Well, I, in a rare fit of optimism, went to see the movie "X-men Origins: Wolverine" on its release weekend. There have been several conflicting reviews/opinions wandering around about it, too. Since I spent eight bucks on it, I might as well relay my thoughts:

Moviegoers: if you're not a comics book fanatic or an admirer of the fine art of KOing somebody, I suggest you don't spend 7-12 bucks on this. Wait until it comes out in the cheap-seats, or even the dvd, before checking it out. It's a fine movie, but it panders more to its original fanbase than the other movies do, and it also is heavily reliant on fighting. It's not something deep, storywise, nor is it incredibly laugh-your-pants-off funny, It's a movie that's better watched in leisure at home with Nachos at hand.

It's not a bad movie by any means. I, by no small margin, enjoyed it. It's just not something I'd pay eight bucks to see, much less see twice at that price.

For one, the special effects were great. If there's anything you can say about this movie, is that it has a plethera of fighting, including mutant power usage, machine guns, swordplay, sharpshooting, backflips, kung-fu stunts, and the occasional right-hook. The fight scenes are fluid, clear, and entertaining to watch, not to mention the fact that you get to watch superhuman characters perform superhuman feats. Plus, who doesn't want to watch people blow stuff up?

this, however, was probably the main problem. The whole time, it seemed like the movie was showing a fight, or setting up for one. The non-fight parts of the movie seemed only like transitions between fights, rather than revealing pivotal moments. Wolverine/Logan was pretty much in a fight the whole time. And it's kind of self defeating... there's no message in the fights except for "They fight really well", which we already knew. (see--> X men movies 1, 2, and 3.) The movie's main purpose was to tell the origins of Wolverine (and some others, too.) and, by the same note, TELL US WHAT MADE WOLVERINE INTO WHAT HE IS TODAY. The movie does not do that.

We aren't shown how any of the events actually affect wolverine/Logan. There was very little emotion -other than rage--shown at any of the events. You'd think that someone who's lived for 112 years would be a little more complex. All he seems to do in this movie is fight, and fighting is just an action. It's so laden with adrenaline that the true personality rarely shines through. I wanted to see more of what he was like back then, not a few well placed scratch marks with his claws.

SPOILERS BELOW. The movie is basically "Logan kills his dad, finds his brother, fights WWI, fighs WWII, fights Vietnam, meets a guy who is trying to get together a team of fighters, team of fighters goes and breaks into a high-security building, kills everyone to get a rock that the owner considered WORTHLESS (and they could've just ASKED for it and gotten it just as easily), fight some villagers.... ect. it was all fighting or setting up for a fight.

There is one part that I found notable: the scene where Logan is sitting with his lover [I never found out her name], and she tells him the story of the wolverine. that is the deepest part of the movie, and shows a great example of connection/relationships with another character. but it's fleeting, and doesn't make up for the whole movie.

Granted, it is a little hard to develop a setting when everything is fleeting and in different places, and it's hard to develop relationships between characters when two of them are halfway immortal, and it's hard to show how much these events impacted Logan when at the end he forgets the whole experience, but come on: when Logan looks at his lover, who he's given everything for, and says "I don't know her", how am I supposed to feel pity for his loss of memory, love, brotherhood, and life when those things were never established in the first place?

Other characters were a plus, though. There were also characters that were in the original, such as Gambit and Emma Frost. Loved them both, wish they would've gone into more depth with them.

Overall, the movie pays attention to all the bells and whistles, and makes everything fit together well, AND emphasizes the whole 'mutant' angle, but the whole experience is a little shallow. there is a boring storyline and no real place where you can anchor yourself or connect with the characters.

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On the plus side, the trailer I saw at the end of the movie was probably the most awesome "Oh Sh*t" moment in the whole movie. go see it.

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