Culch.ie

Wolverine – So What Was All That Fuss About?

A poor cliché ridden storyline with plot holes galore, awful casting in the bit parts (such as Taylor Kitsch as Gambit and Lynn Collins as Kayla), underuse of the strongest cast members (i.e. Liev Schreiber and Ryan Reynolds) and Crystal-Skulls-bad CG in parts made Wolverine a passable, average comic book movie. It wasn’t bad enough to sit alongside Catwoman, but it basically ignored the bar that was raised last year by The Dark Knight, Iron Man and even The Incredible Hulk. It will eventually find a place in my DVD press beside the first three X-Men films, but not until it goes on sale in the three for two offer in HMV.

Hugh Jackman is a talented man and he can definitely carry off the action scenes, but the scrappy script and poor dialogue left no room for him to escape the 2D character he was given. Wolverine was best used in the first two X-Men movies and though there was so much history that could have played out on screen, writers David Benioff and Skip Woods (who wrote 2001′s Swordfish) just didn’t pull it out of the bag.

Relying too much on gimmicks (the appearance of the young Cyclops and his future headmaster, the odd reference to other X-Men legends) and cheap laughs (naked Jackman jumping off a waterfall), there was little grit and only feeble attempts at drama – the brothers united and then torn apart, the brief and emotionless love story.

It’s a lot of fun. I enjoyed it and could definitely set aside many of the flaws. There are some excellent action scenes throughout and both Liev Schreiber and Ryan Reynolds are superb, if underused. Schreiber’s Victor Creed/Sabretooth is vicious, psychotic and incredible clever. It’s a frightening combination. While Reynolds (before he is all to quickly silenced) is funny and entertaining and then proves that he has long ago left Van Wilder behind in one of the films best action sequences.

Perhaps I went into this looking for too much? I have to remember this is just one step up from being a kids movie. It’s an easy on the eyes action movie, with enough bangs and bright lights to delight a young teen. Fan boys will be very disappointed though, I believe.

One of the pivotal points in the Wolverine saga, from a fanboy’s perspective, the moment Logan is injected with his adamantium bones (the metal that makes him so strong) should be scary, brutal and unforgiving. Unfortunately, in this film it is tame, weak even. Without sounding like a gore-monger, there isn’t even a drop of blood shed.

But then, I think that sums up what is wrong with this movie. It’s affraid to take risks, to push boundaries and be different. It’s just a moneymaking franchise piece. And it will make money. And the franchise will continue. Just a shame it was sold with such high expectations. I came away disappointed overall.