Adamantium is a boy’s best friend.
Generally spoiler-free Wolverine preview! (From SRO media screening–I don’t think we were all from the media. Then again, anyone with a blog or a Facebook account is media.)
1. X-Men: Alright, although Magneto was more interesting than any of the X-Men.
X-Men 2: Better. I liked the evil mutants, and the ending with Jean Grey was quite moving.
X-Men 3: Crap.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine: Director Gavin Hood (Tsotsi) and the writers do a good job explaining the Wolverine character and laying the groundwork for the X-Men cycle. Action scenes well-executed. Crowd-pleasing. May confuse some viewers with no prior knowledge of X-Men. The latest addition to the ‘If you have special abilities the US government will hunt you down and weaponize you’ genre.
2. Huge Ackman solid playing a character who looks like he’s had a life-long migraine. It helps that he is beautiful and sculpted, and yes there is a nude scene. Message to Hugh: Wag kang tatabi kay Liev Schreiber, magaling yan! Been a Schreiber fan since the HBO movie RKO 281, in which Schreiber captured the charm and megalomania of Orson Welles. Since then he’s become one of the finest actors in the American theatre. Yes, Hugh has a Tony too (for The Boy from Oz), and he has the advantage in the beauty department, but Liev has sheer presence and a great voice. Hey why are there Canadians in an American black ops unit? Shouldn’t they be in the Foreign Legion?
3. So that’s how to make Ryan Reynolds menacing: give him swords.
4. You could feel the fanboys vibrating with joy each time a mutant appeared. “Omigod it’s it’s it’s Cyclops! Gambit! (faint).†I myself got weak when Wolverine put on a tartan shirt and became. . .A lumberjack! Leaping from tree to tree as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia. . .
5. Merry! Merry! Where’s Pippin?
6. There are really only a few plots in existence. Wolverine uses the Cain and Abel story, Frankenstein, and throws in a bit of Oedipus.
7. This will make sense after you’ve seen the movie: “Yikes, his mutant power is, his face injects itself with botox.â€
8. Almost forgot: Pay attention to the opening credits are they are crammed with back story.
9. Wow, Wolverine would kill as a contestant on Top Chef.
Postscript. A few days later, you don’t remember what happened. Just like Wolverine.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
April 28th, 2009 at 00:24
Chicago opening: April 30.
Cant wait! I grew up with the comicbook.
Even if your capsule review is spoiler-free, I skimmed through it quickly.
April 28th, 2009 at 09:24
Hey. I thought Liev had it all over Viggo Mortensen in A Walk On The Moon. Seriously, Liev was sexier even without sex scenes in waterfalls with Diane Lane.
And yes, RKO 281 was my starting point on the Liev love too.
April 29th, 2009 at 01:40
Will this be 2009’s Iron Man?
April 29th, 2009 at 02:01
I wish they would’ve used more of the backstory from the comic book from when Logan and Sabertooth were still kids. They were already going in that direction but truncated so much of the nuance to their simmering rivalry.
Anyway, I still can’t get it out of my head that the guy playing Sabertooth is the same guy doing the narrative voice of the Pacquiao/Hatton 24-7 miniseries on HBO.
May 3rd, 2009 at 02:03
Answer to 5): Pippin took his place in “Lost”