X-men Origins: Wolverine

As usual, I waited a couple of weeks after the opening weekend to see this Summer blockbuster. Many of my friends saw this on opening day. From what I've heard, most people were a little disappointed. Maybe there was too much hype about this one. I actually thought it was pretty good. Of the recent X-men movies, I liked the 1st one the best, followed by the 2nd. I didn't really like the 3rd one at all and would place Wolverine above it.

I knew going into this one that it wouldn't follow the comic book. the movie franchise already departed too far from it. So I kept in mind that it would be a new story that's somewhat based on the original. I thought the plot was pretty good and was consistent with the story arc of the trilogy. It took place way before the movies, so naturally they got younger actors for all of the characters. Wolverine is ageless, so he was still played by Hugh Jackman... frankly, there's no one else that could do it. Hugh Jackman IS Wolverine. He did such a great job in the movies that renditions of Wolverine in comics, video games and artwork often use him as a template.

The action was pretty good with classic battles between Wolverine and arch rival Sabertooth (who are brothers in this story). There's nothing like 2 super strong mutants who heal after getting hit rumble around and destroy the area around them! *Scott Adkins, who played the Weapon XI version of Deadpool had some great martial arts sequences at the end.

The special fx were naturally good. The opening title/credit sequence was full of it, inserting Wolverine and Sabertooth into scenes starting from the Civil War through Vietnam. There's of course the mutant powers... retractable claws, teleportation and kinetic energy. One thing I wish there was more of was screen time for Gambit. He really only had one scene, but is one of the most popular characters. I also wanted to see more of him tossing the charged playing cards.

Other X-men characters they worked into the story included Silverfox, Johnny Wraith, Blob, Bolt, Agent Zero, Cyclops, Professor X and Emma Frost. There's also an X-men Origins: Magneto and Deadpool movie slated for 2011.

*Note: Wade Wilson/Deadpool was played by Ryan Reynolds at the beginning of the movie. The martial arts sequences and flips in the final scene are done by the much more skilled Scott Adkins (Unleashed and Undisputed II.

Related Links: Official Site, IMDB: Deadpool 2011, IMDB: Magneto 2011