Tysune’s Blog Death of Destiny

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

So I didn't end up watching X-Men Origins: Wolverine last May when it first came out, but I did get a copy for Christmas today. We (my cousins (Coco K, Maxine K, and Nia W), sibling (Michelle N), and I) watched it while eating dinner.

The movie is basically a prequel to the X-Men trilogy. As suggested by the title, it explains the origin of the character Wolverine. It also introduces some characters from the previous movies, such as Sabertooth, Cyclops, and William Stryker, while explaining his past. A plethora of new characters such as Gambit and Blob are also introduced.

The movie opens up with Wolverine and his brother as kids; it introduces a bit of background information about their family and also demonstrates that they are both mutants. The introduction also shows the brothers' participation in many wars. In fact, it shows them in so many wars that it led me to believe that the brothers no longer age, although I don't believe this idea is mentioned again during the movie. Eventually, the brothers get captured and make a deal with Stryker in return for their freedom. From there, the plot erupts into an action-packed story explaining much of the complexity that is Wolverine.

Personally, I thought the plot was interesting. I haven't read many of the original X-Men comics, so I'm not sure how loyal they were to any original plot. Nonetheless, the plot was interesting and answered many questions posed by the previous movies. However, that being said, it left a few questions unanswered (at least, not concretely answered). These questions, though, aren't of the utmost importance and thus don't really take away from the quality of the series.

In terms of effects, overall the effects are pretty good. The only real noticeable "fakeness" is when they show close ups of Wolverine's claws. When zoomed in, the claws looked, to us at least, detached from his hands and were pretty obviously computer graphics. Most of the combat scenes, though, were done well, as were most of the other mutant powers.

The movie isn't too deep with respect to philosophy. Mostly the movie touches the human condition. That is, humans are easily corrupted by power, are constantly seeking revenge, and are scared of anything different from what they are used to. But these themes are pretty common, and especially recurrent in recent movies.

Thanks to Matt Corker for the reminder--I planned on noting this here, but I forgot last night when I was writing this as I was falling asleep on the couch... Anyhow, when watching one of the earlier scenes in the movie, I had an instant flashback to ENGL 110 last year: Buchanan Tower, with sandbags, fences, and barricades surrounding its walls, was featured in the movie. It actually looks very dark and prison-like in the movie, but it was very much an obvious landmark in the eyes of a UBC student. Unfortunately, I never saw them filming the movie (damn them filming so early in the morning!), but I did get to see the props and stuff that they left set up each day.

Overall, I liked X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I think it does a good job of explaining the history of Wolverine, and leaves enough windows open to create additional movies on other characters. I'm hoping to see additional movies featuring some of the characters, especially since this movie seemed to imply that they are pretty important characters. I recommend this movie to fans of X-Men and action-adventure movies. It should be an interesting watch.