Wolverine = Awesome
X-Men is hands down my favorite comic. I love mutants doing mutant stuff. I could talk about the ethical issues or the love triangles or the science but really? Mutants.
*spoilers* – this post is filled with them so just be warned
Wolverine delivers big time on the mutants. If I had one giant gripe it’s that there’s too much time spent on Logan being “human” and not enough time on Gambit. Let’s get the whining out of the way. Yes, the plot is full of holes and contrivances. Like any moronic villian, Stryker can build a multi-million dollar experimentation lab but can’t get decent security. Yes, the dialogue is kind of cheesy but what do you expect someone to say when he’s got the spine of another charater in his hand? Are there really elequent words for that? And yes, it is bizarre that Logan chooses the name Logan over Howlett seeing as he clearly views Howlett as his real, if not biological, father but a Wolverine named Howlett is just silly. Hee, see it makes me giggle just thinking about it. Finally, the nudity (and please don’t get me wrong, I appreciate nudity) was the sort where the character runs likes he’s trying to hide his junk and not like he’s fleeing for his life. If you aren’t going to commit then just skip it all together. Get a rubber speedo or something.
Let’s move on to talking about the good stuff. Deadpool, played by Ryan Reynolds, was a nice surprise. He was funny and seriously worked his blades. He’s got one of the best scenes in the whole movie. He also made a formidable opponant as Weapon XI.
Sabertooth a.k.a. Victor Creed was also pretty damn scary. A definite far cry from the overly hairy, somewhat wussy Sabertooth in the first film. Some have complained that in the first film Wolverine’s relationship with Sabertooth isn’t acknowledged; I think you can explain that by saying that Wolverine’s memory is gone and Sabertooth had bigger things to worry about.
Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is always good to see, even in the awful X-Men: Last Stand. Whoever cast him deserves a medal. He reminds me of Michael Keaton’s Batman. Jackman manages to be both large and ferocious in one minute then small and hurting the next. It would have been easy to cast someone like the Rock but Jackman brings a humanity and stillness to the character. It serves him well here where Logan experiences his long and painful life prior to joing the X-Men.
Then there’s Gambit. When he finally shows up he puts on a great show. I was really curious to see how they would make throwing cards look badass and the answer is – by doing it. They needed about 2 more hours of him though.
The only female presence in the film, Silverfox, was nice and perky and good storyteller. Kinda weak though. Her power was persuasian which isn’t nearly as cool as being able to BAMPF! I normally appreciate the time spent on developing relationships, especially romantic ones. But, hello? MUTANTS!
There’s a lot of fun mutant cameos (watch for a young Xavier) and if nothing else you can walk out knowing that poor Cyclops had a strong but limiting power, even as a kid.
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Comments
Hello Sadie,
Great column! I love the comment about the way they filmed the running scene. I’m actually not that well versed in the X-Men universe, so to see the origins of dead Pool was pretty amazing. Yes, gambit was a welcome addition as well.
Thanks! I’m not all that schooled on the X-Men mythology either, there’s just so much of it. It was cool seeing how Emma Frost and Cyclops meet.
Well, I might jump back on the X-Men movie bandwagon. After The Last Stand received such horrible reviews, I had decided that the franchise had lost its way. This one looks like it’s worth checking out.