X-men Origins: Wolverine (Movie Review)

Although I'm a big comic book fan, I'm not a mainstream Marvel fan. I pick up enough through cultural osmosis to know all the vital info, and I follow Wolverine's exploits in the Ultimate Marvel universe, so I'm no stranger to the character. But I didn't have a lot invested in this movie when I came into the theater. Mainly, I just wanted a better movie than X-men 3.

I couldn't have been much happier.

From the first scene, I immediately got the sense that this would not just be an action flick, but a movie with action driven by character. The film pulls from the comic book origins of Wolverine, though certainly makes modifications, to tell a highly entertaining story. We get a deeper look at Logan than we have on screen before, and the movie, while incorporating other mutants of X-men lore, isn't cluttered up with mutant cameos as X-men 3 was. Characters like Blob and Gambit, while not crucial to the story, were at least given functions that advanced the plot.

On that subject, the plot is not complicated, but that's not why you watch this sort of movie. Logan has an objective and he meets people and overcomes challenges to meet that objective. There are a few action beats that are unexpected and very fun to watch. Logan cuts loose with his powers like we've never seen before.

The acting is enjoyable by all and it's a special treat to have Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool in the first part of the film. There are no Oscar moments here, but everyone appropriately invests in their characters and makes good use of what the script gives them.

The directing is done well, especially in action scenes, where good use of slow motion gives us the chance to appreciate some of the crazy mutant madness. Visual effects are solid, for the most part, although in one scene Gambit has some awkward looking wire-work, and in more than one spot, Logan's claws are identifiably computer generated. Yet considering the number of effects shots, this can be overlooked with very little eye-rolling.

Fans will notice that Deadpool in particular is adapted rather unfaithfully in several regards. Mainly his powers and costume. Though even amidst changes there are nods to the source material on both counts and his trademark humor is intact. There are rumors of a Deadpool spin-off, which would be VERY interesting to see done after watching this flick. You tell me if you think it will happen.

The movie ends with some degree of satisfaction, though it obviously leads into the first X-men movie, so you don't have the level of resolution that you would normally have in a film of this genre that has no sequels planned. You know certain people won't die, so only so much can happen, as massive as the action-packed ending is.

There is also a thread left hanging that I'm curious about. This is no spoiler, but my understanding is that Logan's brother becomes the mutant villain Sabretooth, who appeared in X-men, played by another actor. In the X-men flick, he's got completely black eyes, a lot more hair, and doesn't say anything. He's a silent brute. The Wolverine flick fails to explain how we transition from one character version of Sabretooth to the other.

You will definitely want to stay around for at least TWO post-credits bonus scenes. The first is nothing special and the second was cut short in my theater before it finished playing. (It felt too short and so I checked online when I got home. Yup. I missed something pretty awesome! But don't spoil it for yourself. Go see this movie!)

As for Relevance, there's not a lot, but one theme that comes up more than once is that of human nature. Okay, okay, MUTANT nature. But it still applies. Logan is fighting his genetic tendency to behave like an animal. He is constantly being prodded to be an animal by his brother, and Logan tries to avoid it. This mirrors our tendency for sin, as humans. We are born with a sin nature and we live with an internal struggle to go against our evil tendencies. The "animal" side of Logan isn't a perfect metaphor for sin, because he rightly says at one point that he should have followed his instincts. (He was deceived at one point in the film for not trusting his instincts.) This feels a bit like the tired "follow your heart" mantra we hear so much from Hollywood. Still, it may lead to good discussion. Our heart, or our "instincts", do not ALWAYS lead us in the wrong direction. Sometimes, our heart is right. But that doesn't mean we can TRUST our hearts. We need a consistent, objective source of truth to help us determine when our heart is desiring the right things.

At the end of the day, this is a movie that should not be missed by fans of cool action flicks and should be watched as soon as possible by fans of the genre.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity

Quality: 9.0/10

Relevance: 7.0/10