Most predictable. movie. ever.

Rating: 6/10 (28 May 2009)

Okay, my title is a little unfair; this is by far NOT the most predictable movie ever, but it was extremely annoying to be sighting the "plot twists" a mile away at every turn. I mean, seriously:
1) Logan's wife is "killed" off screen. Did anyone actually think she was dead at this point? Really? When a key character is killed off screen, they are NEVER really dead.
2) Stryker is manipulating Logan. It's obvious. Evil military sp00k is never on the "good" side of the film. Predictable movie conventions 101.
3) Kayla is manipulating Wolverine. Come on! She tells the story of the trickster! What'd you think was going to happen?
4) The big fight scene at the end. Oy. This isn't a general movie convention so much as an X-Men movie convention. In every X-Men film there is a huge fight scene wherein a bunch of adolescent mutants are rounded up and freed/rescued by the good guys. When Logan initially begins exiting the facility I was actually genuinely impressed for a moment because I thought the director was bucking convention and opting out of the huge, dumb fight sequence. But then it happened. I could only sigh.
I'm also getting pretty annoyed with X-Men films that feature fan favorites in the trailers and then give them roles that barely qualify as cameos. The reason I actually saw this film was that I was thrilled to finally, finally, FINALLY be able to see Gambit on the big screen. I knew I would be disappointed, but I hoped that I would be able to at least enjoy it a little. The whole fifteen minutes that he actually spent on screen were just painful.
I shouldn't complain, though. At least he got more screen time than Cyclops. Or Emma Frost. Poor, poor Emma Frost fans.
The plot is...acceptable, I guess. From what I gather, it's actually pretty factually sound as far as the Wolverine back story goes, what with the relationship between Victor and Logan, etc. I'm not that huge of a Wolverine fan, so I'm basing this on an obsessed friend's word.
The CGI is okay. At some points it becomes jarringly terrible, though (I'm going to cite the bathroom scene when Wolverine first takes a look at his brand new shiny claws).
The acting is good. As always, Hugh Jackman is amazing.
The cinematography is also pretty good. Not spectacular, but good.
This film can be really enjoyable if you're prepared to just turn your brain off and watch a bunch of explosions and crazy fight sequences. Which, in all fairness, is what most people want to do. But for those of us who relish character development and intriguing plot lines, this movie is a little jarring.