I'd given up hope of ever seeing my beloved X-Men on screen again. Until about two years ago when FOX said, "You know, maybe we were a little harsh on the whole X thing. What if we just give the Aussie's character his own flick? That should more than make up for what we spent on CLONE WARS won't it? Miss Johnson! Get the Aussie on the phone, we have a mutant movie to make. No not her, she's already a mutant. You know the Aussie that jumps around dancing a lot. Yeah him. Tell him to hit the gym we start filming Monday. I AM SATAN!
TANGENT!
The whole basis of this movie is to tell the story of Wolverine's beginnings for those who live in America and don't read comic books which oddly enough make up the same percentage of people who watch LOST just to see Sawyer without a shirt. For everyone else who doesn't live on Mars the story is pretty standard by now because Wolverine is just as beloved if not more so than Spider-Man in terms of comic book popularity. Ask anyone under the age of 54 in this country who Wolverine is and they'll probably talk your ear off about him, the origins of this crazed Canuck is now as much house-hold information as the origin of Superman. I go on about this because more than once the film takes liberties with the very detailed past of our favorit mutant and for once in my lifetime I don't disagree with what they've done. Actually, saying that they took liberties with this story is an understatement. They took fucking giant robot leaving skyscrapers in wreckage underneath it's metal foot liberties with this story. Between how they completly turned around the entire Weapon X plot-line, to the atrocious misinterpretation of Fred Duke's actual mutant ability is, finishing with how they totally fucked over my favorit character Deadpool (I don't care who you are Deadpool does not have laser vision!) you could say that this leaves much to be desired for your very enthusastic and sometimes frighteningly dedicated comic book fans. And boy is this movie reaping what it's sewn. I haven't seen a flick this lambasted since GIGLI. But for all the nay-sayers of this movie I stand vigilint in my decision to not only recommend but demand that everyone see this movie.
When it comes right down to it all I really need from Wolverine is for him to have metal claws, and to kill people. And I finally get to have both. This is a Wolverine not to be fucked with, and certainly to be feared. That's all I've ever wanted since X-MEN first flamboyantly danced onto the screen. Gone are those ridiculous leather clown suits and the inane dribble that poured out of Halle Berry's mouth every time she opened it. All that's left is a swath of shredded corpses strewn about like some macabre birthday party. Thank you MARVEL and thank you FOX for finally figuring out the formula to New Coke.
We all know Hugh Jackman is an incredible if not very tall Wolverine. But the supporting cast is nothing to laugh at either. Ryan Reynolds as Deapool was a brilliant bit of casting. Thank Christ he's getting his own movie as the Merc with the Mouth. The very small amount of screen time he gets in the beginning of the movie is worth the ticket alone. I've never been this afraid of someone with a katana. I would love to see him and Bill just go at it. I have no idea who the fuck Taylor Kitsch is but goddamn he pulls of Gambit brilliantly. Even two co-stars from LOST end up in this movie together. Everyone's favorit hobbit Dominic Monaghan and would be Ben killer, Kevin Durand.
SIDENOTE! Kevin Durand plays Fred Dukes who should be called The Blob but is done so in passing only. In the movie they make him invincibley strong and then gains at least 1200 pounds in some sort of weird coping mechanism for what the team did to some innocent people in Africa. This is not The Blob's mutant power. The weight of The Blob is part of his mutation not a failed diet program. He's not super strong but he is impossible to move. The Blob creates his own gravitational pull and once he plants his feet he cannot be lifted, or moved from that position. Even the Juggernaut who is cannot be stopped once he's set into motion cannot move The Blob. If he were to run into him, the earth beneath The Blob would break off and then he would tumble backwards, but I would still consider that unmoveable.
The unsung hero of this movie is clearly Liev Schreiber as Saber-Tooth. Good God! This guy is a maniac. A killing machine. His whole purpose in life is to prove he's better than Wolverine at everything, including death. Liev Schreiber is grade A brilliant at pulling off the bitter jealousy that boils just beneath Saber-Tooth's surface and truly brings all the realism this movie requires to his character.
And that's the big secret to comic book movies isn't it? To take the work seriously. To invest 100% into the fact that what's happening to these people and who they are, are real to everyone. To not wink at the audience like we're a bunch of ponces who can't figure it out. That is where this movie succeeds. Because I bought into the plight of the characters because it the material was treated with respect.
I hope this trend of amazing comic book adapted movies continues. So far there has been very complaints about the work that Marvel is producing. But as long as work like this keeps being churned out I will keep seeing these movies.
FYI: Don't stay for the scene after the credits. It's horse-shit in a can. Wolverine is in Japan driking shots. He comments that he's drinking to remember, puts the shot glass down, end of scene. What the fuck? Really? You couldn't even get Tony Stark to just kind of walk around in the background? Goddammit.
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