Could've been better...

Rating: 6/10 (7 May 2009)

Let's start with something positive. "Wolverine" gets off to an extremely strong start. After a somewhat confusing scene that involves Wolverine's father, we are immediately treated to an opening credits montage that involves Wolverine and Viktor fighting in the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, and finally Vietnam. The execution of this sequence is incredibly cool, even if it does bring to mind a similar montage found in "Watchmen." We then meet a much younger William Stryker, who immediately recruits Wolverine and Viktor into his "special program". Before you can even blink, we've met like seven new mutants, although it's somewhat hard to keep track of them all. Most notably, we meet Agent Zero, who can shoot guns really, really well, and Deadpool, who's very good with swords.
At this point, I was thinking, "This movie is moving along at a terrific pace, and almost everything has been awesome so far. This is going to rock!" Shortly after this sequence, though, Wolverine decides to leave Stryker's program...wait, what? Why did he leave Stryker's program? Haven't we known ever since "X2" that Wolverine and Stryker worked with each other for a long time and did many terrible things together? Why is Wolverine already eager to leave a program that requires him to get his claws dirty? Shouldn't that realization of the error of his ways come later on in the film, instead of in the first twenty minutes of it? Of course, we know from all of the trailers that a tragic love story is involved here, and that's what begins when Wolverine moves to Canada. The movie slows down *big time* here, and I'm not really talking about the romance so much as the pacing of the film in general. Nothing really "happens" as far as story is concerned until Stryker returns, and even after that it still takes a little while for things to get going again.
Obviously, something major happens involving Wolverine's girlfriend, and it makes Wolverine thirsty for revenge. He agrees to Stryker's plea for experimentation to be done on his body, and you know what happens next. I should note that while this sequence was pretty well done, it wasn't *quite* what I was hoping for, although my expectations for it were pretty high. I don't want to sound like I'm making a cry for the movie to be even more violent than it already was, but this is a moment that should've been slightly more horrific, slightly more grizzly. Instead, it's pretty much over before the audience has a chance to figure out exactly what is happening, and that's what makes it kinda disappointing.
Another thing: After Wolverine escapes from the lab when his transformation is complete, Stryker *immediately* wants to destroy him. Andthat's it. He and Wolverine never really have the alleged "relationship" that was hinted at so strongly in "X2." Stryker wants to kill Wolverine, and Wolverine learns of this very quickly, and then Wolverine wants to kill both Stryker *and* the person responsible for the loss of his girlfriend. Obviously, Wolverine is going to learn a lesson about controlling his rage, but again, this happens very quickly, during a far too sentimental sequence in which Wolverine is taken in by...John and Martha Kent? I'm just kidding, of course, but they *looked* like John and Martha Kent. Or Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Take your pick.
Probably the main thing that got to me about the film was something that I hinted at earlier: Wolverine simply isn't "bad" enough in this film. In fact, he remains a pretty decent guy for the most part, craving for revenge aside. Only once does he kill a character under questionable circumstances, and that character happens to be a villain, and the movie doesn't really dwell on this at all. Again, I'm not trying to sound like I'm making a war cry for more blood, but given what we *know* about Wolverine's origins from the previous "X-Men" films, it *doesn't make sense* for Wolverine to be so...likable here.
The movie also doesn't take full advantage of some of its new characters. Deadpool basically leaves the film after his opening scene, despite being played *perfectly* by Ryan Reynolds (then again, a "Deadpool" spin-off is supposedly in production, so maybe I shouldn't be complaining). More importantly, fan favorite Gambit doesn't come into play until the last third. He's awesome whenever he's on camera, but then he goes away for no real reason shortly after being introduced. As for Emma Frost, blink and you'll miss the 15 seconds that she's on camera. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that, either.
By now, I'm probably sounding as though I hated the movie, Which isn't the case here. I found plenty to enjoy, and when "Wolverine" is cool, it's *really* cool, especially during a chase scene that involves Wolverine on a motorcycle and a wonderfully inventive climatic fight scene that features Weapon XI (I won't spoil anything about him).
But what "Wolverine" ultimately fails to do is make much of an impact on the "X-Men" universe in general. It does what it needs to do (sort of), but it doesn't really satisfy the audience's craving for knowledge on Wolverine's background, either because of execution or stuff that it just doesn't explain ( it's never touched upon that Victor will become Sabortooth in the future). This is easily my least favorite film in the franchise, and that includes "The Last Stand," which I actually consider to be rather underrated. I'm aware that many would probably disagree with me when I say this, but Wolverine's final standoff with Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix and the end of that film is one of *the* most powerful moments found in *any* superhero movie. Nothing in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" comes even close to having that kind of an emotional impact...which is a shame, considering that it probably could've if certain things about it had just been handled differently.