Review
‘X-Men’ takes audience through confusing plot with random twists
May 7, 2009
“X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is supposed to be the movie to set the tone for summer. If that is the case, let it be known that it will be a long summer for this movie lover. This flick was obviously put together strictly to cash in on the franchise, and I guess it worked considering its box office returns, but that is further proof that money isn’t everything, considering what a worthless pile of crap “Wolverine” really is. With a plot that is incoherent, horrible special effects and not to mention enough bad characters (with actors reflecting their depth) aside from Wolverine and Sabretooth, this is truly a film that is meant to rot the brains of all involved.
The story begins with Wolverine as a child, and shows his progression through several different wars with his half-brother Victor. The film then sees the two recruited by the government for “a special team with special privileges.” From here, all consistency throughout the film disappears when Wolverine leaves the team. The audience gets farther and farther lost by seeing random people that we don’t care about and generally aren’t onscreen long enough for us to enjoy their presence, as well as Wolverine’s name somehow changing from Jimmy to Logan for no reason and numerous other bizarre tidbits that ruin the experience.
The special effects in the X-Men movies so far have been great, but this movie showed a very different side of special effects. The CGI, which comprises a great deal of the flick, looks like it was done by a drunken teenager using Photoshop, and we’ve all seen enough of that to know how bad that is. When computer animation is something that a movie relies on, you would think the makers of it would be more responsible with their budget to make it look real, or at least like it did in the original series.
Finally, I understand that it is a comic book movie and that there has to be something thrown in there for the fanboys. However, when almost all of the side characters are only cool for those who followed the comics, and when they truly are the example of disposable heroes, it annoys the rest of the audience.
Also, whoever casted the actors wasn’t thinking, because they obviously didn’t consider the reaction from people when they see someone and go “Hey, that’s the guy from (Insert TV series or movie here)!” It got old very quick, and distracted people further from paying attention to what is happening in the film, and if you miss a little bit, you will have no clue what is going on.
The lone saving grace of the film is the fact that Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber can act. These two were at least enjoyable to watch as half-brothers, and they had the only fight sequences that were even worth watching. I feel bad for them having to go through this movie, when they both obviously are better than what this film turned out to be.
With all the promise this movie showed, it was a bitter disappointment. It is truly sad to see how far this franchise has fallen, starting with the third movie and going even lower with this one. If you had asked me a week ago which was going to be my pick for best opening movie of summer, “Wolverine” or “Star Trek,” I would have picked this one hands down. Now having been proven horribly wrong, It’s time for me to set my phaser to stun and sit in my swivel chair, and hope that this abomination did not set the tone for the blockbuster season.
1 star
Nathan Piotrowski is a digital film and television major with a film studies minor. In his spare time, he attempts to be a professional lottery winner.