X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) Review

2008 saw the huge success of the comic book films Iron Man and The Dark Knight. However, we didn't get any films like those the next year, unfortunately.  The only Marvel movie that was released in 2009 was X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Now an entire movie centering around the best X-Men character sounds like a winner. But the fans felt that everything was phoned in from the acting to the action to the characters themselves. It gained an infamous reputation and I can see why.

We begin with Wolverine/Logan as a young boy in the 19th century discovering his mutant powers moments after his father was killed by the man who reveals he is his real father just when he was killed by his own son. What a twist? He and his brother Victor Creed aka Sabretooth (Liev Scriber as an adult) run away where they grow up together and fought in every major American war. They are then approached by William Stryker (Danny Huston) who recruits them in a team of mutants that includes Fred Dukes (Kevin Durand), John Wraith (will,i.am), Agent Zero (Daniel Henney), and Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds). Disgusted with their methods, Logan leaves the group where he becomes a lumberjack. Thankfully he doesn't wear women's' clothing otherwise it would be too far. He forms a relationship with Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins), but she is killed by Victor and Logan swears vengeance. He is tricked by Stryker to be part of an experiment to be injected with adamantium. With poor CGI metal claws now, Logan sets off on his quest for revenge.

Where do I even begin with this? First, the action is not fun and it's mostly shaky and sped up. Second, the characters are given incompetent origins or given very little screentime like fan favorite Gambit (Taylor Kitsch). An example of the former is Fred Dukes who later becomes the Blob because of morbid obesity, not mutation. But the biggest crime this movie commits is its very poor excuse of Deadpool. His mouth is sewn shut and he has the power to transport himself and shoot lasers from his eyes. Yes, you read that right. Even though he got killed, in an after credits scene, it's implied that he would be back...with a vengeance and a lot better.

Bad Deadpool (left), Good Deadpool (right).

And lastly, even though Hugh Jackman is back, he just couldn't save this movie. A major reason is him letting out a loud roar repeatedly in an over the top fashion as his major emotion. There were some other people involved in the film that I was surprised to see such as Richard Donner, the director of Superman, who has produced the first X-Men movie as well. Then there is David Benioff who co-wrote the script and who would later co-create Game of Thrones. Needless to say, their efforts didn't help much.

Overall, this movie was extremely tedious and did not give us everything we love about Wolverine or other beloved characters. Say what you will about X-Men The Last Stand, but in my opinion, I thought it had an interesting conflict, some cool visuals, and an awesome portrayal of Beast by Kelsey Grammer, even though there weren't any huge payoffs like in Days of Future Past. This is easily my least favorite film of the franchise by far. But luckily this would seemingly be the end of the sucking period for X-Men.

RATING: COMPLETE DISFAVOR