„I’m Canadian!“ This sums up X-Men Origins: Wolverine in two words. Nice and short. But somebody must have thought more is better. So more it is. More love, more mutants, more explosions, and less blood. I’m a bit unsure about how the first three lead to the fourth. But then again, Wolverine takes place before X-Men, X2, and X-Men: The Last Stand, so perhaps the deeper meaning of this movie is deeper than I expected! Reverse psychology! Oh wait… no: my best friend’s ex-girlfriend told me only women understand reverse psychology. So perhaps this movie is for women, not the teenage boys I thought it was made for? Luckily, I went to see this movie with a girl. And yes, she liked it more than me! But perhaps that’s because she is Canadian.

The movie explores Logan’s aka Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman) very violent past and stretches from 1845 to about 15 years before the X-Men trilogy begins. Logan and his brother Victor Creed aka Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) fight “back to back” in most major wars on planet earth. In all this violence Logan seems to find a way back to the humanity inside him, while his brother enjoys it more and more. This leads to – surprise – tensions between the two. Logan consequently decides to disappear and lead a secluded life as a near-hermit with a – how else could it be – gorgeous woman (Lynn Collins) in – yes, you guessed right – beautiful and peaceful Canadia. But only until – ingenious twist – his past catches up with him.

In Canada, I was in the movie. I mean in this world that cinema creates between a story, my brain, and my heart. Despite the already impressive accumulation of clichés, I found it interesting and engaging. I enjoyed both the scenery and the CGI. The movie had its own pace and told me quite a lot about Logan’s past and how he became the man (mutant) of the other films. When I saw his adamantium claws I thought the same as his brother: “Shiny!”

Unfortunately this quite polished experience started dulling with the shift towards more action and less story. Clichés became stronger, dialogues simpler, explosions bigger, and CGI worse (though still not bad).

The movie will find its audience. It is rated M, which explains why Kill Bill Vol. 1 has a lot more blood gushing from severed limbs although O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) uses only one blade instead of three. It tries to please as varied an audience as possible, which, I think, it might quite successfully achieve. You don’t have to be a comic lover to understand it and you don’t have to concentrate on understanding the plot, because there is not too much of it – and Logan does not speak a lot anyway. It is an easy to watch film, but it is not a film to remember. And don’t get me wrong; the world needs these films.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine convinced me of one thing: I should go to Canada. It’s a beautiful country. OK, the outdoor scenes were shot in New Zealand. But that doesn’t matter as long as I can listen to this beautiful Canadian accent. It’s very close to Australian actually. But perhaps that’s just my German ear…

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
(2009)

Director: Gavin Hood
Screenplay: David Benioff and Skip Woods
Cinematography: Donald McAlpine
Editing: Nicolas De Toth and Megan Gill
Score: Harry Gregson-Williams
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Will i Am, Lynn Collins.

M/C Reviews