The backlog of HofG posts includes some more movies. One that I was really looking forward to was X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Any type of cinematic release that includes some of my favorite childhood comic books sits just right with me. It could be the crappiest movie ever made, but if it included the topic of any number of Marvel Comics legends, my expendable income will go away with frightful speed.
The trailer:
The film gives the historic past of one of the X-Men's iconic figures. Beginning in "1845 - Northwest Territories"; which is interesting as the geographical spot known as the Northwest Territories were not named that until the 1870's or so, but I digress. The film diverges from the Marvel canon with some tweaks. Little James Howlett, er, in the film James Logan, has fought side-by-side with his brother Victor in all matters warlike: U.S. Civil War, WWI, WWII, Vietnam...interesting since Logan was Canadian. You see, Wolverine ages ever-so-slowly, however the film doesn't delve into why this is so. In any event, Logan becomes Canada's first superhero in the comics as "Weapon X", fusing the super-strong alloy adamantium to his skeleton. The movie doesn't showcase him as a hero per se, but rather an experiment gone awry. Wolverine's memory has been erased by various means depending on various sources; the film states it's an adamantium bullet to the brain that would result in such a scenario...far flung from the comics.
As a comic geek, some portions of the film rankled me. "THAT'S not how it happened!" etc. etc. etc. The relationship between Wolverine and brother Victor (Liev Schreiber as "Sabretooth") seems the story's focus, but in the end it appears I just didn't care. I want details on, as the title suggests, the ORIGINS of Wolverine. Not the bickering between brothers. His history in the Canadian special forces, his memory wipe by Professor Xavier of the X-Men, his forced fusion of adamantium to his bones are never looked into. Instead, the film strays from the true story in many ways. Not to nitpick, but it ain't right.
For me? A Matinee score. It didn't keep true to the origin story, and it just left me not caring for the character. Disappointing, but I'd go see it again because I'm a mindless fanboy who would do such a thing in a heartbeat.
And Marvel knows that.
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