| Review:
|
A kind of dense comic book case history dossier for
amnesiacs, X-Men Origins: Wolverine ironically gets icon
fever over its chronologically challenged mutant hero, while
expecting the rest of us to excel at elaborate memory recall
about whatever came before. And with work-in-progress temperamental
Wolverine competing, not just in the usual supernatural
show and tell shenangians arena, but now as part of the
apparently trendy new fangled Chippendales style bare-it-all
watch-men package pageant on screen.***
X-Men Origins: Wolverine stakes out its turf as a Peter
Pan post-traumatic stress outing for recidivst grunts, though
Jackman at the age of forty is hardly an ideal fountain
of youth showcase. The flashback narrative finds Wolverine
and Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) seemingly traipsing into
the past through an extensive menu of History Channel planetary
skirmishes, on their way to multiple, noisy over nuanced
showdowns, sinister government agendas, occasional inspired,
ostentatiously choreographed combat and a host of head scratcher
tall tale labyrinthes.***
Overcrowding the screen with mutant beatdown-a-minute,
fly by night bells and whistles havoc, filmmaker Gavin Hood
appears intent on mad genius, beyond the speed of light
razzle dazzle that seems suspiciously designed to toss in
a few more than gimmicky director superpowers too. That
is, while moving fast forward, beyond any collective audience
consciousness kicking in, that might signal whether or not
we're having any fun yet.***
|
| Special
Features: |
Single Disc Features: Wolverine Unleashed: The Complete
Origins Featurette; Anti-Smoking PSA: Bubbles. Two-Disc
Special Edition:***
Disc One: Commentary by Director Gavin Hood; Commentary
by Producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter; The
Roots of Wolverine: A Conversation with X-Men creators Stan
Lee and Len Wein; Wolverine Unleashed: The Complete Origins
Featurette; Deleted and Alternate Scenes; Alternate Tag
Scene: Japan; Anti-Smoking PSA: Bubbles. Disc Two: Digital
Copy.***
BLU-Ray Extras: Disc One: Wolverine Weapon X Mutant
Files Featurette: 10 Character Chronicles; The Thrill of
the Chase: The Helicopter Chase Sequence Featurette; X Connect
and On Set With Gavin Hood Featurette; X-Facts: Trivia Track;
Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Director Gavin Hood; Alternate
Memory Erase Sequence; Fox Movie Channel Presents: World
Premiere; IMDB BD-Live Technology.*** Disc Two: Digital
Copy.
|
|
Final Words:
|
A super-macho superpower spree
in the hyper-imperialistic sense as well, X-Men Origins: Wolverine
is little more than a retro-clone, manimal and otherwise,
of redundant comic book conventions. And in the process, pounding
audiences into multi-sensory submission, until they're too
shocked and awed to complain or care.*** |
