X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
The Buildup:
Witnessing his father being killed, James Howlett discovers he’s a mutant with bone claws. He and his half-brother run away from home and serve in all the major US wars from Civil to Vietnam when they are recruited to a Special Forces team. Wolverine leaves the team and tries to live a normal life but when his brother and past come back to haunt him, he volunteers for a procedure that will give him an adamantium skeleton. He spends the rest of his time getting revenge for what happened to him, ultimately leading to the loss of his memory.
What went right:
It started off seeming to follow his origin which had been recently revealed in the pages of Marvel Comics, and had an epic opening scene for the various wars.
Working The 3-Mile Island incident into the origin kinda fits in with the other movies in the way that they worked the Holocaust, JFK Assassination, and Cuban Missile Crisis into the plots.
Several major character origin plot points were shown in earnest and not just in flashback form.
What went wrong:
12-yr-old James could have had his first rage onset be a bit better scripted/directed. Wade’s faster-than-Jedi propeller sword slinging and Maverick (Agent Zero’s) backflip didn’t just push the bounds of believability – it stepped right over the line into ridiculousness territory. The Native American wolverine/moon story (Kuekuatsheu) was a little too on the nose, and it’s actually about a wolf, not a wolverine. The movie kinda shied away from connecting Victor to the Sabretooth from the first movie, even though comic fans knew. An explanation for why Victor became Sabretooth (like a memory wipe) would have been nice.
In the same way that we didn’t need an origin for Han Solo’s blaster or Chewie’s bandolier, we also didn’t need one for Logan’s dogtags, especially since it implies that they made them while he’s just waiting there in the water. Same goes for his jacket. Naming the old lady Heather Hudson was a bad attempt at fanservice/easter egg because it didn’t fit with the comics, and we would only know her name if we read the credits.
Weapon X as being the Roman number 10 had been a recent thing in the comics and it immediately became movie lore. Same goes for Emma Frost and her diamond skin thing.
Stryker’s facility doesn’t resemble the Alkali Lake set from X2 very much, and somehow, the claws looked worse than the past 3 movies. It seemed like the producers tried to cram almost every action movie cliché into this one – Zero’s backflip, motorcycle escape out of exploding barn, claws to do a 180, Zero’s jump into the helicopter, jump to kill helicopter in slow motion, lighting the trail of gasoline and walking away from the explosion without looking, the jump punch to knock out Blob, and so on.
The fight with Gambit was only in the movie because the pacing guide for the script dictated it in the same way that Jon Peters said there needs to be an action scene every 10 pages (or whatever), and it became Crouching Cajun, Hidden Cardshark during the fight with his “telecardnesis” and “stick climbing” abilities.
Making Emma Frost sisters with Silverfox is just lore breaking and mind bogglingly stupid and inconsistent with comics and future movies, and Xavier walking makes some inconsistencies with future films, and there’s not really a reason to entangle Cyclops into the story – we can have Wolverine’s origin and not include everyone from the roster.
Blob was never part of the Weapon X team (I realize this is a change from the comics and that’s not necessarily a bad thing but it feels like they included him just to include him), meanwhile Silverfox (Kayla) should have been on the team.
Deadpool was really done dirty in this film. They had the perfect actor to play him and they squandered it in the worst way possible. And having 10 powers combined was just a stupid idea to begin with. That said, if DINO (Deadpool-in-name-only) had Cyclops’ powers, adamantium claws shouldn’t have been able to stop the beams, even if the director/producer thought they were heat blasts instead of concussive blasts.
An adamantium bullet as mind-wiper was just a very, very dumb way to set up Logan’s amnesia and contradicts his X-ray in the first film which didn’t show 2 bullet-holes.
I would have just adapted the Weapon X story from Marvel Comics Presents in the early 80’s along with the James Howlett stuff that had recently been printed which inspired the first 8 minutes of the movie. There was already a great story there – I don’t see why they had to just make new shit up for no reason.
The Buildup:
After a couple of disappointing films, the X-Men franchise scored a hit with First Class, and now they’re going back to the well of the most popular character to try another solo movie.
The Plot:
After being forced to kill Jean, Logan has become a recluse in the woods and vows to not hurt anyone else. He sees flashbacks of his time saving Yashida’s life during the Nagasaki bombing, as well as hallucinating conversations with Jean. He is taken to Japan to bid farewell to a now aged and cancerous Yashida, and charged with protecting his granddaughter Mariko. The Yakuza stage a kidnapping at the funeral, forcing Mariko and Logan to run and hide while his healing powers have strangely disappeared, and it all smells of a sinister plot involving Yashida.
What went right:
Setting most of the movie in Japan. Hugh Jackman looks even better as Wolverine this time around, and he gets to kick plenty of ass (in a PG-13 manner) while taking in the Japanese culture/scenery. We got to see Mariko and the Silver Samurai, which were important characters to Logan in the comics.
What went wrong:
Viper’s acting is a tad on the cheesy melodramatic side that would fit well in a CW show, but not a major movie like this.
The last act of the movie was a bit cliché with the whole using Mariko as bait in a trap. After two acts that had some good writing, it felt like they gave up and just resorted to typical 80’s action movie fare.
The Silver Samurai as a giant "Iron Man" suit specifically designed to cut off and drill out Logan’s claws was a bit contrived, as was the magical sword that required two hands to work for some reason.
Let Harada be the Silver Samurai instead of Yashida, and followed the story of the original comics a little more closely. Make Shingen the main villain. Not that the movies need to reproduce every beat and line from the comics – it can be modernized and a few details changed around. But build the story around the established characters using the original story as a framework and alter it to fit within the movie continuity.
Logan (2017)
The Buildup:
On the heels of The Wolverine, Days of Future Past, and
Deadpool, it appeared that the X-Men franchise was experiencing a bit of an
upswing in quality. This was touted as the first R-rated Wolverine movie, so
expectations were high to see some better action.
The Plot:
In a world where mutants are increasingly rare, Logan is
earning money as a limo driver while taking care of an aging Xavier and aided
by the mutant tracker Caliban. The plan is to live on a boat away from society
so as to not let Xavier’s powers hurt people, and Logan only needs a bit more
money to make it happen. He takes on a job to drive a woman and young mutant girl
to Canada, but gets involved with some dangerous people who want the girl, who
also has claws. Logan helps get the girl to her safe haven in Canada, losing
friends and himself along the way.
What went right:
The girl who plays Laura absolutely nails her role and is terrifyingly
fierce as a young female Wolverine clone. The action is far more realistic
because they didn’t have to stick to a PG-13 level. Hugh Jackman’s acting was
on point for both his rage and his pain and suffering.
As usual, we got to see a few new faces, such as Rictor, the
Reavers, and Donald Pierce. Whereas Origins: Wolverine movie was about 1/3
good, and The Wolverine was about 2/3 good, this movie was excellent the whole
way through.
What went wrong:
While I like the concept of the Old Man Logan story, he
shouldn’t suddenly be aging and catching up to Xavier so quickly, and Xavier
should be a bit older for the timeline to make sense.
I kinda disliked the X-Men comics appearing in the X-Men
film, as it’s a bit too on the nose for my taste. It would be like making a
comic book over the Johnny Depp/Amber Turd trial. I also somewhat dislike when
movies include other movies or TV shows whose themes are similar for the same
reason.
What I would have
changed:
While I liked Stewart’s performance in this, I would have
eliminated Xavier from the story completely. It’s just weird to think that one
of the last two X-Men alive would be Xavier, given his age. If anyone, it would be Logan and Cable.
But I think there could have been enough story with just Logan and Laura on the
run without Xavier. Cutting him out of the story would just necessitate a few
small changes to why Logan was working as a driver.
The X-Men Movies (Part 4 - Deadpool/Phoenix Trilogy)
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