X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2.5/4 stars

It's not that great to be this Wolverine! ...Okay, sorry about that.

How much I like X-Men Origins: Wolverine (hereafter referred to simply as Wolverine) seems to be largely a function of my expectations at the given moment. Starting from my pessimistic prediction that the film's makers would keep all the badass grittiness of the Wolverine character's backstory and dispose of everything insightful and soulful about it, the film exceeds expectations. On the other hand, measured against the spate of ridiculously good superhero movies to come out recently, Wolverine is fairly lacking. The conclusion that I've come to though, the one I think is important, is that when you put the movie that was made next to the movie that was almost made, the one that could have been made, Wolverine is not a waste of time, but is somewhat disappointing.

This is a movie that succeeds in being both action-packed, and at times very close to introspective. Knowing from both the comic book history and the 2000 film X-Men that the story must end with Wolverine having lost his memory takes something away from the emotional experience of the character, but that's the hand that the film has been dealt. The movie delivers on its premise; it reveals the tragic history of amnesiac berserker of whom we are so fond. It begins with an excellent, and very Watchmen-like opening credit sequence that takes us through the many years that Wolverine and his brother Victor fought together in various wars (he's more than a century old, you know). From there, we see how he became involved with the government wetwork team that would change his life, enhance his powers, and make him the mutant we all know today. It's a good story, and the filmmakers get it mostly right, and tell it with flair.

So what's the problem? It's the little things. Some of the changes between the movie universe and the comic book universe, like changing William Stryker from a radical preacher to a general and the director of the Weapon X program, are wise and serve the storytelling. Others, like the handling of Deadpool, a cult favorite character who becomes one of this film's biggest adversaries, are pointlessly irreverent. People want to see Deadpool, not just his name on somewhat similar monster. And then there's Wolverine's brother, Victor Creed. He's supposed to be Sabretooth, and seems very much like that character. At the same time, maybe he isn't in this universe - he's certainly not the same Sabretooth we met in the 2000 film. And then there's how artlessly the pieces are pasted together to get things to where that movie finds them, with cameos by Cyclops and Professor Xavier that only serve to remind us of how they were ridiculously killed off in the last entry in this series (2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, sorry if you haven't seen it yet). The last quarter or so of the movie (including its manifold credit cookies) are basically a mess.

Wolverine is an enjoyable action movie and an okay superhero movie. But for a comic fan like me (I've read many comics, and stuck with X-Men related titles the longest) it is like the rest of the film series: imperfect in all the most irritating ways.