Great Story; Poor Storytelling

Rating: 5/10 (1 May 2009)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine tells the story of Logan a.k.a. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) who grows up as a mutant who can regenerate himself and has bone claws sheath in his hands. He kills the man who killed his father before finding out that the murderer was his real father. His brother, Victor a.k.a. Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber), ran away with him. They stick together until they're adults and fought in countless wars throughout the ages before ultimately joining a team of mutants a man named Stryker (Danny Huston) put together. This team however is not what Wolverine thought they would be and left. Six years passed, and Stryker comes up to Logan with a favour to ask because most of the team members are found dead. And that's pretty much the basic storyline.
THE GOOD: The storyline itself. This prequel and spin-off is what fans of the franchise had been waiting for. It supposedly answer the question about Wolverine origins that was brought up in X-Men 2. The acting is also a good aspect of this movie. Hugh Jackman really embraces the character Wolverine and he really unleashes his anger so powerfully that we can feel his rage. Schreiber makes a good animalistic Sabretooth that would hunt down anything he is pointed at. And Ryan Reynolds got Deadpool spot on with some witty lines and great action scene. The action sequence is another factor. The fight scenes are only a few minutes in length, but it was good while it lasted.
THE BAD: The CGI looks very cheap! It looks like they started it well (the opening credits was real art) but then fell short on money. Never had I seen Wolverine claws look so fake. The teleportation ability by Wraith (Will.i.Am) looks like something from the 80's sci-fi. What happened to the way Nightcrawler teleports in X2 (which was a CGI masterpiece)? And furthermore, just like in X-Men 3, a lot of characters are killed of pre-maturely and/or badly casted. And although I said the story itself is good, the way it is being told is not. They didn't make good use of the flashbacks, or twist or anything that will keep the suspense. None of the scenes are as dramatic as they should have been.
THE BOTTOM LINE: X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a movie that only fans should see. It's no where near X2, but good enough if you just want to know about Wolverine's past.