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As much as audiences love
the blockbuster genre of the comic book movie,
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is only
the second such adaptation to hit screens in all of 2009. (Can it fare better
than the first comic book movie of the year,
Watchmen?) While that film’s
odyssey to the screen was decades-long, Wolvy’s beleaguered trip is also nothing
to sniff at, overcoming reshoots, publicized debates between director
Gavin Hood
and Fox, and the recent leak of the Wolverine work print, which was downloaded
illegally hundreds of thousands of times. So come Friday, will fanboys be in
love? Does Hugh
Jackman‘s reprisal of one of comicdom’s most beloved characters
hold up?
Initial reviews have come entirely from international sources, predominately
Australia where a portion of the film was shot. Dynamic review duo Louise Keller
and Andrew Urban of Urban Cinefile proffers praise with little qualms:
“Exploding with as much entertainment value as Hugh Jackman has muscles,
Wolverine is a dazzling comic book fantasy in which the characters,
storytelling, action and special effects are perfectly balanced.” – Louise
Keller, Urban Cinefile
“Gavin Hood has packed such density into these 103 minutes which escalate into a
tense and thrilling crescendo of a conclusion. Full credit goes to screenwriters
David Benioff and Skip Woods for a coherent, excellent screenplay that elegantly
and credibly morphs into the X-Men storylines.” – Andrew Urban, Urban
Cinefile
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The other reviews come from more genre-oriented sources, like the international
IGN Movies sites and Sci-Fi Movie Page. They give Wolverine a Fresh rating, but
offer up detailed descriptions of what doesn’t work within the movie, such as
character bloat and a weak ending.
“…fan-favourites Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) and Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) simply
don’t have enough screen time to really make a significant impact on the
audience.” Patrick Kolan, IGN Movies
Australia
“The finale doesn’t quite hang together that well and also suffers from leaps in
plot logic. It’s as if the writers didn’t know what should happen next.”
James O’Ehley, Sci-Fi Movie Page
But these criticisms are quickly tempered with praise. Kolan writes, “For those
waiting for a comparison to 2006’s
X-Men: The Last Stand, be assured that it’s
certainly better in all respects.” Likewise, O’Ehley notes that “these are minor
issues: Wolverine boasts some neat special effects, some decent acting and, best
of all, it runs for less than two hours unlike some recent bloated,
butt-numbingly long super-hero epics.“
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So for how long and how effectively will Wolverine’s claws keep the critics at
bay? Watchmen had a similarly explosive Tomatometer debut back in March, before
a steady slide into just-Fresh territory. Wolverine has the potential to
be equally divisive.
It’ll be interesting to see whether the mild criticisms we see from Kolan,
Parfitt, and O’Ehley will take up larger estate in reviews from the major and
Top Critics.
Keep tabs on
X-Men Origins: Wolverine‘s Tomatometer by regularly checking its
movie page.
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