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Flickr(Brief) Movie Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine
The short, spoiler-free version: X-Men Origins: Wolverine is to the X-Men films what the character of Wolverine is to the X-Men comics: a rather absurd addition, but an endlessly entertaining one, a pure action movie with none of that nasty character development to get in the way of some truly epic special effects and fight choreography.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
I can sum up the glory of Wolverine in three words: Retractable. Adamantium. Katanas.
The character of Wolverine has always been the heavy metal element of the group, that archetypal bad boy who everyone loves so much that he is the most obvious and up-front bastion of the X-Men team's obligatory comic book absurdities. He's over a century old, he's indestructible, he's got unbreakable diamond-hard claws, he chomps cigars and he's been both a mercenary and a samurai. He is the unabashed effort to be everything that the Marvel writers think is SO TOTALLY AWESOME, and this movie, in that sense, does him justice.
There's a plot to the movie, but it doesn't matter. There are characters, they have conflicts, but it doesn't matter. What matters is watching Hugh Jackman be a stoic, occasionally-roaring badass, and Liev Schreiber chewing the scenery and acting psycho, and Ryan Reynolds quipping while deflecting bullets with swords.
While Schreiber is an excellent actor, and Jackman gives Wolverine the life he actually needs, the real star of this movie is the special effects and the cinematography. The movie's flow is hollow, filled with so many action movie cliches that you could write it by hitting Random Item on TV Tropes (who thinks they can get away with the Slow Walk Away From Exploding Vehicle shot anymore?), but the action sequences are an over-the-top, unapologetic exercise in making you go "Awesome!" People reload their guns by tossing them up in the air, people ride on the tops of out of control helicopters, people have retractable adamantium katanas embedded in their hands. It is so over the top I could not help but laugh, but I really think that's the point. Wolverine does not mince words, it does not put on an act for you. Wolverine wants you to laugh and shout and pump your fist, and god-damn-it, it is going to make you do that as best it can.
END SPOILERS.
I don't need to discuss the movie's flaws; they are part and parcel of what I just discussed. Nothing in the movie will move you, or enrich you, or make you think. The script's occasional efforts at being deep are either the ghosts of a more emotional script or brief nods to the fact that there are actually some real actors in among the CGI and explosives, and what isn't predictable in the plot is totally insane. But this is not a movie that is about that. This movie is pure rock n' roll pulp, and while it is neither the first nor the best, it is definitely worth one viewing just to see it build a whole new top to go over.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
I can sum up the glory of Wolverine in three words: Retractable. Adamantium. Katanas.
The character of Wolverine has always been the heavy metal element of the group, that archetypal bad boy who everyone loves so much that he is the most obvious and up-front bastion of the X-Men team's obligatory comic book absurdities. He's over a century old, he's indestructible, he's got unbreakable diamond-hard claws, he chomps cigars and he's been both a mercenary and a samurai. He is the unabashed effort to be everything that the Marvel writers think is SO TOTALLY AWESOME, and this movie, in that sense, does him justice.
There's a plot to the movie, but it doesn't matter. There are characters, they have conflicts, but it doesn't matter. What matters is watching Hugh Jackman be a stoic, occasionally-roaring badass, and Liev Schreiber chewing the scenery and acting psycho, and Ryan Reynolds quipping while deflecting bullets with swords.
While Schreiber is an excellent actor, and Jackman gives Wolverine the life he actually needs, the real star of this movie is the special effects and the cinematography. The movie's flow is hollow, filled with so many action movie cliches that you could write it by hitting Random Item on TV Tropes (who thinks they can get away with the Slow Walk Away From Exploding Vehicle shot anymore?), but the action sequences are an over-the-top, unapologetic exercise in making you go "Awesome!" People reload their guns by tossing them up in the air, people ride on the tops of out of control helicopters, people have retractable adamantium katanas embedded in their hands. It is so over the top I could not help but laugh, but I really think that's the point. Wolverine does not mince words, it does not put on an act for you. Wolverine wants you to laugh and shout and pump your fist, and god-damn-it, it is going to make you do that as best it can.
END SPOILERS.
I don't need to discuss the movie's flaws; they are part and parcel of what I just discussed. Nothing in the movie will move you, or enrich you, or make you think. The script's occasional efforts at being deep are either the ghosts of a more emotional script or brief nods to the fact that there are actually some real actors in among the CGI and explosives, and what isn't predictable in the plot is totally insane. But this is not a movie that is about that. This movie is pure rock n' roll pulp, and while it is neither the first nor the best, it is definitely worth one viewing just to see it build a whole new top to go over.
Labels: reviews
posted by Tyler at
7:26 PM
1 Comments:
not surprisingly, i found myself wanting more of Ryan Reynolds being himself... his presence in any movie makes it automatically funnier / more entertaining
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