X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review

I think Wolverine is universally accepted as the most-popular and best-known from the X-Men world, so creating an origin story about him is a natural avenue to explore. I enjoyed many scenes from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but as a whole the movie wasn’t anything special. Mild spoilers ahead!

I never read Marvel comics nor do I know any of the origin stories, but it was neat to see Wolverine’s character start so young and advance through so many wars and years. I was a little surprised to see that he spent so much time with Victor Creed, but it makes sense and fits in with the other movies. Stryker’s team was interesting to see come together, as was the Weapon X program. Individually, there were a lot of great scenes to the movie.

But put together, I’m left unenthusiastic. In some ways I expected to see more rage and ferocity from Wolverine, and while the fight sequences were all exciting and intense I think they could have been even more exciting and intense. Perhaps all that is needed is better camerawork? Director Gavin Hood certainly hasn’t directed much action, and definitely none of the caliber that I’d expect of this movie. On the other hand cinematographer David McAlpine has a lot of good work under his belt, so I’m not sure who is responsible.

Where did Deadpool’s swords come from? Can he not bend his arms when they’re retracted? Do they have hinges to fold up at the elbow? I rarely question the physics of an action/adventure movie especially when it’s about superhuman characters, but c’mon!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is worth a rental, and will certainly be worth watching when it’s on TV in a few years, but there’s no reason to see it on the big screen.