According to several people, besides the effects, it wasn't. There was no extra footage in the theatrical release.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Movie Discussion and Grading (SPOILERS)
- Thread starter Ethros
- Start date
According to several people, besides the effects, it wasn't. There was no extra footage in the theatrical release.
Wow. That was awesome. I loved it. Really good telling of Wolverine's origins. Good use of the existing X-movies mythos, with the appearance of teen Cyclops and a younger Xavier, but also good universe-building with the addition of character like Gambit (who thankfully lack the comics version's gumbo-thick accent), Wade Wilson and Blob.
The acting was good, the plot was good and the direction was also good for a guy who's last movie was some African indie flick.
8.5/10
The acting was good, the plot was good and the direction was also good for a guy who's last movie was some African indie flick.
8.5/10
My take also. The movie I want to see is if Sabretooth crossed the line in every war or just in Vietnam for the first time.
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I gave it a C.
Good film though it felt more than a little disjointed and some of the effects were REALLY ropey. I suspect they ran out of money on the CG budget because there were two shots that really stood out in that regard; the bit with the claws in the bathroom and the "youthful" Patrick Stewart. I mean really, that was even weirder looking than in X-3! I think it would have been better to have simply shot Stewart from behind rather than try and push a technology they isn't up to the job yet.
That aside I was left with the impression that there was a fair amount of material cut since they story became very choppy at times and moved forward just a little bit too fast.
I wasn't too bothered by skipping though the first 100 or so years in the title sequence, it was pretty effective at getting the point across that Victor was becoming increasingly out of control. It's just a shame that they didn't leave you with some idea as to how Victor would come to degenerate into the mindless (and evidently amnesiatic) animal that we saw in X1.
For those reasons I'd put it just a little above X3, which I initially hated, but sort of liked on the second and third viewings. My main complaint there was the way they essentially dropped Rogue's character just so they could have Kitty Pryde instead.
As for any further instalments in X-Men Origins, I say bring on the X-23 movie! I don't think I'm the only one who thinks Summer Glau would make an excellent Laura Kinney.
Good film though it felt more than a little disjointed and some of the effects were REALLY ropey. I suspect they ran out of money on the CG budget because there were two shots that really stood out in that regard; the bit with the claws in the bathroom and the "youthful" Patrick Stewart. I mean really, that was even weirder looking than in X-3! I think it would have been better to have simply shot Stewart from behind rather than try and push a technology they isn't up to the job yet.
That aside I was left with the impression that there was a fair amount of material cut since they story became very choppy at times and moved forward just a little bit too fast.
I wasn't too bothered by skipping though the first 100 or so years in the title sequence, it was pretty effective at getting the point across that Victor was becoming increasingly out of control. It's just a shame that they didn't leave you with some idea as to how Victor would come to degenerate into the mindless (and evidently amnesiatic) animal that we saw in X1.
For those reasons I'd put it just a little above X3, which I initially hated, but sort of liked on the second and third viewings. My main complaint there was the way they essentially dropped Rogue's character just so they could have Kitty Pryde instead.
As for any further instalments in X-Men Origins, I say bring on the X-23 movie! I don't think I'm the only one who thinks Summer Glau would make an excellent Laura Kinney.
I saw the theatrical version last night. I vowed that I wouldn't watch the workprint, but since I have no morals, I did, and I can say for certain that besides the visual effects there's really absolutely no difference. There are maybe two additional scenes, but that's it. There is a finished score, the opening montage credit sequence is more refined, but other than that, the workprint is as close to a finished film as you likely could have gotten.
I give the film, in its complete form, a B. I am not sure if it is "better" on the overall than X-Men: The Last Stand but I felt like this movie had some nice character moments and breathing room, where I felt like TLS had none, so on that level I think I like X-Men Origins: Wolverine more. The acting is all around terrific -- there's no doubt director Gavin Hood can direct actors. Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber deliver great performances as Logan/Wolverine and Victor Creed, respectively. They pretty much dominate the film and whenever the pair is onscreen, things become a lot more interesting. In fact I think my favorite parts of the film are the scenes shared by the two.
The other characters are less memorable. Danny Huston does a fine if expected job replacing Brian Cox as William Stryker, but has none of the grimace or gravitas that Cox brought to the role. In fact, Stryker like many of the characters in the film feel like a plot device -- besides some thinly layered motivations, Stryker really has no service in the story besides to be the one to give Logan his adamantium claws.
And that's a problem I have with the film. I can't really find a character besides maybe Victor that isn't there because of his or her connection to Logan in a way that just isn't there to push the story forward. Kayla Silverfox has some interesting moments with Logan, but ultimately is a plot device, and I found myself not really caring for her in the end.
Characters are introduced, and then wasted. Ryan Reynolds' Wade Wilson being the primary loss here. He has a great introduction and then...evaporates, disappears, and never appears again (I am not even going to dignify the abombination that is "Deadpool"'s representation in the film).
Harry Gregson-William's score is thrilling when it needs to be, feeling a lot like his other Media Ventures partner, John Powell (who scored TLS), in terms of musical atmosphere. The editing gives the film a somewhat rushed pace in certain ways, and that drives me to my next problem with the film: the storytelling. Convoluted plotting aside, the script is so taken with moving us towards the next "big plot point" that it loses a lot of moments to just "exist". The beginning of the film, for example, is extremely rushed. Probably the most interesting aspect of the film is the opening credits montage, where we see Logan and Victor fighting through all of the...American..?...wars, but we have no real reason why they are doing this. Because it was fun? And when did Logan and Victor discover that they can heal? I think Hood visually hints at this during the montage sequence but like a lot of things in the film it's not really explored, just introduced and we're expected to care and understand.
Logan and Kayla's relationship...where did they meet? For example, in Batman Begins we see that Bruce and Rachel are childhood friends, and thus begins their bond. Rachel's mother worked for the Wayne's. But here Kayla is just introduced and we have no idea how they meet, why they met, etc. When did Kayla discover Logan's mutation, his "inner beast"? When did she begin to accept it and decide to nuture it? I think her role in the film would have had more emotional resonance and impact -- I think for me -- if we had known that. Without it, it all feels empty and vapid.
And I think that's the best way I can describe X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Empty and vapid. Yeah, there's some fun, interesting moments (what's there of Logan and Victor's relationship, for starters) and the action scenes are as thrilling and visually impressive as you'd come to expect in a summer blockbuster. But, there's nothing more besides that.
DontFeedPhil
Fleet Captain
I gave it a b-. I think it was a bit better than X3:TLS but thats not saying much... I agree with most people that the effects were really crappy in certain scenes and almost gave the film a low-budget feel. That and there were too many minor characters especially at the end. And the Patric Stewart cameo...dont even get me started...He looked like a corpse. Whatever they did to his face to try and make him look younger didnt work. He looked exactly like he would laying in a casket..
And then there is the plot...too many problems to go into here. But yeah, lets make wolverine unstoppable and then try to kill him right away...
And then there is the plot...too many problems to go into here. But yeah, lets make wolverine unstoppable and then try to kill him right away...
I never thought I'd see an X-Men or Wolverine film and think it's worse than X3, but there you go. Wolverine is a terrible, terrible movie.
And to be honest, I went to see a Wolverine movie, and even when this character called Wolverine was onscreen, I knew it wasn't him. How could they have gone from the perfect characterization in X-Men to the coiffed, smiling in the sunshine douche bag in X3 to...this?
There were a few good moments, but even X3 had those. This film was pathetically awful.
And to be honest, I went to see a Wolverine movie, and even when this character called Wolverine was onscreen, I knew it wasn't him. How could they have gone from the perfect characterization in X-Men to the coiffed, smiling in the sunshine douche bag in X3 to...this?
There were a few good moments, but even X3 had those. This film was pathetically awful.
I more or less agree. I didn't hate it, but I was very underwhelmed by the whole thing. As a film, it wasn't terrible. It was just a random action/revenge type movie. But as a film about Wolverine, it was not very good.
As for the whole "His brain will heal...but his memories won't" or whatever the line was, how the hell could Stryker know that? It seemed like a cheap and easy way to make Wolverine forget everything.
Also, when it was over, I couldn't help thinking how unnecessary this movie was. Honestly, I thought X2 did a much better job of telling the Wolverine origin story than this thing did.
Wolverine opened well, but not stellar on Friday 5/1.
It has apparently made $35m for its opening day(I'd guess that is an estimate at this point and may be adjusted later).
If it holds it will be the 16th highest opening day tally.
It has apparently made $35m for its opening day(I'd guess that is an estimate at this point and may be adjusted later).
If it holds it will be the 16th highest opening day tally.
A film that was leaked in its entirity before launch and downloaded by a large, large number of people having one of the top 20 highest openings ever isnt "stellar"?
Generosity?
Well this is a solid D.
Nobody in the film really has any reason to do anything. Sure, Logan's out for blood over the death of Kayla but why do we really give a shit about her again? The movie spends no time establishing her character and all of a sudden she's "dead."
When the crux of your movie is the protagonist's angst over someone's death, the audience should give a shit about her. Or at least understand why the protagonist does. As it stands, this is just wishy-washy bullshit.
Danny Huston as Stryker was another huge disappointment. Brian Cox made you believe that this guy had some menace about him. Huston is physically present but I can't really remember a specific thing he did that was more than exposition. Which means it sucked on the page but also that the actor couldn't be bothered to try and do anything with it.
I could go on forever about all the shit in this movie that insulted my intelligence but I will say that Liev Schrieber and Hugh Jackman are doing their damndest here. Schrieber's Sabretooth (another guy who has no reason for doing the shit he does) is appropriately badass, it's just too bad he doesn't have anything particularly badass to do other than hunt down his fellow mutants for no real reason. Jackman's trying hard too but he has less of a leg to stand on because he's a producer on this abortion and presumably had some measure of control over it. When the story ended up making zero sense he should have spoken up.
I guess some of the action scenes are competent enough but I just didn't give a fuck about any of the stakes surrounding them because I wasn't sure what they were half the time.
Neither did anyone else involved in this thing, I'm guessing.
Nobody in the film really has any reason to do anything. Sure, Logan's out for blood over the death of Kayla but why do we really give a shit about her again? The movie spends no time establishing her character and all of a sudden she's "dead."
When the crux of your movie is the protagonist's angst over someone's death, the audience should give a shit about her. Or at least understand why the protagonist does. As it stands, this is just wishy-washy bullshit.
Danny Huston as Stryker was another huge disappointment. Brian Cox made you believe that this guy had some menace about him. Huston is physically present but I can't really remember a specific thing he did that was more than exposition. Which means it sucked on the page but also that the actor couldn't be bothered to try and do anything with it.
I could go on forever about all the shit in this movie that insulted my intelligence but I will say that Liev Schrieber and Hugh Jackman are doing their damndest here. Schrieber's Sabretooth (another guy who has no reason for doing the shit he does) is appropriately badass, it's just too bad he doesn't have anything particularly badass to do other than hunt down his fellow mutants for no real reason. Jackman's trying hard too but he has less of a leg to stand on because he's a producer on this abortion and presumably had some measure of control over it. When the story ended up making zero sense he should have spoken up.
I guess some of the action scenes are competent enough but I just didn't give a fuck about any of the stakes surrounding them because I wasn't sure what they were half the time.
Neither did anyone else involved in this thing, I'm guessing.
I just back from the film. Preliminary thoughts, in no particular order:
1. They should have used more material from Origins (the limited comic series). Unless I missed something, James changing his name to Logan came out of the blue. And it would be nice to know more about his parents aside from the fact his "father" loves him. Heck, it would have been nice to see more of Logan and Victor on the run as kids and young men. It would have given things a more emotional... core, I guess.
2. The CGI used on Patrick Stewart was awful. I can't believe that got through. Did they run out of money? I totally bought it in X-Men The Last Stand, but here I didn't. Did the technology suffer a setback in the last four or five years?
3. I would love to see more Deadpool in spinoffs, but I thought they should have used something more akin to the comics... maybe Stryker developing the Legacy virus as a means to destroy mutants and introducing that as a storyline for other films, using Wade as a Trojan horse (and thus scarring him). The man's not Deadpool without the mouth (I guess the end implies he does have one). Of course, I've always wondered what would happen if someone mixed the DNA from many mutants to create homo sapien superior superior.
4. This is maybe minor, but... Cyclops never mentioning anything about his abduction in the earlier films. True, we only spent a few days of time with him total, so the chances of him mentioning this incident were slim. I'm glad they cut the Storm cameo - that would have been overdoing it. Save it for X-Men Origins Storm. Just because you can thrown a cameo in doesn't mean it should be done (to paraphrase the Federation President from Star Trek VI).
That's all for now.
Addendum: My bad. For some reason, I had it mixed up and thought Wilson's disfigurement was due to the Legacy Virus. I withdraw that objection (aside from lack of screen time).
1. They should have used more material from Origins (the limited comic series). Unless I missed something, James changing his name to Logan came out of the blue. And it would be nice to know more about his parents aside from the fact his "father" loves him. Heck, it would have been nice to see more of Logan and Victor on the run as kids and young men. It would have given things a more emotional... core, I guess.
2. The CGI used on Patrick Stewart was awful. I can't believe that got through. Did they run out of money? I totally bought it in X-Men The Last Stand, but here I didn't. Did the technology suffer a setback in the last four or five years?
3. I would love to see more Deadpool in spinoffs, but I thought they should have used something more akin to the comics... maybe Stryker developing the Legacy virus as a means to destroy mutants and introducing that as a storyline for other films, using Wade as a Trojan horse (and thus scarring him). The man's not Deadpool without the mouth (I guess the end implies he does have one). Of course, I've always wondered what would happen if someone mixed the DNA from many mutants to create homo sapien superior superior.
4. This is maybe minor, but... Cyclops never mentioning anything about his abduction in the earlier films. True, we only spent a few days of time with him total, so the chances of him mentioning this incident were slim. I'm glad they cut the Storm cameo - that would have been overdoing it. Save it for X-Men Origins Storm. Just because you can thrown a cameo in doesn't mean it should be done (to paraphrase the Federation President from Star Trek VI).
That's all for now.
Addendum: My bad. For some reason, I had it mixed up and thought Wilson's disfigurement was due to the Legacy Virus. I withdraw that objection (aside from lack of screen time).
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X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity.
My Grade: Straight-B
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Wolverine "officially" kicks off the Summer Movie Season for me this weekend and it gets us off to a... jogging start.
More like a power walk.
It's hard to look at superhero movies now-a-days since last Summer's The Dark Knight set the bar so damn high it might as well be on the moon but that's a very rare breed. So we have to go into superhero movies now by forgetting TDK and still expecting, well, what superhero movies are.
That's not to say that they should be on a "low bar" but just-that, well, they usually are. Nolan's first Batman (Batman Begins) was a good origin movie for that character, Singer's two X-Men movies are fairly highly regarded, decent, movies and there's preeminent classic in Richard Donner's Superman:The Movie; possibly bested -but only slightly- by the Donner/Lester Superman II.
Wolverine comes in as just a "regular" superhero movie. It's not a forgettable pile of trash like Daredevil was or the Punisher movie -among other mentions we could make- but it's certainly not on the level of the aforementioned giants of this genre.
Wolverine was the obvious choice for the Fox studio to go with in keeping the blood pumping through their X-Men movie franchise as he's one of the most -if not THE most- popular character of their franchise; which I've never understood. Wolverine is "likable" enough but I do not understand why he's so highly regarded and simply wrote off because it's a)his unbreakable razor-sharp retractable claws and because he's the "outside rebel loner" -an attitude it seems many comic fans like. Go figure.
In the first X-Men movie we're introduced to Wolverine and through it and the second one we're only given ideas and glimpses into his past which to fully "know" you'd have to, well, know it. This movie gives us Wolverine's complete origin from when his "powers" first manifest themselves as an adolescent living in the mid 19th century, his use as a special weapon by the Government sometime after the Vietnam war, and finally when his skeleton is laced with an unbreakable metal and he seeks revenge on the person who killed his wife/love -his brother Sabertooth.
Overall... It's interesting. Not particularly exciting, though the action scenes are fairly good if laced with too much CGI.
Really, the only thing that "saves" this movie is Hugh Jackman as Wolverine who manages to in enter the small realm of actors who manage to "own" a Superhero. Toby McGuire played Spider-man. Christopher Reeve IS Superman.
Ben Affleck played Daredevil. Hugh Jackman IS Wolverine.
Liev Schreiber plays good as Sabetooth (even if this Sabertooh is unconnectable with the one in the Singer movies. They really should've had his head cut off and then have is body regrow a "new head" that, well, didn't work as well.
)
Taylor Kitsch is good as Gambit -who really was underused in this franchise.
Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson is good, too, but needed more screen time, has a shitty character end and hopefully will get the next "Origins" movie.
All and all it's an enjoyable movie. I liked it, I had fun, but it didn't blow me away. None-the-less, seeing Hugh Jackman's Wolverine is always a treat and he -and the entire X-Men universe- is handled pretty well here. So this one is worth seeing.
Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity.
My Grade: Straight-B
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wolverine "officially" kicks off the Summer Movie Season for me this weekend and it gets us off to a... jogging start.
More like a power walk.
It's hard to look at superhero movies now-a-days since last Summer's The Dark Knight set the bar so damn high it might as well be on the moon but that's a very rare breed. So we have to go into superhero movies now by forgetting TDK and still expecting, well, what superhero movies are.
That's not to say that they should be on a "low bar" but just-that, well, they usually are. Nolan's first Batman (Batman Begins) was a good origin movie for that character, Singer's two X-Men movies are fairly highly regarded, decent, movies and there's preeminent classic in Richard Donner's Superman:The Movie; possibly bested -but only slightly- by the Donner/Lester Superman II.
Wolverine comes in as just a "regular" superhero movie. It's not a forgettable pile of trash like Daredevil was or the Punisher movie -among other mentions we could make- but it's certainly not on the level of the aforementioned giants of this genre.
Wolverine was the obvious choice for the Fox studio to go with in keeping the blood pumping through their X-Men movie franchise as he's one of the most -if not THE most- popular character of their franchise; which I've never understood. Wolverine is "likable" enough but I do not understand why he's so highly regarded and simply wrote off because it's a)his unbreakable razor-sharp retractable claws and because he's the "outside rebel loner" -an attitude it seems many comic fans like. Go figure.
In the first X-Men movie we're introduced to Wolverine and through it and the second one we're only given ideas and glimpses into his past which to fully "know" you'd have to, well, know it. This movie gives us Wolverine's complete origin from when his "powers" first manifest themselves as an adolescent living in the mid 19th century, his use as a special weapon by the Government sometime after the Vietnam war, and finally when his skeleton is laced with an unbreakable metal and he seeks revenge on the person who killed his wife/love -his brother Sabertooth.
Overall... It's interesting. Not particularly exciting, though the action scenes are fairly good if laced with too much CGI.
Really, the only thing that "saves" this movie is Hugh Jackman as Wolverine who manages to in enter the small realm of actors who manage to "own" a Superhero. Toby McGuire played Spider-man. Christopher Reeve IS Superman.
Ben Affleck played Daredevil. Hugh Jackman IS Wolverine.
Liev Schreiber plays good as Sabetooth (even if this Sabertooh is unconnectable with the one in the Singer movies. They really should've had his head cut off and then have is body regrow a "new head" that, well, didn't work as well.
) Taylor Kitsch is good as Gambit -who really was underused in this franchise.
Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson is good, too, but needed more screen time, has a shitty character end and hopefully will get the next "Origins" movie.
All and all it's an enjoyable movie. I liked it, I had fun, but it didn't blow me away. None-the-less, seeing Hugh Jackman's Wolverine is always a treat and he -and the entire X-Men universe- is handled pretty well here. So this one is worth seeing.
I was wavering between a B and a B-, but I'm not feeling especially generous today, so I went with the B-. To be fair, though, my mood was soured by an unpleasant encounter with an elderly woman in the theatre who was acting like she'd never been to the cinema before. She entered with her grandson during the previews, but lost track of him when he rushed past me in the row I was sitting in. She reached out to me, asking "Is that you?" (yeah right lady -- I know it's a little dark in here, but surely you can tell that I'm not your f**king 8-year-old grandson). In the process she knocked over my fries, getting ketchup all over my shirt. I left to clean myself up and managed to get back before the movie started, but damn, she pissed me off -- yeah, I know it was an accident, but this woman seemed utterly clueless. 
Sorry, just needed to rant a little -- if there's one thing I hate, it's clumsy and inconsiderate people in the movie theatre. Now, as for the film itself:
Overall... I liked it. I enjoyed watching it. It was nowhere near as good as X-Men or X2, but it wasn't the atrocity that one might be expecting from the buzz caused by the leaked workprint.
The main problems was probably the overall plot, which was a bit on the cliched and predictable side. It kind feels like we've seen this sort of stuff before: betrayal, revenge, murder of the love interest, the return of the presumed-dead character (who in this case happens to be the love interest -- I'll admit, I didn't specifically see that coming, but it didn't really shock me). Fairly generic stuff.
The always-watchable Jackman manages to enliven things, as does Schrieber -- I enjoyed the complicated relationship between the two brothers (and Schrieber seemed to be having fun as the animalistic, carnage-loving Victor), although I'm a little puzzled by something: is Victor supposed to be the same character as Sabretooth in the first film? If so, I really don't see how that could be, unless he too gets amnesia at some point (not to mention a fairly radical physical makeover).
I was less-impressed with Stryker, who didn't really remind be at all of Brian Cox's compellingly villainous character from X2. I realize people can change a fair bit in fifteen or twenty years, but I just don't think Danny Huston was a good fit. He was passable, but not terribly memorable, certainly not like Cox's version of the character was. And I guess we'll have to presume that the charges against him for the General's murder don't stick (which isn't too hard to believe -- he can easily blame it on Logan, Victor, or any other mutant he had in the facility.
Kayla was fine (in every sense of the word
). She could have perhaps used a bit more development, though, as could have her relationship with Logan (although it honestly didn't really bother me -- so we're introduced to her years into her courtship with Logan, big deal. A lot of movies do that. I didn't have any trouble buying into their relationship, so I think it works well enough, even if it is one of the aforementioned cliched aspects of the film).
I'm a little surprised that they used Ryan Reynolds for what is little more than a glorified cameo, though he was fairly entertaining given his limited screen time. Gambit was also okay, and I didn't really have any problems with the other supporting mutant characters (I don't read the comics, so if some of the film representations are noticeably different from their comic-book counterparts, I would have no idea -- and as such, it doesn't matter to me, as a moviegoer). Scott Summers seemed a tad out of place, though, and I don't mind the idea of a Professor Xavier cameo, but what the hell was up with those de-aging effects?
They were put to better use in X-Men: The Last Stand -- you'd think that the technology would improve over time, but it just didn't work here. Maybe it wasn't in the budget or something, but it was a glaringly noticeable fx problem.
Anyway, I enjoyed it for the most part. The action sequences were appropriately thrilling, some of the characters were intriguing, and there was at least an attempt at an emotional core, even if it didn't always show through (for example, I did like his interaction with the older couple on the farm -- I felt a twinge of sympathy when they were suddenly killed, as I did when Wolverine wasn't even able to recognize the dead body of the woman he once loved, even though I knew throughout the whole movie that it'd end with him becoming an amnesiac). It was an entertaining ride -- your standard summer blockbuster/popcorn flick, but sometimes, there's nothing wrong with that.
Oh, and the final post-credits scene I got was one of Deadpool apparently still alive -- his blade retracted into his arm, which then reached for his head. It cut out right after his eyes opened. I don't think this was necessary, and I hope it doesn't mean we're going to see a Deadpool film in the future -- the character (after his transformation from Wade to Weapon XI) didn't really do much for me. Ah well, I guess we'll see.
Sorry, just needed to rant a little -- if there's one thing I hate, it's clumsy and inconsiderate people in the movie theatre. Now, as for the film itself:
Overall... I liked it. I enjoyed watching it. It was nowhere near as good as X-Men or X2, but it wasn't the atrocity that one might be expecting from the buzz caused by the leaked workprint.
The main problems was probably the overall plot, which was a bit on the cliched and predictable side. It kind feels like we've seen this sort of stuff before: betrayal, revenge, murder of the love interest, the return of the presumed-dead character (who in this case happens to be the love interest -- I'll admit, I didn't specifically see that coming, but it didn't really shock me). Fairly generic stuff.
The always-watchable Jackman manages to enliven things, as does Schrieber -- I enjoyed the complicated relationship between the two brothers (and Schrieber seemed to be having fun as the animalistic, carnage-loving Victor), although I'm a little puzzled by something: is Victor supposed to be the same character as Sabretooth in the first film? If so, I really don't see how that could be, unless he too gets amnesia at some point (not to mention a fairly radical physical makeover).
I was less-impressed with Stryker, who didn't really remind be at all of Brian Cox's compellingly villainous character from X2. I realize people can change a fair bit in fifteen or twenty years, but I just don't think Danny Huston was a good fit. He was passable, but not terribly memorable, certainly not like Cox's version of the character was. And I guess we'll have to presume that the charges against him for the General's murder don't stick (which isn't too hard to believe -- he can easily blame it on Logan, Victor, or any other mutant he had in the facility.
Kayla was fine (in every sense of the word
). She could have perhaps used a bit more development, though, as could have her relationship with Logan (although it honestly didn't really bother me -- so we're introduced to her years into her courtship with Logan, big deal. A lot of movies do that. I didn't have any trouble buying into their relationship, so I think it works well enough, even if it is one of the aforementioned cliched aspects of the film).I'm a little surprised that they used Ryan Reynolds for what is little more than a glorified cameo, though he was fairly entertaining given his limited screen time. Gambit was also okay, and I didn't really have any problems with the other supporting mutant characters (I don't read the comics, so if some of the film representations are noticeably different from their comic-book counterparts, I would have no idea -- and as such, it doesn't matter to me, as a moviegoer). Scott Summers seemed a tad out of place, though, and I don't mind the idea of a Professor Xavier cameo, but what the hell was up with those de-aging effects?
They were put to better use in X-Men: The Last Stand -- you'd think that the technology would improve over time, but it just didn't work here. Maybe it wasn't in the budget or something, but it was a glaringly noticeable fx problem.Anyway, I enjoyed it for the most part. The action sequences were appropriately thrilling, some of the characters were intriguing, and there was at least an attempt at an emotional core, even if it didn't always show through (for example, I did like his interaction with the older couple on the farm -- I felt a twinge of sympathy when they were suddenly killed, as I did when Wolverine wasn't even able to recognize the dead body of the woman he once loved, even though I knew throughout the whole movie that it'd end with him becoming an amnesiac). It was an entertaining ride -- your standard summer blockbuster/popcorn flick, but sometimes, there's nothing wrong with that.
Oh, and the final post-credits scene I got was one of Deadpool apparently still alive -- his blade retracted into his arm, which then reached for his head. It cut out right after his eyes opened. I don't think this was necessary, and I hope it doesn't mean we're going to see a Deadpool film in the future -- the character (after his transformation from Wade to Weapon XI) didn't really do much for me. Ah well, I guess we'll see.
I would expect an X-Men Origins: Deadpool in the future.
I would also want, and expect, Weapon XI to not have been the "real" Ryan Reynolds but a clone/copy/bastardization of his DNA.
On rude theater goers:
In my theater: Crying baby.
Someone brought a friggin' baby to the 4:15 showing of Wolverine.
The baby started crying early on when young Victor is talking to young Logan -at first I thought it was a "background baby" in the house in the movie. After a while that thought vanished. It quited down but it continued crying peridoicaly through the opening scene, opening credits, and opening moments in the movie. Finally when there was a quiet moment in the movie -where there wasn't any dialogue or anything important going on, I think this was some time after the heist Stryker's team pulled, the baby cried again so I boomed out "Crying baby out of the theater, please!"
The guy left, I get a smattering of applause.
I would also want, and expect, Weapon XI to not have been the "real" Ryan Reynolds but a clone/copy/bastardization of his DNA.
On rude theater goers:
In my theater: Crying baby.
Someone brought a friggin' baby to the 4:15 showing of Wolverine.
The baby started crying early on when young Victor is talking to young Logan -at first I thought it was a "background baby" in the house in the movie. After a while that thought vanished. It quited down but it continued crying peridoicaly through the opening scene, opening credits, and opening moments in the movie. Finally when there was a quiet moment in the movie -where there wasn't any dialogue or anything important going on, I think this was some time after the heist Stryker's team pulled, the baby cried again so I boomed out "Crying baby out of the theater, please!"
The guy left, I get a smattering of applause.
Gave it a B. Overall, a pretty good movie that is definately rewatchable. I will rank it in my top 2 or 3 of the X-men movies. Story was interesting, Jackman was great as always, and the fight scenes were pretty good. Few minor complaints:
*The beginning felt rushed to me. It didn't seem like the movie starting going at a "reasonable pace" until the stroy fast-forwarded to Lumberjack-Logan. The opening credits were pretty good, but I was hoping to see more of the war stuff.
**Some of the CG effects were god-awful. There were several cases where the claws looked pretty bad (the New Orleans alley before the Victor/ Logan fight is one case), but from the Alkali Lake clear through the bathroom, the claws looked utterly terrible, with the bathroom being the worst. Xavier's face was pretty bad too.
***The powers continuing to get more and more silly. As the movies have gone on, they have had powers get more and more either rediculous or inconsistant. Biggest case from this movie: Cyclops'/ Weapon XI's eyes can cut straight through entire buildings or walls, but get completely dispersed by Logan's claws and do nothing to Victor but push him deeper into the wall.
Like I said, minor complaints to an overall pretty good movie.
*The beginning felt rushed to me. It didn't seem like the movie starting going at a "reasonable pace" until the stroy fast-forwarded to Lumberjack-Logan. The opening credits were pretty good, but I was hoping to see more of the war stuff.
**Some of the CG effects were god-awful. There were several cases where the claws looked pretty bad (the New Orleans alley before the Victor/ Logan fight is one case), but from the Alkali Lake clear through the bathroom, the claws looked utterly terrible, with the bathroom being the worst. Xavier's face was pretty bad too.
***The powers continuing to get more and more silly. As the movies have gone on, they have had powers get more and more either rediculous or inconsistant. Biggest case from this movie: Cyclops'/ Weapon XI's eyes can cut straight through entire buildings or walls, but get completely dispersed by Logan's claws and do nothing to Victor but push him deeper into the wall.
Like I said, minor complaints to an overall pretty good movie.
Well, the Cyclops forcebeams vs. Wolvie's claws is sort of an "unstopable force vs. unmovable object."
Admantium could just so bad-ass that it can contain the force-beams and it could be Weapon XI can "control" them, but why dial them back to attack Sabertooth? It's not exactly inconsistant but not entirely consistant, either.
(Jean Grey does say in X1 that Cyclops' beams could "blow the top off a mountain.")
Here's something I wondered...
I was expecting the "surgery scene" to be far more dramatic, like the pool of liquid disolving all of Wolvie's tissue down to his bones and then seeing the adamantium more "precisely" layered on to him. Instead it's just pumped into him and "somehow" the adamantium "knew" to adhere to his bones and encase them rather than just pooling in those injection points in his body like a cajun turkey.
It's also "impressive" that the adamantium adhered to his "bone claws" in a "knife-like" fashion and either was kindof enough to sharpen and hone itself.
We should've -"logically" if they were going the bone-claw route- gotten a scene of Wolvie having to get some special hunk of megarock to hone and fashion his blades.
Admantium could just so bad-ass that it can contain the force-beams and it could be Weapon XI can "control" them, but why dial them back to attack Sabertooth? It's not exactly inconsistant but not entirely consistant, either.
(Jean Grey does say in X1 that Cyclops' beams could "blow the top off a mountain.")
Here's something I wondered...
I was expecting the "surgery scene" to be far more dramatic, like the pool of liquid disolving all of Wolvie's tissue down to his bones and then seeing the adamantium more "precisely" layered on to him. Instead it's just pumped into him and "somehow" the adamantium "knew" to adhere to his bones and encase them rather than just pooling in those injection points in his body like a cajun turkey.
It's also "impressive" that the adamantium adhered to his "bone claws" in a "knife-like" fashion and either was kindof enough to sharpen and hone itself.
We should've -"logically" if they were going the bone-claw route- gotten a scene of Wolvie having to get some special hunk of megarock to hone and fashion his blades.
Awesome. If I had been in that theatre, I think you would have been my personal hero for the day.
I'm just glad that the woman and her grandson eventually went to a different row, and I didn't have to see them again. If I did, I might have said something I'd regret later. I'm usually a friendly guy, but I was pretty... irritable for a few minutes there.
As for a Deadpool movie, I don't really have much interest in that idea, but maybe they can do something interesting with it... I guess we'll find out if and when it happens.
That reminds me of something else I read today: apparently, Halle Berry is open to doing an X-Men Origins: Storm movie, which I found kind of amusing, since she seemed reluctant to even do The Last Stand after her dissatisfaction with her role in the first two films.
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