X-Men Origins: Wolverine - 3/5

So the almighty Wolverine is now released from the confines of having to share screen time with the rest of the X-Men to...share screen-time with other X-Men? Alright, I suppose that Mr. Jackman did pretty much have to carry the film on its own and I did have a mighty fun time watching it, but Wolverine is far from being lethal in the claws.

I guess I'll start with the good. For those of you that have been Wolverine fanatics since the inception of the X-Men film franchise then this is going to fit you just fine. It's full of your favorite hero sitting in the grey area of good and bad and going on a quest of vengeance against those you want to fuck with his life. Some great action sequences (including the three way slash fest at the end that was pretty awe inspiring) make this movie move on its way quickly and with relative ease. And story wise, its hard to argue with the choices they made for this film release. And really this film starts off nicely with some montages depicting the brothers (Wolverine and Sabertooth) as they fight alongside one another. But after the first act the film tends to fall into a middle of the movie slump where it clunks along and either drags out some pointless plot elements (the fight with Gambit looked awesome but had essentially did nothing to move the story forward at all) and just flies through others with little means of explanation (ergo the entire relationship between Wolvie and Kayla). And this is my biggest complaint on this film.

As for acting, there was some standout work here. We all know that Jackman has Wolverine down pact by now, but Liev Schreiber as Sabertooth had me fucking hooked. His part psychotic, part charming, part all out badass portrayal just nailed it for me. And everytime he was on screen I wanted more. In fact, I could have done with just a Jackman vs Schreiber on screen at all times and been even happier with the result. Especially since, those bastards screwed over Gambit for me. Mr. -I-get-an-actor-that-isn't-dark-at-all-and-loses-his-accent-one-scene-after-he-appears. Bastards. At least they (at first) nail Deadpool with Ryan Reynolds. Who then just gets the short end of the script stick towards the finale and after his initial 10 minutes of awesomeness.

I guess even after all my nitpicking, I did have fun watching the movie. Full of acting and lots of awesome claw fighting makes a good movie watch any day. It's not a great film by any means (although most anything beats the trainwreck that was X-Men 3) so go into with a light heart and don't take too much seriously. Then its going to be a good time. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider