Film Review: Wolverine X-Men Origins

Since the first X-Men movie, and especially after the third one we have all been waiting anxiously for Hollywood to crank out a Wolverine movie. The last X-Men film alluded to a side story when at its end when Wolverine leaves the mutant compound in search of his past. But that storyline might as well have been null and void, since this movie is a prequel to the others.

Which reminds me ...

I have read several reviews for this film, and none of them have been good. But critics these days are like journalists. They have been raised in a copy and paste world, given community college degrees, and aren't at all familiar with the term "investigative journalism". So when they trash a film, they generally miss the whole purpose of the review. I for one would like to stand over them like a third grade teacher and say "that's very good Lisa, now tell us why you think it sucks". Which brings me to this. Three of the reviews I have read went on to trash the film for being a prequel and not a fourth film in the franchise. This might me one interesting point in a film review, but should not be the filling of it.

So I am going to give it to you straight. This film would have been *great* had it been directed by someone more experienced. Short sighted direction has a certain flavour to it. When watching the film you get certain vibes. Those are: a) bad line delivery, b) unnecessary actions or dialogue, c) giving the viewer unnecessary clues, d) and an unnatural flow to the whole thing. This is why this film has not reviewed well. The cast was great. The story line was pretty good. The special effects were awesome. The direction ... not so good. Some are more forgiving than others when it comes to poor directing. I have seen some critics give this film a B+ while most of the others give it a C- or worse.

Another strange vibe was the extreme violence, and then the lack thereof. At times there are events which seem out of place and extreme. In other portions of the film the violence takes a back seat to bad line delivery. Is this another example of bad direction? Or rather, was the studio battling with the rating system? We won't know until the DVD of the directors cut lands in stores.

Wrapping up ... likely, you are going to go out and see this film regardless of what the critics said. But just understand that you are probably not going to be satisfied with it's delivery.

My final score? Somewhere between a B- and a C+.