X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Which from now on will be known as X-Wolverine for the sake of convenience, and to prevent confusion) is set roughly 20 years before the events of the original X-Men movie (If you haven't seen it, I recommend watching it, then watching X2, as you'll enjoy this movie slightly more if you do. You don't have to bother watching the third one, it sucked.), and focuses on the grizzly past of our lovable anti-hero, Wolverine. As such, many of the main characters from the first three X-Men movies are not present in this installment, with the exception of Wolverine, Sabretooth and a few cameos (which I'll get to in a minute)
*Skip this paragraph if you want to see this movie fresh (it does not however, contain spoilers)*
During the first 3 or so minutes, we see a young Sabretooth and Wolverine, named Victor and Wolverine respectively. James's dad, (who bares a striking resemblance to adult Wolverine) is shot by Victor's (who bares a striking resemblance to adult Sabretooth). We see James metaphorically unleash the animal, as he grows his first set of claws (made of bone), and uses them to kill Victor's dad, where it is then revealed that Victor's dad was also infact James'. Victor and James flee, where they make a pact to stick together, and mow down anyone stupid enough to get in their way. We are then treated to a nice montage of Sabretooth and Wolverine fighting during the American Civil War, as well as both World Wars and the Vietnam war. From this footage, the differences between the personalities of the two are clear; Wolverine refrains from unleashing his inner animal, instead using technical and coordinated attacks, while Sabretooth does the opposite, and embraces his inner animal, pouncing on four legs and attacking head-on. While Wolverine mercifully kills only who he must, Sabretooth finds it necessary to kill innocent civilians, going as far as (what it looks like) attempting to rape a Vietnamese girl, only to be caught by a commanding officer, and in effect attacking the entire army. Both Wolverine and Sabretooth are sent to the firing squad, where they're accelerated regenerative systems render bullets useless. They are recruited into Team X by William Stryker (Villian from X2), and Wolverine leaves as they slaughter innocent villagers while searching for meteor fragments. Fast foward 6 years, and Wolverine is living a normal life as a Canadian lumberjack, complete with cliche dedicated girlfriend. We find out that Team X has disbanded, and Sabretooth kills whatsherface. Wolverine faces off with Sabretooth, and is defeated. Wolverine, with the help of Styker, sets off in search of vengeance, but comes across something far more sinister.
The plot is faithful to the source material, while at the same time creatively connects to the flashbacks and characters of the first 3 X-Men movies. And this is one thing that this movie does right, while other adaptions such as Dragonball: Evolution do wrong. Having read Wolverine: Origins, I like this retelling of Wolverine's past better than the comic, which is a rare thing for me to do. Another thing that this movie does excellently is the character develpment of Wolverine, as he transforms from a nobleman to the badass anti-hero we all know and love. There are several unfortunate events that occur to Wolverine that make him a tragic anti-hero, a feat rarely done in comic book adaptions. The special effects are also excellently done, with the stunts pulled off excellently and the CGI used appropriately, this is one of the first times where fake-looking CGI actually helped me enjoy a movie, as it gave me a comic book charm that few other movies have. What makes them especially great is that they are both used in the right places, having the right balance between CGI and pyrotechnics /costume. Stunts are brilliantly pulled off, and all other general aesthetics of the movie look great. The main symbolic theme of the movie, "Unleashing the Animal" isn't done as well as themes such as Watchmen's "Who will watch the Watchmen?" or The Dark Knight's "We are all corruptible", though it pulls a valiant effort.
X-Wolverine, however, is not without its (many) gripes. The movie's whole plot is seemingly made to include as many different X-Men characters as it can, to appease to the fanboys. This would of been fine, if the modifications to the source material's plot were original, but ultimately fall short of not being predictable. There are far too many unnecessary plot twists and characters that make the movie feel rushed, not to mention it tries way too hard to connect with the previous X-Men movies.
My main issue with the movie, however, is that they RAPED GAMBIT! Gambit is supposed to be a badass, charming, Cajun-accented character, but in this movie he's portrayed as an annoying, emo, Southern-accented nuisance. Not to mention he gets far too little screen time. Honestly, I'd rather of have him missing from this X-Wolverine altogether than have him portrayed in this way.
The two villians, Sabretooth and Stryker, are both too cliche and don't exist alongside each other, instead clashing with themselves. Both Sabretooth and Stryker, especially the latter, had opportunities to be tragic villains, but instead are just cliche, cold-blooded villains that do things to Wolverine out of spite. Team X was pulled off perfectly, with the right amount of members, and the right mutants chosen. It didn't feel like Team X was too crowded, nor lacking in numbers, not to mention that they were fun to watch. The allusions and references to the comic book series, though plentiful, were sometimes pulled off awkwardly and unnecessarily. When it comes to the 10th or so time that something is coincidentally a reference to the comics, it gets a bit awkward.
X-Wolverine is a very awesome looking movie, though its major gripes and shallowness prevent it from being as enjoyable as I had hoped. If you watch it like a saturday morning cartoon, this movie will rip your face off and throw it into a pool of relentless violence, and like the masochistic person you are, you will enjoy it. However, if you treat it like recent successful comic book adoptions such as Watchmen and The Dark Knight, it will leave you disappointed and wanting more. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is the best at what it does, but what it does, it ain't pretty.
