x men origins: wolverine

today, i went to the movies. i was by myself and im not ashamed of it. i considered smuggling kismet in underneath my jacket but he has a short attention span and i knew it wouldnt end well.

anywho... i thought it was merely ok, standard summer blockbuster fare. it felt to me like the movie didnt really have ambitions to be great, it was settled just to be enjoyable and profitable. they crammed in too many characters, and didnt properly develop many of them. it was sort of like, oh here is a mutant, look what she/he can do! now look over here, another one!  we got tired of that sort of stuff with X Men 3, so im sort of surprised they would try it again.

i also realize that these sorts of comic book movies are based upon a willingness to suspend disbelief, but i must protest when certain improbabilities proliferate. there was simply too much "oh yeah right" for my taste. im willing to believe that people have superhuman abilities or speed or intelligence or strength, but they still need to act like people. iron man last summer was really good in that respect. the first two X Men movies were better in that respect. Batman Begins and the Dark Knight succeed because it basically feels real.

wolverine does have some thrilling moments, and any measure of success it affords comes from its two lead actors, Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber. They are charming and growly and pull the film along despite itself. in casting the female love interest, it looks like they really wanted Evangeline Lilly, but she was too busy with lost so they just found a lookalike. one more thing. ryan reynolds is woefully underused in this movie. he is a scene stealer and is all but mute following a couple snappy lines in the beginning. woeful.

go see it if you would like an excuse to get out of the rain and eat some popcorn, but otherwise go see obsessed or wait for netflix

6 out of 11 biscuits.