On May 1st, I admit, I was the moron...

Rating: 6/10 (4 May 2009)

I wrote a post a couple weeks ago titled "On May 1st, you will all look like morons" or something to that effect. I did so because I had faith, mainly in Hugh and the supporting cast, and the director (and I refused to see the leaked version). The real tragedy of this movie, no doubt, is not only that some of the cast managed to squeak out solid performances -you could see them trying- but the audience is allowed to intuitively observe how much MORE they could have offered. Sadly, something fell apart along the way- be it the direction, editing, or screen writing.
The editing and direction was so shabby, I literally felt as though I was watching an extended trailer- I might say that I've never experienced this before in the theater (maybe this is some sort of cinematic achievement on its own). Every time something was developing positivity (i.e. when Logan finds himself under the care of farmers, some development of Victor' character, or the initial encounter with Gambit) it just, well, fell apart.
Why this movie is getting such poor reviews is not because its inherently bad- its actually pretty entertaining as a movie. Hugh Jackman IS wolverine, and he has a powerful and charismatic presence as the tormented logan (minus the awkward looking to the sky and screaming). Some surprises, action scenes (Wade and his blades), and dry humor along the way were well played. Its not that. Its not even because the fanboys are let down from a Hollywood egotistical departure from the rich comic characters (They are already developed- USE THEM!). Its because the average movie goer figures out along the way how great this movie should have been, how many missed opportunities there were, and how much more the characters could have been developed- we feel an implicit insult in the way this movie was packaged and delivered.
Hopefully they do better next time around, Keep Hugh (and even Ryan Reynolds, I think if given the chance he would be great), get rid of the whole editing/direction/screen writing team (they may work well for other genres, just not this franchise), and go to Japan.