Quickie Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I still hate that title, heh.

So, I got to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine at an advance screening last night, and… I liked it. It wasn’t brilliant or anything, but it was enjoyable and there was plenty of fanservice for both Wolverine and X-Men fans. My brief (I’ve got a paper due on Monday), non-spoilery thoughts:

• The casting was good. Hugh is, of course, great as Logan, but I thought they did a fantastic job with the other characters. Liev Schreiber was particularly good as Sabretooth, Taylor Kitsch was great as Gambit, and I loved Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool.
• Speaking of which, Deadpool was underused, IMO. I know this is a Wolverine movie, and I’m pleased that Gambit got more screentime than I was expecting, but poor ‘Pool. I really wanted to see more of him and his mouth.
• Speaking of which, Gambit. I am a very pleased fangirl. I know some people hate Gambit with a passion, but I like him, and I was very pleased both with Kitsch’s portrayal of him (and the accent!) and with what he does in the story. My friend complained that he didn’t do enough, but again, this is a Wolverine movie. Maybe we’ll get some more Gambit in the future.
• The only character that I really didn’t care about was Kayla Silver Fox. She just didn’t inspire me to give a crap. [shrug]
• The storyline was a bit jumpy. I think this is the result of trying to cram so much storyline into two hours. We go from little Origins!James through a hundred and fifty years of history through an opening credits montage that is strikingly similar to that of Watchmen, and then dive right into the meat of the storyline, involving Silver Fox, Weapon X, and the mutant hunters we saw in the trailers. It’s a lot of ground to cover, and sometimes I felt like I was being rushed through one part to get to the good stuff.
• And yes, the opening sequence is extremely similar to Watchmen, but I think it worked. How else could they get through those 150 years in a minute and a half? And it helped to see both Logan and Victor’s relationship, and Victor’s slow deterioration into a psychopath.
• The fight sequences were dirty and rough. I loved them. Hell, I’d go see the movie again just to see the Wolverine/Gambit/Sabretooth sequence. Uh… that sounded dirtier than it was. ;)
• The special effects, on the other hand, were kind of bad. Logan’s claws looked incredibly fake in several scenes, and… damn! I can’t say which scene because it’s a spoiler, but one scene at the end looked absolutely bizarre, like the whole thing had been run through a tacky Photoshop filter.
• And finally (you knew this was coming), the men. Good LORD, the men. I love the producers for their repeated shots of Logan with his shirt off. And I am SO pleased that Logan was naked in the adamantium scene (and not only for shallow reasons!). It’s always bugged me in the comics when that scene is retold, and he’s wearing shorts. Uh… no.

From what I’ve seen, it looks like I might be one of the only people out there who enjoyed the movie, heh. It’s not without its problems, but I went in with low expectations. Fox has already proved itself capable and willing to screw up the X-Men franchise, so I was frankly expecting a clusterfuck where the storyline is concerned. It wasn’t that bad, and it was fun to watch. I don’t expect Fox to do brilliant things with the franchise, though I wish that someone would, but X-Men Origins: Wolverine was enjoyable. I plan on seeing it again.

Note: Stay after the credits, people. There are multiple “ending” easter eggs after the credits. I saw Logan in Japan. What did you guys get?