Movie Review: X-Men Origins – Wolverine

Rated PG-13 for action movie violence, some language, a bit of blood, and one or two scenes of Hugh Jackman running around butt-ass naked.

Rating: B-

As a movie fan, I have really enjoyed the way the X-Men franchise has been run so far.  There’s enough story background in each film to give the casual movie-goer enough information about who’s who and what’s what, and there’s also lots of little things that would appeal to a diehard X-Men fan who knows these characters inside and out.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is no exception to that philosophy.  There is no need to know any of the previous X-Men films to enjoy this one.  Does it help to have some background?  Sure, but it’s not required here.   Besides, guessing as to who the good guys and the bad guys are is part of the fun.  But if you are already an X-Men fan, you won’t leave this film disappointed.  Whichever type of fan you are, it is a fun popcorn action film, perfect for the beginning of the summer movie season.

My theater was packed with comic fans, and they seemed to enjoy the film immensely, cheering whenever a new Mutant would make their initial appearance on the screen.  It was hard not to get caught up in the audience’s enthusiasm during the film.

There were a few good laughs scattered throughout, and the action scenes, while fewer in number than I would have liked, were well done.  The scenes that existed to provide character motivation (for this film, as well as insight into Wolverine for the previous X-Men films) didn’t drag the film to a crawl. 

Marvel already knows where they want the X-Men Origins series to roll to.  Based on the characters shown in this movie, I would love to see a film centered around Gambit.  

Oh, and this film qualifies for a CLOSING CREDITS ALERT: be sure to stick around through the very end of the closing credits.  While it is not unusual for Marvel to have special post-credit scenes in their films (Iron Man, anyone?), there have already been reports that different prints of the film contain different closing scenes.  While I felt the scene I saw was relatively benign, others in the theatre let out a happy “whoop”.  I’ll assume that they know more about where the Wolverine story goes next than the average person does.