Ok, I've had a busy but fun movie-watching week, so I'm a litte behind. I watched "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" on Tuesday, and have to say, it exceeded my expectations, considering what I had read about it, which wasn't all that good. I was never a big comic book reader, but I did play X-Men video games, and I've seen the previous three films, so I feel like I have a decent base of X-Men knowledge, though not as much as many of you, I'm sure. Though not a remake, I still feel like the purist comic book reading niche probably doesn't like these movies, but for pure entertainment value, I do. Also, here's a SPOILER ALERT because it is kinda hard to describe this film without going into a fair amount of detail.
The film begins in Canada in 1845 with a young James lying in bed, sick, with his father by his side and his friend Victor at the door. A yelling voice is audible from downstairs, and James' father leaves the room. A single gunshot rings out, and James runs downstairs. Upon seeing his father dead on the floor, James freaks out and rushes the murderer; his rage causes bone-like claws to come out of his fists, and he kills the murderer, Victor's father, with them. As the murderer dies, he tells James that he is his father, meaning James and Victor are brothers. Knowing they'll be hunted, Victor and James Logan flee into the woods.
Victor is also a mutant, who has long finger nails and fangs, and in the comic book is known as "Sabretooth." The next few shots show the mutant brothers fighting in a long line of American wars, from the Civil War to Vietnam, protecting each other as brothers. In Vietnam, James (Hugh Jackman) finally sees how crazy his brother Victor (Liev Shrieber) has become with his mutant power as he tries to assault a Vietnamese girl, and kills a superior officer. James and Victor are sentenced to death, but survive the firing squad because of the mutant powers they both possess.
Sitting in jail after surviving their execution, Major William Stryker comes to see them and offer them spots on an elite X team with other mutants that acts as a guerilla group going on missions around the world. They accept, but when Logan realizes that the team is acting in the interests of Stryker and killing innocents, he leaves the team.
Logan ends up in the Canadian Rockies six years later, living a peaceful life working as a lumberjack with his beautiful wife Kayla Silverfox. His world is shattered when he is visited by Stryker, who tells him that someone is killing off former members of the X team. I'll leave the plot at that, but the twists and turns really start at this point, and what I've said thus far merely sets up the film.
The movie was released as an early summer blockbuster, and in following that vein, it has lots of CGI, action and explosions. At times it is a little over the top, and the plot is convoluted and full of fairly obvious twists. For me, it wasn't so much about the plot, but seeing a prequel to the other films. The fact that its title is "X-Men Origins" would lead one to think that there will be other films about other characters as well. Getting a glimpse of other X-Men, like Sabertooth, Gambit and Cyclops is also cool. We get to see how a young Professor Charles Xavier meets some of the team as well. This is a good movie, but obviously very hyped up for the blockbuster movie it was, so don't get too excited.
"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" is rated for PG-13 for some serious mutant violence and such. If you have an opinion on it, think it is nothing like the comics, etc., please let me know. And hopefully a new one will be out soon.
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