A-Z Daily Throwback Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

 

         Wolverine is an extremely popular comic book character. As a child I never read X-Men, but Wolverine was still a favorite of mine. The reason was because of how simply awesome a single image of the character could look. This has nothing to do with the story, and in watching the X-Men Origins: Wolverine film, it occurs to me that the single image is always better when this character is concerned. Many might have hopes that Wolverine would redeem the mess that was X-Men: The Last Stand, but this film is created by the same Hugh Jackman production company, Seed Production. For this reason alone, Wolverine and X3 have more in common than the first two films. 

 

         Perhaps Wolverine is more complex or interesting in the comics, but in this film he quickly becomes dull. Wolverine’s very indestructibility makes each battle pointless, especially when characters are involved that are certain to survive. The whole point of the movie becomes lost as we know the inevitable outcome of the prequel. All we discover is a weak explanation for how Wolverine lost his memory at the beginning of X-Men. The origins of his metal blades could be explained in the trailer, and his actual indestructible nature is never clarified beyond what was known in the three X-Men films.

 

         The film follows the indestructible half-brothers, each with unique retractable claws. Logan and Victor Creed are apparently immortal, though they grow to a manly Hugh Jackman and beefed up Liev Schreiber before they stop aging. These aspects aren’t explained, but their nature leads them to war. Unable to die, they fight in each American war until Vietnam, when they become disillusioned and corrupted. They are recruited by William Stryker (Danny Huston) to join a private army of mutants, but eventually the brothers part ways with a difference in beliefs.

 

         Rather than develop the conflict between these two brothers, this film spends more time indulging fans with special mutant appearances. Gambit makes an appearance after being cut from two of the other X-Men films, and a number of other characters from another generation of X-Men appear. There are numerous action sequences and a mad-villain plan to take over the world (or something like that), but the action is the only plot point that matters.