Oh dear, oh very dear. It seems the once indestructible adamantian of Wolverine has turned to paper thin plotting and barely noticeably character development. The film is almost so bad that it's actually worth watching for the fun of it, but it even fails at this.
The problems with this film are too numerous to list here, so i'll focus on the main problems and few redeeming features.
Firstly, it's completely unclear who this film is made for. Non comic book fans will fail to see the significance of fan favourites Gambit, Deadpool etc, and fans will surely just be aggravated and incensed at how so many great characters, Wolverine included, have managed to be undermined in one film. The problems are really set out all in the first act. A band of mutants calling themselves Weapon X, set off to Africa in order to find something William Stryker (Danny Huston) requires for a dastardly plot. The characters included are given a brief moment to show their skills, especially Deadpool, who has the best sequence in the whole movie.
After this its all downhill as the writers try to strong arm a back story which picks bits from the comics without deviating from the three X-Men films which have already set so much in place.
Wolverine, once the outsider, getting the great quips and playing the anti hero, is here promoted to central status and neutered as a result.
The big problem is that the entire film is preposterous. One of the problems with comic book movies is making them seem realistic and relevant, something both Singer (X-Men 2) and Nolan (The Dark Knight) have managed brilliantly over the past few years. Instead Wolverine exists only in the bizarre reality of movie cliches, poor actions sequences and the kind of plotting and character development that leaves you wondering how the characters ever got into a position of authortiy if they make decisions like deciding to wipe the memory of Wolverine after they've made him invincible. Oh and this film includes Adamnatian bullets. Yes, its that ridiculous, and begs the questions why didn't Stryker just use them in the X-Men film. The film is also supposed to be set in the 70's or 80's and yet bares not a single hallmark setting it in the period. It does however spend time filling the back story of how Wolverine acquired his leather jacket; crucial development.
After watching the film I came home to find X-Men 2 on TV and it only excerbated my feelings of dissapointment. Where in X-2, for example, Stryker is a character motivated by the suicide of his wife, at the hands of his telepathic mutant son, in Wolverine, he's just a power hungry military offical looking to create a super soldier he can control.
The script feels as if it never got past the 2nd draft. Characters are introduced but serve no purpose, and aren't even that identifible or unique. A shape shifter played by Will.i.am, has none of the brilliant depth or dazzling visuals of Nightcrawler. Other characters, especially Gambit, become sidekicks, and in one scene just ends up getting in the way. In fact beside Wolverine and Sabretooth (a less hairy version at least) not a single other character has anything approaching an arc, something Singer focused on in both his X outings.
When the finale comes, an over the top fight sequence which somehow fails to raise the pulse, your left wondering how they managed to ruin a character who is without doubt one of the most unique and engaging antiheroes Stan Lee ever created. You'll also start to pick apart a plot which tries to be more complicated than it ever needed to be, and ultimately ends up making no sense.
The real crime for fans of the comics is surely that some great X-Men who FOX had most likely intended to give their own franchise will be lost for eternity, although recent news implies Deadpool won't be one of them.
Ultimately this film is not as bad as it could have been, but is no where near as good as it should have been. A poor script, drab characters and lifeless over the top action set pieces make for blunt claws, and a craving for X-Men: The Last Stand, which says it all really.
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