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Photos courtesy Marvel.com/20th Century Fox

by Keona Tang

Greetings, True Believers! No, unfortunately it's not Stan "The Man" Lee joining you today; it's just me, your friendly neighborhood Orb columnist, comin' at ya with a review of one of the biggest blockbusters of the summer, X-Men Origins: Wolverine! Now, this is a tough task for someone like myself, as Wolvie's been a longtime favorite character of mine. Truthfully, I'm just happy to see someone try to bring his origins to cinematic life. However, I also have to step back from my personal bias, and give you the straight skinny on whether or not the filmmakers did justice to everyone's favorite six-clawed mutant! So sit back, relax, pop open your favorite beverage of choice and lend me your eyes for a second, as I attempt to wax poetic about this film. Oh, and a word of warning: There may some slight spoilers in this article (and I'm not talking about Stephanie Brown; that was my last article), but I'll try to avoid them.

After the success of the first two X-Men films, Wolverine (also known as Logan) had become a household name to many people. He was already a popular character in the world of comicbooks, but he wasn't considered an icon to mainstream audiences. At least, not in the same way that Superman or Spider-Man were. That had changed now, due largely to Australian actor Hugh Jackman's screen presence and the stellar performances he gave in those movies. (Incidentally, Jackman also celebrated his forty-first birthday last month, so happy birthday to him!) People became curious about the character, and the studio executives at 20th Century Fox, as well as director Bryan Singer and his fellow filmmakers, now had an opportunity to tell Wolverine's origin story on-screen, especially in light of the introduction of Col. William Stryker in X2: X-Men United. Stryker (played by the always great Brian Cox) was a military scientist who specialized in mutant experimentation, and the driving force behind the Weapon X project in the films. Although he met his demise at the end of X2, he had dropped some tantalizing hints as to Logan's true history. Thus, the seeds for Logan's cinematic origins were planted.

Fox and Seed, Hugh Jackman's production company, began moving forward with the fourth X-film, which was to be a prequel story that would finally reveal Wolverine's cinematic origins. Screenwriter David Benioff was brought in to write the original script for the film, which was then reworked by fellow scripter Skip Woods. The producers then hired South African director Gavin Hood to helm the project, and an ensemble cast was recruited: Jackman, of course, reprised his role as the surly Canadian for the fourth time, while Liev Schreiber took over the role of Victor Creed/Sabretooth, Logan's arch-enemy and brother (in the film only; Creed is not related to Logan in the comics). Also in the film were Danny Huston as a younger William Stryker; Lynn Collins as Kayla Silverfox, the ubiquitous love interest; Will.i.am as John Wraith, a teleporter who's also a member of Team X, Stryker's mutant Black Ops squad; Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool, the "merc with a mouth" (as he is commonly known to fans); Dominic Monaghan as Bradley, a mutant who controls electricity; Daniel Henney as Agent Zero, expert marksman and Stryker's right hand man; and Taylor Kitsch as Remy LeBeau/Gambit, a Cajun card player who can charge inanimate objects with kinetic energy. With the cast in place, production followed, and the movie finally arrived in theaters on May 1, 2009 and is currently available on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Which brings me now to the point of this article. To put it succinctly, X-Men Origins: Wolverine was not a bad film, but it's not what I had hoped it would be. Now, as a fan of the character, I really expected a lot from this movie, but as I watched it, I couldn't help feeling that something was lacking. It wasn't that the actors did a bad job with their respective characters. On the contrary, the acting in the film was quite good, especially in regards to Jackman and Schreiber. Both men anchored the film with strong performances, and really seemed to understand their roles. Indeed, the on-screen rivalry between them was the source of the film's better action sequences, in my humble opinion. Among the supporting players, I enjoyed Huston's turn as the young Stryker, but I missed the cockiness and sarcasm (and Southern accent) that Brian Cox brought to the character in X2. I also liked Henney as Agent Zero and Reynolds was perfectly cast as Deadpool, even though the filmmakers did take a lot of liberties with the character over the course of the movie. Even Will.i.am didn't do a bad job! In addition, some of the cameos in the film were fun as well, especially the unexpected one near the end. Moreover, the special effects in the film were certainly competent, sometimes even great, and the action sequences and stuntwork was top-notch. The dialogue and plot of the film was fine, if all you wanted was a good old-fashioned summertime action flick starring a beloved comicbook character.

And therein lies the problem, at least from where I'm sitting. You see, I wanted more. I wanted a deeper examination of who and what Logan was. I wanted to better understand the damage that the Weapon X experiment had done to his psyche as well as his physical body. I wanted to witness the man struggle against his most dangerous opponent: Himself. You see, the version of Wolverine that I grew up with constantly fought that internal struggle with the metaphorical "beast within" that we all must face in some form or another over time. Confronting that inner darkness and attempting to emerge as a better human being was something that made Logan a compelling character to me. That inner turmoil, coupled with the fact that he had no knowledge of his past as a result of the Weapon X project, made Logan a very sympathetic character who also invited some reader participation: As he attempted to piece things together, we would do the same. In some way, I believe that revealing the origin of Wolverine actually damages the character to a degree. Take away the mystery of who he is, and Logan simply becomes a nigh-invulnerable supersoldier who marches through battle after battle with no end in sight. He may as well have been the leading character in an over-the-top 1980s action flick! Come to think of it, that was pretty much how this movie turned out. Naturally, that may be fine for some, but it just wasn't satisfying for me.

Still, I'd like to reiterate that I don't think X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a bad film by any means. It's written well enough, (though the dialogue did have its groan-inducing moments), the fights were well-staged, the acting solid (except for a couple of performances), and I liked the fact that the film focused on Logan's heroism and portrayed him as a courageous and strong figure. Because of that, I'd recommend this movie to anyone who has an interest in learning more about the character. Just don't expect anything more than a simple action flick with a good cast and decent special effects. Oh, and if you want to know the real origin of Wolverine, I'd suggest reading the Weapon X trade paperback by Barry Windsor-Smith, Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's classic Wolverine mini-series, and the aforementioned Origin series by Paul Jenkins and Andy Kubert. All three of those books do a far better job of telling Logan's story than any hour-and-forty-minute-long movie could ever hope to, but I can still appreciate the effort put forth here. Here's to hoping that the inevitable sequel takes what worked in this movie and improves upon it.

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