एक्स-मेन ऑरिजिन्स: वॉल्वराइन

The first real blockbuster of 2009 and deservingly so. It's exciting and an all-around entertaining comic book adaptation and I doubt anything will be better this year. Everyone involved in the production should be proud to know that their movie can stand toe-to-toe with the likes of anything else that summer 2009 has and can throw at them. Star power, sex appeal, a powerful and emotional script, and a great plot make this one memorable flick.

Real fans (not those whinny online imposters who can't let go of their own warped preconceptions) can breath a sigh of relief because X-Men Origins: Wolverine takes the X-Men franchise films to the next level. There are plenty of action scenes that you have to see to believe! This movie was just shear fun. I love it. What are you waiting for?

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.

This film reminds me of Phantom Menace. You probably like it more when you're younger, but as you get older, the flaws are more apparent. The movie is weak and although it's not awful, it's so mediocre and on that fine line, that you might as well say it's bad. It's the weakest of all the Xmen movies and then X3 after that.

The previous movies alluded to the idea that Wolverine was barely holding back his more intense rages. That struggle is what makes him so compelling - that with just one slip up he'd be more animal than man. So what I wanted from Origins was that crazy Wolverine that the current day guy was afraid of. Instead they presented a pretty levelheaded guy who just liked to fight, but not that much.

Also, they totally botched the purpose of the Weapon X stuff. Namelythe purpose of the program is to subjugate mutants by treating them like objects, not people. So even if they wanted to go with the whole "level headed Canadian" for the first part of the movie, he should have been turned into that crazy, out-of-control animal after Weapon X. This way I could see his humanity stripped away, revealing the animal inside, and thus showing me why he's afraid that it'll get out again.

Alas, his response to volunteering for the program is more of a casual confusion at his new, sharper claws. Basically, they missed the point of the character.

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.

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.