X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I'll state my credentials up front: I'm a chick. I have read X-Men comics in my past, but it's been years. I don't remember every detail of every relationship and back story, so I'm not a huge X-men expert. I LOVED the original X-Men movie and X2.

I was so excited when I heard they were making a Wolverine movie. He and Gambit were my two favorite characters from the comics, and Wolverine was by far the best written and one of the best acted characters in the X-Men franchise. I thought, "This should be good!" I counted down the days until it came out. And I went to the theatre, and came out not disappointed, but not excited either. It was a middle-of-the-road movie, which seemed to not know what it wanted to be. But I would say go see it if you're an X-Men or Hugh Jackman fan.

The main crime committed in Wolverine is in the writing. I always say writers don't get enough credit on a good movie. But no amount of good acting (pretty much everyone in Wolverine does well with what they're given) and okay directing can cover up crappy writing like this. The script was all over the place. It didn't have any of the jaunty yet edgy feel of the first two X-Men movies. Wolverine's wisecracks and smart wit were all but forgotten. That would've maybe been okay if they had chosen to make Wolverine the dark, nearly evil character that he was supposed to have been before he lost his memory. But they didn't. He was neither good nor evil. This was ambivalent Wolverine. Kind of Emo Wolverine. Not above doing bad, but not really into it because it made him Feel Bad. No really interesting lines or plot points either way. The writers didn't seem to even know how to develop the relationship between Wolverine and Sabertooth. And was the love story put in by the studio just to satisfy us chicks who wouldn't go a see a comic-book movie without it? If so, the studio did us a great disservice, because if you wanted to make a story about Wolverine the lover (which, hey, I would go see), this movie wasn't that either.

And when I saw in the trailer that Gambit was in the movie, too, I was thrilled! Gambit in a movie, at last! But here he is, the underdeveloped and kind of confusing Gambit. Couldn't he at least have had his New Orleans accent? The cards were cool, but he was mostly underutilized and didn't feel like Gambit that much.

The movie does have some good moments in it where you actually say, "Yes!" I'm not putting spoilers, so I won't tell you what they are, but for me, they made the movie worth seeing. While I wouldn't put it anywhere on my worst-movie list, I wouldn't rank it with X-Men and X2 on my favorites list, either.

The first X-Men film was fun and well-made though with a beginning-of-the-franchise-not-yet-properly-finding-its-feet feel; X-Men 2 was very, very good indeed and an example of a bigger and darker sequel better than the original(even if it wasn't quite perfect either) and X-Men 3 The Last Stand while nowhere near as bad as its reputation was disappointing(after being so impressed by the previous two) and a step-back in the franchise. X-Men Origins: Wolverine had much going for it but while it is nowhere near a bad film it could have delivered more, considering that this was an origins prequel story. X-Men Origins: Wolverine does have good things, it's well shot and edited(if a little rapid in a couple of the fighting sequences), the special effects are nicely executed and not used too much and the dark, gritty style of the previous three films is wisely maintained, nothing overblown or static here. The opening sequence is robust and exciting and gives you the sense of "looks like we're in for a treat here", most of the action sequences have tension and thrills especially at the end(which also makes a real effort to tie up loose ends), Sabretooth/Victor and Stryker are well-realised and there are a few good performances. Wolverine may be too ambivalent character-development-wise but Hugh Jackman's charisma and grizzled demeanour is pitched perfectly, Liev Schreiber brings real meat, toughness and menace to Victor/Sabretooth and Danny Huston as the villain Stryker is both classy and ruthless and does them very effectively, Stryker avoids being too one-dimensional. Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Kitsch do what they can and are quite good.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine does suffer however from a lot of the same things that X-Men The Last Stand had. The script is very contrived and in a worse way than X-Men The Last Stand, emotional moments are forced, exposition and any explanations are underdeveloped and any bits of humour are on the broad side(X-Men 2 especially avoided this and had a much more even balance). The story has some good atmosphere and good scenes and has some tension, but it does try to cram in too much and things feel rushed and not as developed as they ought. Gavin Hood does reasonably admirably in the action but very like Brett Ratner he is surprisingly not as comfortable in the non-action scenes, in a way that the writing and story, that should give the film depth, are sacrificed by the action(again mostly very good, apart from ones that did lag and you couldn't always tell who was who). Apart from Sabretooth and Stryker (Wolverine was written much better in the first two films but Jackman's presence did make up for things), the characters are disappointingly written, especially Deadpool who had a lot of potential but disappears just like that and appears even more abruptly much later at a stage where you think they've forgotten all about him. Gambit was also treated fairly insignificantly, and other characters like Blob and Kayla(Lynn Collins' acting is wooden in this part) are pretty useless. It doesn't have the too many characters problem like The Last Stand did but it like that film doesn't develop or write the characters well but not as insultingly. On a side note one positive review said that they couldn't understand why The Last Stand and this got criticised for the characters and the first two get a free pass; actually the first two films have been criticised for under-utilising characters and bad acting in them, namely Cyclops and Storm, but at least they tried to respect the characters and not distort them or deprive them of personality like this and Last Stand did(and this is NOT coming from a comic-book purist, far from it, you don't even need to have read an X-Men comic to have this criticism). Harry Gregson-Williams' score has some excitement and induces some suspense but at other points it's too over-bearing and strident, of the X-Men films this film had the least effective score in my opinion. Will.i.Am being cast in an X-Men film would cause alarm bells and his performance is not any better, it felt out of place.

To conclude, could have been better but it's not that bad. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Wolverine is a decent movie. It is worth the price of admission and the 2 hours of screen time. The movie works well as a prequel of the events of the X-Men movies. However, to enjoy the movie, one must suspend knowledge of the comic book material. The movie was made for the average movie-goer and a little for the ultra hardcore X-Men comic book reader. The story has everything anyone could want: family, a little romance, love, comedy, revenge and plenty of action.

I was pleased with most of the acting. I will admit that some dialogue seems forced from the minor cast, but the main characters - Wolverine, Sabretooth, etc. - all work well together. The story did seem a little rushed and choppy at times, however. The 1:45 time goes by quickly enough to feel like maybe the movie could have - and should have - been closer to 2:00.

The movie is as good as the first X-Men movie, and better than X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand. I am actually looking forward to seeing how they handle the Magneto origins movie that's being made. And I am really hoping that all of this work brings it together for a possible X-Men 4. I know you agree with me because after all, I know everyone is dying to see Apocalypse as the bad guy.

My only real complaint of the movie is that Gambit (my favorite X-Men character) did not have as much screen time as I'd hoped. He better either get his own movie, or make an appearance in a later Marvel movie.

Ignore the syndicated critics and the negativity surrounding this movie. I'm glad I did. Go see it. Don't let people scare you away from spending your money on this movie. Form your own opinions. Oh, and if you go, stay after the credits.

The early years of James Logan (Hugh Jackman) , and his sibling Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber) , two mutant brothers , born two hundred years ago, and fighting in the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War. And being set in 1845, the 1860s, the 1910s, 1944, 1973, and 1979. Subsequently , featuring the strong rivalry with his brother Victor Creed , his service in the special forces team Weapon X led by Stryker (Danny Huston) . The latter is a U.S. Colonel who recruits them and other mutants as commandos and his experimentation into the metal-lined mutant Wolverine. Then Logan quits and turns a logger, falling in love for a local teacher (Lynn Collins) .Things go wrong when Logan refuses to rejoin . When he's most vulnerable, he's most dangerous. The hero. The fugitive. The warrior. The survivor. The legend. The fight of his life will be for his own. When enemies rise... when immortality ends... the ultimate battle begins.

The story is more complex and thoughtful to follow than previous entries for newbies and takes itself seriously and displays interesting characters involving through the movie and some new mutant . Fine acting from dual starring : Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine and Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed , both of whom suffering childhood trauma and have only each other to depend on . Furthermore , appearing other superheroes as prisoners of Striker's Island as Gambit , Cyclops , Emma and Deadpool who was only going to cameo, but the role grew after Ryan Reynolds was cast , and , of course , an essential guest star : Sir Patrick Stewart as Prof. Charles Xavier to become rejuvenated thanks to digital efects by computer generator . It has great action some brief fitting humor and it also has good intrigue. The script provides a well-executed and exciting final and tied the threads were leaving along the film . Based on Chris Claremont , Frank Miller comic books strips from "Wolverine" and suspenseful and twisted screenplay by Skip Woods and David Benioff of Game of thrones . The film had started out as a prequel to X-Men (2000) , but later he decided to make it an independient Wolverine film with some strings relationed with X-Men series .The film contains an impressive, breathtaking ending battle with plenty of computer generator effects . The great duo of protagonists Hugh Kackman , Liev Schreiber are well accompanied by a nice support cast, such as the beautiful Lynn Collins , the usually villain Danny Huston , Kevin Durand , Dominic Monaghan, Taylor Kitsch , Daniel Henney , Ryan Reynolds , among others.

Thrilling and rousing musical score by Harry Gregson-Williams . Colorful as well as evocative cinematography by Donald McAlpine . The motion picture was professionally directed by Gavin Hood delivering a decent filmmaking .Overall, this has a good look, some nice action, a little bit of humor andoverwhelming final battles . Director Gavin Hood does a good job pulling it all together . Gavin was born in South Africa , he is an actor and producer, known for Tsotsi (2005), Eye in the sky (2015) and Official Secrets (2019). Rating : 7/10

I have no idea as to why people bash Wolverine. I think its an extremely well made, highly entertaining movie with great acting and a fitting storyline. Its also pretty dark and uncompromising in many scenes.

The fight scenes are brutal and intense which makes them really awesome.

I was actually surprised by some of the plot twists. Great.

The opening title sequence should win some kind of award. Gave me goose bumps. The editing is perfect.

Only complaint is the few plot holes towards the X-men trilogy.