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He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: X-men Originas: Wolverine ::
by William the Bloody
In the late 1800s in the Northwest Territories, a young boy lays sickly in bed. This boy is James Howlett, and this day a man murders his father, and this little boy is so consumed by rage that he lunges at the man and unwittingly kills him with sharp bone protrusions out of the back of his hands. With his dying breath, this man tells young James that he was really his father, while his own mother looks on terrified, the now dead man's son tells James they have to run because they are brothers and the same, so they must look out for each other. Decades pass, and James and his half brother Victor have grown into men, always running, always fighting in other people's wars. In one of these conflicts, Victor crosses a line and James defends him, because they look out for each other, and the two are sentenced to death by firing squad. After neither of them die in their executions, they are recruited to a special team of mutant mercenaries by Colonel Stryker. They are a good group of soldiers, efficient and deadly, but when Stryker orders the deaths of a small village of innocents (a command Victor is too eager to complete), James leaves the team. For six years James lives the quiet life in the Canadian Rockies, content with his lady-love and the honest work of lumberjacking, when one day Stryker comes calling with a warning: members of their old team have turned up dead, so watch out. The next day, James's lady is brutally killed and he knows it was Victor who did the deed. James has never been able to best Victor, so Stryker offers him an opportunity to participate in an experimental procedure which will all but guarantee his victory: the bonding of the metal Adamantium to his bones. When James agrees, he is stripped naked except for his military tags, which James asked to be replaced with new ones which read "Wolverine" after a folk tale his lady-love used to tell him. The painful procedure is a success, but when James's heightened hearing pick up Stryker going back on his word to allow him revenge against Victor, he breaks out of the compound a fugitive, bent on vengeance to those who have done him wrong.
The Good: First off: it was pretty keen to get Hugh Jackman to reprise his role as the title character for continuity within the film franchise if nothing else. The title montage taking us through the ages of warfare in which James and Victor (Sabretooth) participate is pretty darn keen. The movie then introduces us to a few of the comic book Wolverine-verse characters, namely Team X with Agent Zero (aka Maverick in the comics), Kestrel, and Silverfox (Wolverine's lady-love). The film version added The Blob, Deadpool, and Bolt to this group. The mission we see this team complete had some pretty cool uses of their abilities such as Blob stopping a tank and Deadpool's swordplay during a firefight. Ryan Reynolds did a good job with what they gave him in the role of Deadpool, delivering a couple of wry lines and a nice half-hearted salute to the Colonel in the background of a scene. Even though they did a number on Deadpool in the movie versus the comic, I kinda dug what they did with it. The whole "add that power to the pool" idea sort of clicked for me. The death of Silverfox at the hands of Sabretooth and the Adamantium infusion sequence were pretty darn good adaptations from the comics, if I do say so, and I do. Actress Lynn Collins definitely looked the part for Silverfox, so good call there. There were some pretty good lines here and there and definitely some striking visuals.
The Bad: Unfortunately, a bit. Once again, as with X-men: Last Stand, they kinda crammed a few too many mutants in than practical. I'm cool with them adding Deadpool to Team X, but Blob and Bolt? Bolt is a fourth stringer at best only included because of his comic book connections to Maverick, presumably. I have NO IDEA why they felt the need to put Blob in there. Also, Gambit? REALLY? His inclusion was totally irrelevant. The plot could have continued just peachy without him at all. Then there are many kidnapped mutants at the Weapon X facility where they set up for Silverfox and Emma Frost as sisters?? What the heck? They could have invented a character to be her sister, but no they go greatly against the comic continuity here (Silverfox is a Blackfoot Indian from Canada and Emma Frost is high class Massachusetts debutante) for no reason. I want to go on record as saying I'm disappointed that they did not take full advantage during the opening credits war montage and take the opportunity to include Captain America in WWII, or even something as simple as a shield flying by! All those fanboys would have wet themselves over a simple digital shield, but no, they squandered this golden opportunity. I feel I must mention that for the bulk portion of the film (re: all the stuff that happens after the botched execution of James and Victor) I was wondering when exactly it was supposed to be taking place. I mean, okay it's after the Vietnam War obviously, so I would guess... 1980? Early 1980s? But they really don't do anything to set the period, if you know what I mean. Clothes, music, or advertisements in the background or something could have helped, but everything was just kind of neutral looking, nothing distinctive to discern the time. Also, there was a little too much slap-stick comedy in this film. I mean, I don't know about you, but when I think of Wolverine, I don't usually think of all those goofy moments, I think of berserker rages.... and speaking of which.... this movie had absolutely NONE! The closest thing was young James killing his illegitimate father. Wolverine is supposed to lose control and be an ass-crazy killing machine when the animal rage comes on, but sadly, this Wolverine was calm, cool and collected almost all of the time, yes even after enduring the grueling torture of the Adamantium infusion! I would have loved to have seen Wolverine tear the Weapons compound apart when fleeing the facility, but I don't even think a single person dies during his exit. The Hell? And hey, when and why did everyone start calling him "Logan"? This is NEVER EXPLAINED. At first I assumed he changed his name to Logan after deserting Team X and becoming a lumberjack, but then the military guys show up and THEY are calling him Logan? Um... plothole? Now to be a nit-picky comic book snob.... no mention of Department H or Alpha Flight (Canada's superhero programs)? Not even off handedly? Not a one? Oh and FYI, Cyclops's eyebeams are not incendiary in nature, they are purely concussive, so there should not have been burnt edges where his beams made holes in walls. Just sayin'.
Overall, the film did include some obvious Wolverine-based characters and centered around some famous Wolverine plot lines and events. They include a few too many Marvel characters just for the heck of it, and I think if they were going to be including more characters than necessary, why not make them more on topic like Heather and MacDonald Hudson? Let's be honest here, people aren't going to go see a movie about Wolverine hoping for a great story, no, they want fight scenes, mutant powers, and exploding stuff, strung together by some sort of plot thread, and yes, this film does deliver on those points. I won't pretend the Deadpool versus Wolverine versus Sabretooth fight wasn't cool beans and well photographed to boot. There were some REALLY good parts, but there were also some parts which did not make any sense and some parts that were simply dumb. I liked it, but I also partly didn't. If all you know about Wolverine is what the other X-men movies showed you, then you'll probably like it waaaaaay more than somebody who knows Wolverine from the comics.
B-
