Cast: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schriber, Danny Huston, will.i.am, Lynn Collins, Kevin Durand, Taylor Kitsch, Dominic Monaghan and Ryan Reynolds.
“Mediocre” is the word that comes to mind.
Stuff I Didn’t Like:
- At the expense of sounding like a dissatisfied comic book fanboy, I’m displeased that either the writers, the heartless Fox executives, or both decided that messing up established family connections, or lack thereof, was a good idea.
- Emma Frost. Why was she in this movie? Why wasn’t she British? And what happened to her psychic abilities, since her diamond skin is a secondary mutation? Shouldn’t she have known Professor X was feeding Scott directions?
- What they did to Wade/Deadpool. He didn’t get enough screen-time for us to really get to know how his motor-mouth is, he only broke the fourth wall once at the very end, and the final scene tacked on after the credits was there to appease the fanboys, who had plenty to be upset about.
- Some of the conversations and lines feel stilted, even forced. I know this is a comic book movie, but good writing isn’t exclusive to novels and plays. And I’d put certain comics, like JMS’s Rising Stars and Alan Moore’s Watchmen above anything Stephenie Meyer or Dan Brown writes.
- You know Logan needs to lose his memory at some point, but seeing it happen here is kind of Shooting the Shaggy Dog.
- Seriously, Fox Studios: Emma. Wade. WTF??
Stuff I Liked:
- I was surprised at how much I liked the Blob, and will.i.am’s John Wraith. Despite being secondary characters, they had three dimensions. I wanted to know more about how they got away from the paramilitary mutant brigade.
- Decent special effects and sound design. This includes the opening sequence, and I can’t deny I love the visual of Logan storming Normandy with a cigar clenched in his teeth. Shades of the Comedian, there.
- Silverfox is passable as a love interest, and Lynn gives her role her all. I found myself believing what she had to say.
- It’s always nice to see Dominic Monaghan getting work. Even in a bit role.
Stuff I Loved:
- Hugh Jackman inhabits Logan’s skin in a way that still surprises me. His delivery, timing, even his look and the curl of his lip in a “back off, bub” growl keeps me going through another scene. He’s Wolverine the way RDJ is Iron Man. And that’s a great thing.
- Sabretooth. Some people might prefer the two-dimensional blonde growlyface, but I loved him in this flick. It’s great for him to get a background that ties him to Wolverine and shows us how he became so different and yet so similar to Logan. He’s smooth, confident, intimidating and even charming all rolled up into a tall dark package. Liev rocks it.
- Gambit. He gets a bit more screen time than Wade does, but he owns his scenes. He oozes the Cajun charm, moves with confidence, and shows us why he can stand toe to toe with Wolverine, not to mention why he pisses off the Canuck so much. I’d like to see more of him, but that would require another X-movie that isn’t written by these hacks. (Or the team behind the Last Stand mess, yikes)
- The little time Ryan Reynolds DOES run his mouth, it’s pretty awesome. Wade’s scene in the room is pretty stunning, and it’s for that reason I felt he was under-used. That, and I’m quickly coming to love the Regeneratin’ Degenerate. I have to respect a mercenary who can fly a plane with his feet while shooting out a window with a machine gun with one hand and holding a phone to hit on the hot Russian blonde with the other, but that’s from the comics.
It’s better than The Last Stand, to be sure, and it’s nowhere near the brilliance of Iron Man or Spider-Man 2. I was disappointed, but I didn’t consider it a total waste. If you’re a fan of Marvel comics and Wolverine in particular, it’s worth seeing. But you might want to wait for DVD.
