Not to start things on a down note, but I have a couple of problems with X-Men Origins: Wolverine and this issue that Cami brings up in today’s comic is probably the least radioactive among them.
As someone who firmly believes that too many mutants spoiled the broth on X-Men 3, it doesn’t please me to see so many mutants in what is supposed to be a Wolverine origin story.
Granted, Marvel has woven our favorite sawed-off runt into some of the biggest historical events of the last 100 years and he always seems to be running into someone we know from the larger comic universe.
But I think there is potential for overkill when you try to cram all of these relationships into a two hour movie and not over the course of months or years of storytelling like they do in the comics.
Wolverine’s history is complicated enough. Why complicated it further by distracting us with characters we don’t care about?
I think it makes sense to include Sabretooth in Logan’s past and I think it’s smart to include Deadpool as well. But Gambit’s just in there because they couldn’t squeeze him into X-3. And The Blob? Seriously? The Blob? What does he have to do with any of this? Combine this with cameos from younger versions of Cyclops and Emma Frost and it becomes a mutated mess.
Lastly, put whoever cast Will.I.Am in this movie on the phone right now. They’re fired.
Now it’s very possible that these characters won’t be featured prominently and their impact on the overall story will be insignificant.
But if that’s the case, why is Fox cutting TV spots for nearly every last one of them?…
Was there anyone on the fence about this movie who said to themselves, “Yeah, I don’t know if I want to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine. But know that I know Fred J. Dukes is in it, I HAVE to go!”
To me, it’s symbolic of Fox’s wasteful, over-saturated marketing strategy. Between those 8 spots, I already feel like I’ve already seen the whole damn movie! How about leaving something for the theater, Fox?
I could probably go on – and on Friday, it’s likely that I will – but I want to leave it at that for now. By the way, if you noticed the series of 10-star graphics in the sidebar on the way down, that’s the list of Top 10 comics here on the site as voted by you, the readers. I added a new ranking plugin on Monday and a few of you have been going through the archives ranking your favorite comics. Don’t agree with the list? Rank a few comics of your own!
In the meantime, how are you feeling about X-Men Origins: Wolverine? Are you excited for it or do you think it has been over-hyped? Do you think anyone will even remember this movie after the reboot of Star Trek comes out next week? Does it matter so long as you get to see Hugh Jackman without his shirt on in a couple of scenes?
Leave your comments below!
By all means.
I don't understand that moie.
From the title, you'd think it would only be about Wolverine.
But every time I see a commercial or trailer for it, they're always featuring one of twenty other mutants that seem to be in the thing!
It's kind of misleading.
What would YOU have called it, then?
WOLVERING and the GOOD TIME GANG!
Yeah, I think this flick is to be too disjointed with all of the various plot lines and characters. Personally I think the character of Wolverine works best when there’s mystery to him, particularly about his past, so trying to cram in the story lines from the Origins comics, the Weapon X story, the feud between Sabertooth and Wolvie over Silver Fox, and the later million mutant Weapon X stuff is just way too busy.
Not to mention the fact that all of the historical war events he seems to be popping up in the trailers and it’s beginning to feel like Quantum Leap or Highlander the series. I’m half expecting a group of soldiers to walk up to him inquiring about a Private Ryan int eh WWII scenes or something.
I know it’s a comic book action movie and this stuff tends to be crowded and over the top, but I kind of wish more directors/producers were interested in exploring some other motifs with these characters. The Frank Miller Wolverine comics would make a nice basis for a decent romantic action film that speaks to Wolvie’s past and current disposition for instance.
In the fanboy nitpick department I can’t wait to see how they try and fit this into the existing trilogy. Having all this back story with Sabertooth makes their confrontation in the first X-Men film even more laughable. Also, the whole conceit of Wolverine being more or less unaware of mutant superhero activity in the first film also sort of loses it’s punch when it turns out that he’d possibly have contact with half the X-Men team in his past (why the hell are their cameos by a young Cyclops and Storm?)
I’m looking forward to it, but then I don’t have a tv so I haven’t been exposed to endless commercials. And don’t worry Shawn, all plot holes can be filled in by amnesia, which wolverine seems to get with anything approaching a stiff breeze.
I hadn’t seen the Emma spot before. But I had the others. Love Deadpool’s. But come on.. WTF? Emma doesn’t even have an accent in that spot!! She’s British!!! She’s played by an Aussie!! Why the frak is she sounding American?! Meh… oh well.. either way Im going to the first showing on Friday. A shame they cut out Lil Storm from the final cut.
Personally, I hope Star Trek blows this out of the water. I don’t mind a Wolverine prequel or origin story – or even his own movie franchise – but don’t overwhelm it with other unnecessary characters that are unrelated to the Weapon X program and expect me to enjoy it without comparing it to the source material. I look forward more to the future conversations about “who was the better Kirk.”
I dunno how I feel about this movie. I mean it LOOKS awesome and we finally get Gambit, but X3 looked awesome that was just a tragedy. I dunno how I feel about Wolverine have a whole movie dedicated to him, because he’s all ready had three to begin with.
But I shall see it because of Gambit and Emma Frost and Cyclops, screw Jean Grey, she’s a ho. Anyway.
Staatz – Yeah, I liked the idea of him having amnesia from the Weapon X period on, but I guess it’s the easiest plot fix.
Maybe at the end of the film a old-time newspaper truck will drive by him and hit ’em int eh head with a stack of papers just like the running gag in Johnny Dangerously…
Deadpool’s spot actually DID make me more excited for this. The affectation in Ryan Reynolds’ voice has made me finally believe that he could play Deadpool. Considering Deadpool is my favorite character, it is extremely important to me that they get him right and I originally thought Reynolds to be a strange choice. Now, I might actually like it. Still, I am probably more amped for Star Trek.
I had no idea The Blob was going to be in it and, yeah, I doubt anyone is going to see his spot and go, “Hell yeah, The Blob is in it? Now I’m on board!” I do like the actor who is playing him though; you know him better as Martin Keamy from LOST.
My mind was blown when I realized that it was Keamy under all that Blob makeup.
I think Reynolds was always the best choice for Deadpool. He’s in amazing shape, so you know he can do the physical stuff and he’s funny to boot.
My only concern is that Reynolds has been quoted as saying he’s not playing Deadpool – he’s playing Wade Wilson. So we’re not going to see him in the mask and we’re not going to see him as deranged as we’d probably like to.
Deadpool, to me at least, is meant to be two things: Deadpan (ha!) and deranged. His jokes should come off either really dryly or totally crazy and my concern with Reynolds was that his Deadpool would sound more like Spiderman. The affectation in his voice in that spot, though, put that to rest for me.
Also, yeah, I get it that he’s playing Wade and not DP and that could be disappointing, but I think of it this way: If they decided to expand on the DP franchise later on, then we may not have to go back and do an origins movie for him. At least not one that focuses on his time with the Weapon X. The Weapon X. That’s why they call it the Weeeeeeaaaaapon X!
I didn’t know there was a debate as to whether Star Trek would out-perform Wolverine. Surely it’s a cinch for Star Trek? I mean surely the really hardcore X-Men fans will have been among the 70,000 downloads the copy made on the first day of the leak, right? And judging by those early reviews and the reviews I’m reading now that reviewers are finally getting to see the final version, I’m pretty sure Wolverine is going to underperform. But then again the furore over the leak was probably the greatest free advertising the movie could have been given, so the whole thing might actually work in the movie’s favour. But kudos to the Fat-White-Movie-Producer if it was his idea to leak the whole thing only for it to be the surprise hit of the year!
Also what do you guys think about the different endings being shipped to different theatres? I would have loved to have seen Tom and Jared fanboying over the finale after seeing it seperately only to end up having no idea what the other is talking about. Does this make you guys want to the movie more, or will you wait till you can catch them on YouTube?
Kieran,
Everything you mentioned I plan to discuss in Friday’s blog. More Wolverine goodness to come!
Wolverine is the one big summer movie that I’m really not looking forward to, but know that I’ll see anyway. As a longtime X-Men fan, the negative word of mouth based on the leaked workprint just really killed my anticipation. And that’s kinda killing me inside, because under most any other circumstances, I would be giddy as hell to see a Wolverine movie.
My only hope is that it isn’t as soul-crushing as the previous X-Men film. That’s really all I’m asking at this point.
i KNEW i recognised the blob from somewhere! That is an incredibly impressive transformation by keamy. I must admit however, i probably am one of the people on the fence who made up their mind because of a certain character – Gambit obviously đŸ˜‰
I’m pretty certain the film will be terrible however, if the same guy who directed last time is at the helm here. Eugh!
Great minds think alike đŸ˜€
I’m going with my wife on Friday. She liked the X-men movies, and of course I was into them as a kid, so it’s kinda a no-brainer for us. Although, we may have higher chances of enjoying it than most of you here, because we don’t watch any television, and therefore have not been spoiled with the over-saturated marketing going on. Nothing is worse for me than being pumped about seeing and movie, getting into the theater opening day, and knowing the conclusion to all the climactic scenes, because those were the coolest parts that they just HAD to show in the 10 different trailers. The only part that spoiled for me is the helicopter of course… when that first trailer came out… I couldn’t stop myself.
Ok…wait. They’re shipping differnet endings of the movie to different theaters? Like Clue?
Dude- I was actually looking forward to the Wolverine movie (I’ve been keeping myself on a Wolverine/Star Trek/ Terminator info lockdown for a bit so that I don’t get overexposed to all the extreme marketing crap and get disappointed once I actually see the movie), but if that’s the case I won’t be a happy girl! Cool, funky, fun movies like Clue can pull that off, but not a huge blockbuster like Wolverine. I don’t know about that…
But regardless, it has to be better than X3, right? After screwing up with the whole Phoenix (who is one of the best, ass-kicking classic female comic characters) story so badly, they couldn’t do too much worse. So hopefully my mediocre expectations will result in my actually enjoying the movie.
Man i didn’t know there were so mayn characters and TV spots. It does seem like overkill but I’m still really interested. I can’t wait to go see.
i just saw it today(it came out today in england), and i was not very impressed. it was entertaining, but not a very good film. they did, however, manage to focus on wolverine and not the other characters-they were a supporting cast. so, my official opinion is worth seeing once if a:you’re a fan of the series or b:you have two hours to waste on mindless entertainment.
I sort of hate to say it, but I simply have no interest whatsoever in either Wolverine or Star Trek. They are both fandoms I just never got apart of, and the ads aren’t doing much to draw me in (Wolverine maybe, when that ends up repeating on FX I’ll probably sit down to watch it).
No, this weekend I’m taking the artsy, snobbish route and seeing The Limits of Control. Assuming I can find a theater around here showing it.
Isn’t it supposed to be mindless entertainment? You go to watch an X-men flick to see mutants fight. if they fight in the movie, mission accomplished.
The Blob is in this one? I’m so there!!
ok so i dont want this too be a huge rant about the movie. but i must say i was super disapointed. yes i watched the leaked version. but dont yell at me and say well of course u didn’t like none of the effects are done!!
well i knew the effects wouldn’t be ddone so i didn’t pay attention to them. and not having the effects completed made it less distracting so i could concentrate on the story.
and the story sucked. Tom if ur worried about cameos and trying to cram as many mutants as possible well im sorry to say but thats what ur going to get.
I couldn’t wait to see Deadpool…but im not going to mention anything so ill let u form ur own opinion on him.
and b4 u rip on will.i.am he didn’t do that bad of job. but i didn’t know what mutant he was playing so maybe he did an awful job of adapting the character to the screen.
one final note. my friend also watched it with me, and he is not into comics at all. so he doesn’t know the story or characters at all. but he enjoyed it. he didnt care if the relantionship between ppl were changed or that the timeline in the movie is different then in the comics. none of that mattered to him.
i said thats fine im glad u enjoyed it. But studios make movies to make money. and if they wanted to make a s**t load of money they should have stayed faithful to the comics. cuz ppl like me might have gone to see it more the once.
now i wont go at all.
This Wolverine movie has had me excited ever since I first heard about it a while back. But then again, give me any movie where someone can do something super human with actually good, awesome special effects and I’ll love it no matter what the plot. I say the more characters, the more powers we see, the more awesome special effects. It’s going to be so awesome!
Hey I don’t know about Wolverine but your comics are getting better.
NOT that they were ever bad, but to me it seems they are improving upon greatness .
Hey, LandStander. Thanks for the compliments! I like to think the comics are getting better, but I’m too close to them to notice.
Although, if I go back a few years, I can certainly tell the difference! đŸ˜‰
Personally, I hold no interest in seeing this movie until I can catch it on loop on FX a year or so down the road when I can have it suck 2 hours out of my afternoon without leeching 10 bucks out of my pocket at the same time.
In all fairness, I think this film could do very well and end up being better than the 3 x-men movies, but as far as I’m concerned, that is like saying “Oh hey! My crap is solid! Yay!” after having diarrhea for a week straight.
I do like the look of some of the character costuming I’ve seen from the trailers though. I mean, they had no place to go but up with Sabertooth after that giant hair covered turd costume they had him in in the first flick. No one here can deny the horror that was the old Sabertooth costume.
I’m just tired of Fox pissing on the characters I love (and the fans of those characters). Fox (outside of the anomalies of X-Men and X2) couldn’t make a good comic adaptation if they’re survival depended on it. If you’ve seen the Director’s Cut of Daredevil, you know that studio interference killed that movie (if you can even call the theatrical cut a movie). And X3 was a disaster.
I was on board with Wolverine when I saw that they were actually including parts from the Origin comic, but then I found out that it’s only like the first 5 minutes of the film, so I don’t even know why they bothered to put it in there. Unless I hear otherwise from people I trust (ie: at my comic shop) that I need to see it, I’m going to wait until DVD, and even then I may still skip it.
And I have to disagree with Beaker somewhat. I liked the original Sabretooth from X-Men, and the recasting of that character is one of the problems that I have with the new film. It’s going to feel like a different character. And although I love that Reynolds is in the roll, I want him to be Deadpool, and I think they got the character’s story wrong enough that it’s going to piss me off.
I’m seeing Wolverine tonight even though the more I hear about the flick the less thrilled I am (especially reading the backs of some of the action figures) I’d like to go on to say the inclusion of Deadpool is what made me want to see the flick, but I’d be lying.
I saw Man-Thing and Punisher War Zone as well because I’ll follow Marvel anywhere even if I know it’ll hurt. Anyone feel like you’re that guy trying to defend a loser girlfriend sometimes with this? Going “No I know she embarrassed us when we went out last week and I know her comments last night were wacky and indecipherable but I promise you guys just don’t see her the way I do, there are so many good things about her…”
anyone else notice deadpool doing the Private Joker routine?
Hey guys (and gal),
I saw the movie online too, most of the effects were in tact. But it actually got me more excited than less about seeing it in theaters. It’s more of a series of cameos like the x-men brawler video games for PS2 and Wii. It’s a fun movie, maybe not the best, but its fun.
Personally I think the opening scenes of the war they show in the previews should have been the whole movie. It would have been more than awesome to see him and Sabertooth going through all the wars together in depth and even fighting with Captain America for a bit and ending with the Weapon X program.
Oh I went through your top ten comics, I hate that dude from Ain’t It Cool News he just talks about the most random things in his movie reviews and they make zero sense.
Ug. Saw the movie today and I have to say that what really kills it for me is there there is too much Marvel and X-Men in it. All of the cameos and side characters are just filler getting in the way of the stuff that really worked in the film which was Wolverine, Sabertooth and Wolverine’s revenge filled reason for going into the Weapon X experiment. Im my opinion the flick really suffers from the fact that there are way too many tidbits thrown up on the screen that are given no room to develop and too many character relationships that have a false importance to them because we don’t get to see them develop.
I think the opening credit sequence should have been extended to like 40 minutes. That way you get to explore the bond of brothers (with plenty of opportunity for great action scenes) that eventually sours. Wolverine leaves and hooks up with Silver Fox in Canada, then the film rests on that for 20 or so minutes quieting down and making the eventual betrayal of Sabertooth mean something. Then fueled by revenge Wolvie gets hooked up with Weapon X, loses his memory, gets betrayed again and has his showdown with Sabertooth. Much like the story in the actual movie already flows, but with more time to explore everything. Cut out all the fat and pointless cameos.