the typical cool action hero demeanor. At which point I was thinking, “It can’t be! They can’t possibly have the audacity to be this cliche, can they? Can they… ?” The vehicle then explodes, but Wolverine is unfazed, merely continuing his slow bad ass stride. And of course, it’s all in slow-motion. They have audacity in spades.
How your room ought to look after Wolverine's been on a visit. Or when it's that time of the month again.
When watching I also noticed, and was bothered by, the distinct lack of any real gore. I wanted torn limbs to fly across the screen and the ground to be coated in blood – or at the very least to see some blood and wounds during (or after) the fighting scenes. One of Wolverine’s foes has regenerative healing (or what the technical term is), much like he does. So, why not slice off the limbs of this enemy with your indestructible claws instead if simply stabbing him? It’ll probably take a while before arms (or heads) grow back, giving you a nice advantage for the rest of the fight.
While watching I also started asking myself whether they maybe could’ve made an epic trilogy instead of a single film. They would maybe not have felt as if they had to rush through the scenes to get everything in that they wanted, and the viewers could’ve been allowed to grown more attached to the characters. Plus, a trilogy of Wolverine films about his origins just sounds so delightfully ridiculous. Or, a bit less ambitiously, they could’ve made an eight-episode TV-series about Wolverine’s origins instead, again allowing them more space in which to tell their rushed story.
Oh, and Ryan Reynolds as the character Deadpool, I thought, was great. Just too bad he wasn’t in it more than he was. Apparently there are plans for a Deadpool solo film, which might be interesting, though I’m curious if they’ll continue where this film left off, or ignore it and start fresh.
To re-conclude: entertaining, but by no means good.
If you’re not much for reading and/or want a slightly more in-depth review of the film, there’re video reviews of it available by Spoony and Yami Marik.
