"Do you even know how to kill me?"

Rating: 7/10 (16 May 2009)

Marvel Comics has taken great steps in bringing along their film franchise, growing their characters and getting them ready for the 'bigtime' spotlight formerly reserved for the likes of 'Batman' and 'Superman'. With the past success of such Marvel titans 'X-Men & X-2', 'Spider-Man', 'Hulk' and now 'Iron Man', the 'X-Men Origin' series is expected to catapult the ensemble into their own tales of derring do... however 'Wolverine' didn't hit the mark. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" marks the first of the 'Origin' line which we already know has sequels for separate characters such as Deadpool and Magneto in the works, but being the first, it felt rushed. Wolverine is already a mainstay, especially on film as he dominated the ensemble 'X-Men' series all on his own, but his first 'solo' film just seemed really smushed together for a lack of better phrasing. Yes, the origin tale place-setting of he and Sabertooth (excellently played by Liev Schriber), the Weapon X Project (Roman numeral 10, fool) and Striker plus the path-crossing heavyweights such as Cyclops, Professor-X, several members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (comic wise anyway) and the like... too many deaths of characters who should have carried on, too little emphasis on what are actual comic plot points... it just came off as a little messy. Please don't get wrong, Jackman does his usual best with his fave character to play and will do so again in the upcoming sequel... but the play itself of events is just too much (or too little depending on which plot point). Still a viable film in the Marvel Universe, it will definitely serve as a blockbuster to get the ball rolling on the 'Origins' series and renew interest in the still to come 'X-Men: First Class', but to this comic book geek who adores the original ideas of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, et al; this film just veers a little too much off course. Just shy of comic epic, bring the popcorn and skip the bathroom breaks.