It’s always painful to look back upon a missed opportunity and to mourn over so much wasted potential. Unfortunately, among movie fans and comic geeks, X-Men Origins: Wolverine will be a source of consternation and regret for years to come.
In a just world, a movie like this one – one that fails to make the most of such a promising license – would be quickly shunned and ultimately cast from public view. Unfortunately for us all, as long as it delivers enough CGI explosions and mindless wire stunts, such an exercise in mediocrity will likely be rewarded by a willing audience with a profitable box office.
We’re only hurting ourselves here, people.
The world of the X-Men is one of the most fascinating and mentally arresting in comic books. Beneath the seemingly fantastic tale of a war between super-powered mutants and their struggle to survive among a suspicious and fearful public, lies a deeply human story of prejudice and hate, selflessness and love, guilt and redemption. This world is rich with social commentary, tortured emotion, and conflicted characters; none more so than Wolverine – a gruff loner haunted by a forgotten past and living on the precipice between human decency and animal brutality. Also known as Logan, Wolverine’s uncanny healing abilities, enhanced senses, indestructible skeleton, and deadly, retractable claws make him a perfect killing machine; but the tenacious strands of his better nature tether him to his true and virtuous center.
Wolverine is a great and tragic character, but the true tragedy is that this iconic figure has been saddled so unceremoniously with such an unimaginative and unexciting namesake.
As the title suggests, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a prequel to the X-Men trilogy, and tells the story of Logan’s life before he crossed paths with Xavier’s gifted students and Magneto’s hateful minions. Sustained by his body’s accelerated and seemingly unstoppable healing abilities, Logan has lived for more than 150 years. As the film opens, a stylish and well-crafted credit sequence shows him and his similarly gifted brother, Victor, relentlessly tearing through every American conflict from the Civil War to Vietnam.
Unfortunately, it’s never a good sign when a movie exhausts its most intriguing ideas before the title card even appears on screen. After this promising opening, the film begins a descent into trite and tired territory, after the brothers’ unnatural exploits bring them to the attention of William Stryker, a US Army officer who recruits them to a secret unit made up of specially trained mutants.
While Logan reluctantly rolls with the group for a while, Stryker’s ruthlessness and his own brother’s savagery drive him to retire and disappear into the wilds of the Canada Rockies. Six years later, Logan has found a new life - and true love - with a local school teacher, but his idyllic happiness is threatened when his dark past comes calling.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not a terrible film, but nothing in it ever ascends beyond the decidedly mediocre. The script is bland, the plot is generic, the music is forgettable, the action is unexciting, and the special effects are uninspired.
The narrative hinges upon a well-worn plot that highlights a perfunctory conflict without ever bringing any true life or color to the screen. While the film connects the dots of Wolverine’s past, it never captures our imagination, engages our emotions, or does the character justice. The movie misses the mark, failing to convey the true tragedy and mystery of Logan’s past and managing only to tell a simple story in a simple way.
Unlike the previous films in the series, this one doesn’t carry with it the affecting undercurrent of genuinely thoughtful social commentary and cultural relevance. It also makes no effort to ground itself in the past. While no one will enter into the theater expecting a history lesson, I found the film’s sloppy timeline and numerous glaring anachronisms not only vexing, but confusing and distracting. This poor grasp of the plot’s setting in history belies the film’s rudimentary construction.
I came away with the impression that X-Men Origins: Wolverine’s script is little more than a string that tenuously connects a number of loud action scenes. While such a simple narrative might have worked for another film, this one’s focus should have been on its central character’s deep and fascinating lore. To make matters worse, the action sequences do nothing to distinguish themselves. The staging and choreography are unremarkable and the special effects, while technically proficient, are so outlandish and cartoon-like that they rob the film of any excitement or interest.
On a somewhat brighter note, the cast is competent and likeable. Hugh Jackman has a good grasp of Logan’s duality, but his inner struggle and his grudging heroics aren’t as captivating here as they were in the other X-Men films. Liev Schreiber is effectively menacing, but his character’s motives and his inherent cruelty are never sufficiently explained.
Lynn Collins plays Logan’s lover with an appealing sense of haunting calm, and Dominic Monaghan and Ryan Reynolds both work wonders in bit parts, despite their disappointingly brief time on screen. Finally, Taylor Kitsch plays Gambit. While he certainly looks the part, the character is completely ancillary and the film doesn’t give him any opportunity to leave a lasting impression.
The cinematography is also worth noting, both for its beautifully captured natural vistas and gorgeous forests; and unfortunately, for its numerous, lovingly detailed, and unintentionally hilarious glamour shots of Hugh Jackman flexing every glistening muscle and preening like an Abercrombie model for the camera.
Whether they’re familiar with the comics and cartoons or simply attracted to the kinetic trailers and the infectious summer movie buzz, kids will undoubtedly be interested in checking out X-Men Origins: Wolverine. While the film does highlight such virtues as trust, hospitality, kindness, and a refusal to compromise with evil; a good portion of the run time also deals with Logan’s quest for bloodthirsty vengeance. There is some sensuality and a smattering of foul language, but parents will want to exercise special caution regarding the film’s violence, which, while bloodless, is decidedly brutal, abundant, and at times, ruthless and surprisingly disturbing.
While it’s obviously a disappointment to start the summer movie season off on such a hesitant and unsteady foot, it’s a deeper blow to see such an intriguing character trapped in such a lukewarm film. This weak and unexciting tale is a distressing waste of a potential goldmine. It’s a shame really. Wolverine deserves better – and so do we.
Caution Rating: 7.5
