Best of the X

Rating: 10/10 (4 May 2009)

"I'm the best at what I do and what I do ain't pretty" This film surprisingly stays fairly true to what we know about Wolverine and the "Weapon X" program through the comic books. The film is largely based in Barry Windsor-Smythe's "weAponX" which was run as a serial in the "Marvel Comics Presents" comic book line and later released in Trade Paperback form.
There is a lot here for fans of Wolverine, certain aspects of this story were taken right from the Wolverine series of 1988 - Wolverine's relationship with "Silver Fox" uses a lot of elements straight from the books and that "chapter" of the wolverine story is actually fairly close to the source material. The only dramatic license I did not like was that Sabretooth and Wolverine are shown as brothers.
Since the weAponX story by BWS was drawn in a cinematic style, a lot of the imagery from that book survives translation to Film format just as well as any Frank Miller book.
While a lot of creative license was taken with some characters and some of the events that occur, much of the dialogue is taken straight from the books and the overall concept is maintained.
Regarding the look of the film, I can use one example, when "Gambit" reveals his powers, the image we are given matches the iconic profile of Gambit- From the comic books and the 1992-96 Cartoon.
Since "Victor Creed/Sabretooth" was a major part of this film, I was semi-disappointed that they did not get Tyler Mane to reprise his earlier 2000 role (Or, pre-prise, whatever the word would be) - The original X-Men film had perfectly cast Sabretooth. I wish they had cast Liev Schreiber for that original film, as he gives more to the character than occasional grunts and snarls that Tyler Mane used for language. Schreiber actually gives the character valid depth and darkness and is less of a cardboard cutout. My only real gripe about using a new actor for this role is that they did not try to match the image from the books, as the 2000 film did perfectly. And so the popular image of Wolverine engaged in mortal combat with Sabretooth- As painted by former Wolverine artist Mark Texiera and reproduced as a huge poster - That image was damaged and I do not know if other Wolverine fans are a forgiving as I am.
Regardless of if the reason "James Logan" becomes part of the Weapon X program is the same reason as the comic books (In The comic books Logan is abducted) - The Process of Wolverine accepting the "Adamantium" metal to his bones is the centerpiece of this film, it is the most important part of the film, and as far as I am concerned you can toss the whole film and leave the process.
The filmmaker needed to take the threads that had been woven in the first 3 X-Men films and give us a start point... Where did the Adamantium metal come from, what Stryker wanted to do with it, and why, all of these questions are explored in this film and as a fan of the comic book series, and also a fan of films in general, I accept the questions, answers and the way it was filmed unequivocally.
I know I enjoyed this film highly, and so did the large amount of people I saw this with, this film got a lot of crown response.
And so, I say the critics and paid shills that are panning this film can go to blazes and I hope that someone does to them what Wolverine does to "Deadpool/Wade Wilson" at the end of the film - And you'll have to go see it to find out what he does. Oh, look the shills popped up and marked my post as "not helpful" - Which means nothing except that someone is using a bunch of fake IDs