Wolverine

Fresh from watching Wolverine.

First off,I was never part of the Wolverine fanclub if ever one existed.In all 3 X-Men movies Hugh Jackman appeared bland and unchanging,and the character itself was to me a man with long metal blades.I mean,next to someone with shapeshifting or storm-brewing powers he was quite the wallflower.So when I heard the first X-men Origins installment was to be based on his character,I felt zero anticipation and would've preferred to see Pink Panther 2 if not for A's persisting.

In short,it was good.The biggest issue for me was the action scenes-none of them packed real momentum,and it was apparent they'd sacrificed a more violent idea for the movie to fit the PG rating.A lot of the fighting sequences ended flatly on a one-two punch,or a quick magical fix-it by one mutant or another.And to say they even began would be doubtful-none of the characters had any superpowers worth fawning about-without giving too much away,this supposedly super-can-call mutant creature thing enters towards the end,and its meant to be a big deal.But its not.Same case for X-Men 1 & 3 ,where I think they got too carried away with the fanciness and "oh-how-cool" itness of everything to realize the true potential of these characters-X2 was violent,slick and stylish and almost Tarantinoian in its openess to risque and bloodshed whereas the rest were just whoring out popcorn fiction.

Luckily this was balanced quite nicely by the story,punctuated with what I thought were really nice lines (ie "There's no redemption where I'm going") and a clear direction coupled with a very comfortable pace.There's no rushing into drama,or mess of clashing subplots.They explained Wolverine's beginnings really well,and the way the whole thing tied into the big picture of X-Men was done exceptionally well.Minor characters like Gambit entered and left gracefully,not once did the focus shift from Wolverine.So Hugh Jackman's kind of a dullface,not a single misstep but above all he is reliable as an actor and plays the role well,too well for his own good.Better than Watchmen definitely (Wolverine's got a whole lot more substance,and isn't too intricately put together),a solid A-.

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