One of the most important things aspiring scribes learn in screenwriting courses is that one should enter any given scene as close as possible to the conclusion of it (to get to the point and avoid unnecessary filler, etc.). That clearly can't be applied to movies as an overall rule, however, as that would obviously result in some seriously short flicks (okay, maybe that would actually be a good thing).
Yet, when certain film series out-live their welcome and/or get a big long in the tooth, the creative powers that be often go to the opposite extreme and take an origins approach to reinvigorate the franchise. That was done in the latest batch of "Batman" films, is what's coming up in the rebooting of the "Star Trek" flicks, and is what's been done to the "X-Men" series with "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."
As the title suggests, the focus here is on Hugh Jackson's hairy, buff, angry and metal-claw equipped mutant from the first three "X-Men" pics that have gone downhill from the debut in 2000 to the sequel in 2003 and finally "X-Men: The Last Stand" in 2006. While the team was assembled in the first film, we didn't really get to know much about the various characters' back-stories beyond bits and pieces here and there, and thus this story intends to fill in that gap.
Although it provides some additional details (presumably new, at least to those not intimately familiar with the original comic book series) -- first in a 20-some minute prologue and opening credit sequence that runs from the Civil War up until sometime after the Vietnam War, and then again at various other points in the offering), the problem is that they're not terribly insightful or interesting.
Notwithstanding the first (and original) "Superman" flick, origins stories usually aren't that compelling to those who don't fall into the die hard fan boy (and girl) camp. While some such viewers like to connect the dots between where the character started and currently exists, most just want a decent story and, in the case of comic book flicks, good action and a memorable villain.
While there's action aplenty here, it's never quite state of the art in visual quality, and much of it (mainly referring to Jackman's Wolverine battling Liev Schreiber's Sabretooth) quickly becomes redundant the third, fourth and so-on time it plays out on the screen. It's not horrible (although it's over-edited to try to appease the ADD crowd), but once you've seen one superhero and super-villain bash/slice/pummel each other about, there's really no need for more.
Then there's the fact that coming on the heels of "Watchmen," the story here feels recycled. In short, a bunch of mutants once worked for the government and now that they've disbanded, someone's bumping them off one by one, and it's up to our hero to find out who. There's little doubt, however, about the identity of the guilty party, and thus any related suspense is all but moot. And since this is a prequel, we know no harm can come to our hero (which is always a problem with these sorts of films -- a scene where he undergoes a metamorphosis but flat-lines is played as if it's supposed to make us worry, but no one will).
It certainly doesn't help that the script -- penned by David Benioff and Skip Woods -- doesn't always follow through on its logic. For instance, if Wolverine is already apparently invincible and immortal (as evidenced by being well past one hundred years old and surviving various combat wounds during the opening credits sequence montage), why does he need to be enhanced to indestructible status? And if he and Victor/Sabretooth truly are brothers and helped each other out through all of those wars, etc., why is the latter so intent on killing the former simply for quitting the team?
Throw in the usual bad military types, a Frankenstein type subplot that culminates in, of all places, Three Mile Island (alas, the payoff of the locale doesn't live up to expectations), and, of course, the desire to avenge a death, and director Gavin Hood ("Tsotsi," "Rendition") ends up over his head, delivering a film that's too busy yet boring and less than involving.
If the pic has one thing going for, it's Jackman in the lead role. While he's never allowed to explore the character as deeply as yours truly would have liked (and instead has to do lots of scowling, yelling and extending his arms -- all the better to show those razor-sharp talons), the actor clearly has a magnetic screen presence, and those who enjoy seeing his buff, bulked up body in shirtless mode clearly won't be disappointed.
Schreiber makes for an intense physical villain, but there's not much depth there either, which also holds true for Danny Huston as Col. Stryker (played in the earlier, uh, later film by Brian Cox). All sorts of other mutant characters are present (played by an eclectic range of performers from Ryan Reynolds to Will.i.Am), but only one (Tim Pocock as a pre-James Marsden version of a yet-to-be named Cyclops) continues on with Wolverine into the earlier/later films (but a late in the game cameo serves as an additional tie-in).
With a plethora of other mutant origins stories (both the "old" set and the new ones introduced here) similarly waiting to be told, the studio is clearly hoping this will be a hit in order to keep the product line churning them out. With both pigs (of the flu variety) and pirates (of the digital kind) potentially serving as spoilers, only time will tell if that comes to fruition. As it stands, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" is an okay diversion, but with the comic book movie bar set so high with last year's "The Dark Knight," this only feels that much more disappointing. It rates as a 5 out of 10.
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