All posing and CGI-action, but little heart and no soul

Rating: 6/10 (26 January 2013)

"X-Men" was one of the few superhero comic-book-adaptations that actually worked. It wasn't so much the special effects, it was the "human-factor", depicting the mutants as people with special powers, who invariably had to pay the price for those powers (Rogue, unable to touch another being without (almost) killing them; Cyclops inability to look at anybody without his glasses and Wolverines pain, whenever his claws would surface, etc). Perhaps the older generation remembers a David Cronenberg movie called "Scanners". Same story: ordinary people with extraordinary powers and the terrible price they had to pay for those (unasked-for) powers – "Scanners" was all about the people; the sequels were all about their powers.
Hugh Jackman goes through the motions in the role, for which he'll most be remembered but, by now, the "Wolverine" character has become an action-figure of itself: again, the human factor missing. We could relate to him in "X-Men", where the pain of memory loss and retractable claws were ever-present; in "Wolverine" he's almost a caricature of his own character.
Highlights are Liev Schreiber as antagonistic 'Sabretooth' (diabolical yet strangely amiable at the same time), the 'Blob' as comic-relief character (in the comics he strikes as more tragic) and Dominic Monaghan in a short, but poignant guest-role. Ryan Reynolds is playing the same role he's been playing since the beginning of his career: "Ryan Reynolds playing Ryan Reynolds as  (add your pick here)", in the case of "Wolverine", 'Deadpool'. He does it well, being a mix of his likable self and the cynical 4th wall breaking Mutant of the comic – in the first part, that is; during the last part he plays like some run-off-the-mill killer-machine, raising the question whether the producers have actually read any "Deadpool"-Comics. Apart from Sabretooth, most of those characters appear predominantly during the first quarter of the movie, which is the strongest part. The rest concentrates on Wolverines origin story, which, it begs the question, is actually quiet unnecessary, even unwanted, considering that the "enigma of Wolverine" in the original Film is what makes him such an interesting character. It's like filming a prequel to "The Dark Knight", where it is revealed that the Joker used to be a janitor, driven insane by the rejection of a former girlfriend.
As is often the case, "more" isn't necessarily "better". Sure, an army of superheroes works in a comic-book – just read "Kingdom Come" – but it doesn't translate well into film. Again, it may flatter the hardcore fan, to spot cameos of numerous "X-Men" characters, but on film, it just convolutes the picture. I never cared whether Cyclops, Emma Snow or Quicksilver appeared in the film – I wanted to see a film about the character Wolverine.
I'll give it 6 well-meaning points from 10.