Rating of
3/4
Clawing Out an Origin
Chris Kavan - wrote on 05/02/09
Summer movie season seems to get earlier and earlier every year. While Wolverine doesn't have the impact of say an Iron Man or Dark Knight, you can definitely tell this officially kicks off the summer.
Hugh Jackman once again takes up the mantle of everyone's favorite cigar-chomping, bub-dropping somewhat anti-hero. Before he gets nigh indestructible, we see him as a sickly child, snapshots of all the major wars and finally a mutant mercenary - before he becomes a quiet family man (albeit with some intense nightmares).
Joining him along for the ride is a very dark Liev Schreiber, playing the animalistic Sabertooth with much malice. This is a more cerebral and evil Sabertooth than Tyler Mane's in the original X-men. I think the right choice was made. The sparks that fly when the two meet is one of the reasons Wolverine is fun to watch.
Another reason: action. Whether it's a throw-down with a helicopter, a battle on a nuclear cooling tower or a bar-brawl (Canada or New Orleans - take your pick) - Wolverine always seems to pack a punch just when it's needed.
Action is no good without a bit of drama, so Danny Huston as the mutant-hating William Stryker is our foil. Although his impact could have been greater, Huston does an admiral job, though I think I would have preferred bringing Brian Cox back, as he seems to pull off duplicitous evil characters a little better.
The biggest problem with Wolverine is aside from the main characters, we get assaulted my a multitude of other mutants, man of which amount to little more than cameos, with varying degrees of involvement. Take Gambit - a much-loved character. You see a fight, a little dialogue and then pretty much nothing. Same for The Blob, the Wraith and Zero get a little more screen time - but you get no identity from anyone - it's all "ooh - cool power" and then they're either suddenly dead (or assumed as much) or have gone away. Even the big bad Deadpool is little more than a footnote.
I do like the way they tied the story line in Wolverine to the X-men films. I'm sure there are some inconsistencies, but overall, it seemed to be flow pretty smoothly with the other films. All in all, aside from having way too many characters, this was a good way to start off the summer movie season... in spring.
