Like most people who use this site, I have been following every Wolverine bit of news that has been reported, rumours or otherwise. Though I did not see the leaked copy of the film, I still read the reviews and comments by those who did and the more I read the more I felt the inevitability of disapointment growing nearer...however, it seeems I had nothing to worry about. The truth is X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a damn good film.
There is not one bad performance in the film and each actor despite how big or small their role is delivers the characters perfectly from page to screen. It was a pity that Wade Wilson was more a cameo than anything else but Ryan Reynolds was and is perfect for Deadpool. The same can also be said for Gambit who has a slightly smaller role but could easily carry his own film (Taylor Kitsch does a great job but I couldnt help but wish that the cajun accent was a little stronger). Sabertooth is played brilliantly by Liev Schreiber and just his presence gives a fantastically dark and villainous feel to each scene he is in. Performances by will.i.am (John Wraith), Kevin Durand (Fred Dukes) and Danny Huston (Stryker) are also brilliant and I would love to see these characters again (though for some that wont be possible). Finally, Hugh Jackman steals the show as Wolverine and is better here than in any of the X-Men films. Jackman nails the human side of Wolverine just as easily as the animal side and you can tell how genuinly passionate and into the character he really is.
The plot (though I wont go into specific details here) is good and although it handles things differently to the comics (such as Wolverine not losing his memory after being bonded with the adamantium) the changes are obviously necessary otherwise this film would have had to have been made into two. These changes although minor help the plot move far quicker and as a film make far more sense (as perhaps was the case sometimes in Watchmen)
Now (SPOILERS AHEAD) I read earlier this week on this website that there would be different endings i different cinemas. I dont know whether this is in fact true or not but in the cinema that I saw this film in after about 30 seconds of credits there was a scene with Stryker walking down a road and being stopped by several soldiers in regards to him killing a general earlier in the film. After the entire credits there is then the scene that I had previously heard about of Wolverine sitting in a bar and speaking in Japanese saying that he is drinking to remember (SPOILERS END) The CGI in the film is often very good apart from a few scenes where the claws look a little super imposed but this is really very rare and the only bad bit of CGI out of a well made film. Perhaps my favourite special effect was Emma Frost in diamond form, this was really impressive and in some ways better that the effect in the comic books.
Finally, there is the case of Deadpool (MINOR PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD) The character of Wade Williams is handled brilliantly by Reynolds and you could easily put a mask on him when he talks as it 100% Deadpool from the comics. This is especially the case in the scene of Wilson fighting and deflecting bullets with his swords...this is how I would love to see him in a movie of his own. However, by the end of the film Deadpool is indeed Weapon XI but the fight scenes between XI and Wolverine/Sabertooth is again perfect for how I would like to see the character fight in his own film (minus the optic blasts and with a costume of course ). I would have liked to have seen more of an explanation of why Wade became XI (was he forced, did he volunteer?) and this is perhaps the most disappointing part of the film. Also, the fact that they have tried to make XI look like the Deadpool costume (the eyes and pathetic looking lines drawn on him) this does in fact not work! Even if you forget Deadpool, it would still have been nice to have more information about the films final villain. After Wolverine beheads XI, this is sadly where the character seems to end and there is no clue over survival or what happens to him next seemingly making his own spin off look more and more unlikely...(SPOILERS END)
So...apart from a few minor disapointments (okay, so mainly Deadpool), I have to say that this was a pretty good film. There were never any points when things became boring and the film was generally well made with good performances all round and many, many exciting fights and set pieces. The film is especially exciting with cameos from other X-Men characters such as Cyclops and Emma Frost (two young actors who I would be happy to see play these characters again). I hope to see Wolverine explored even more in a sequel as this film has shown how much potential the character has. Overall I would give this film 4/5
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8
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5
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JoshW
4/29/2009