Searching for a Silver Lining: Four Things I Liked About X-Men Origins: Wolverine

After reading dozens of horrible reviews and hearing from people how awful the new Wolverine movie is, I decided I should see for myself just how bad it could be.  Wow.  I was on board for the first twenty minutes or so, but things quickly deteriorated into a total disaster. 

Make no mistake, this was an unbelievably awful movie; I think Paul’s rating of two out of five stars was far too generous.  Anyway, everyone else has already shredded the movie, and there’s enough negativity out there as it is, so I decided to find some things I liked about Wolverine. 

I originally intended to write about five things I liked about this movie, but in all honesty, I couldn’t even think of that many.  Instead, keep reading to find out the four things I liked about X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  Spoilers, obviously.

1. The Opening Credits

Sure, it was a little too Watchmen-esque (and not nearly as well-executed), but the opening credits for X-Men Origins: Wolverine gave a pretty good idea of all the crap James Logan and Victor had been through.  It also showed how bad ass the two of them were, their loyalty to one another, and their own individual personalities: Logan as a fierce but compassionate soldier, Victor as a bloodthirsty killing machine.  Ripoff or not, it was a fun way to start the movie and, well, it was cool to see.  If the opening credits are the best part of the movie, you know you’re in for a long viewing experience.  Fortunately, some things can get you through it OK, as you’ll see in number four below.

2. Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed

You’d think a movie that featured actors as capable as Jackman and Schreiber would be better than this, but apparently not.  Jackman was decent (even though he (or Gavin Hood) totally misunderstands the character of Wolverine), but even in a terrible film, Schreiber managed to shine.  The guy is good in just about everything he’s in, from comedies like The Ten to the lead role in Shakespeare’s Henry V (which I got to see in Central Park a few summers ago), so it wasn’t surprising that he captured the feral viciousness of Victor Creed.  This wasn’t a Ledger as The Joker performance by any stretch, but with so many bad actors, bad lines, and crappy dialogue encompassing him, Schreiber managed to do a decent job portraying a hella cool Marvel villain.

3. The Casting of Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson

I would say that I liked Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool, but he’s not in the movie long enough to make that big of an impact.  The casting of Reynolds was perfect though, as you can think of Deadpool as a self-serving, morally corrupt Spider-Man – always talking and cracking jokes, often with an incredibly sarcastic tone.  Reynolds reminds me of a young Chevy Chase, and the idea of him as Deadpool is quite appealing.  It’s just too bad that one of the actors who actually had talent and could deliver a line was underused…and then muted!  I don’t went to go all fanboy here, but really, did Gavin Hood wake up and say, “How can we totally ruin Deadpool?”

4. The Unintentional Comedy (especially Cyclops)

Maybe this isn’t technically a “good” aspect of the movie, but the unintentional comedy in X-Men Origins: Wolverine was off the charts.  I was laughing quite a bit throughout, and I was far from alone in this.  The shot of Wolverine walking into the sunset and holding Kayla before a gun pops up from the bottom of the screen like a first person shooter, “back to back,” the cliched slow motion walk away from an explosion, Logan’s stupid cartoon claws, and the concept of using a friggin’ revolver with adamantium bullets to erase Logan’s memory all cracked me up, but nothing made me laugh harder than a blind, bumbling Cyclops escaping from his island prison.  I half expected him to step on a rake or into a bucket.

I’m pretty sure most people hated this movie – and it was absolutely dreadful – but I am doing my best to focus on the positive.  Sometimes, a movie can be so bad that it’s worth watching.  I don’t know if that’s the case for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but I definitely enjoyed the viewing experience.