Let me just start this entry off by saying that overall I enjoyed X-Men Origins: Wolverine (I did give it 4.5 out of 5 stars in the sidebar, after all). There was a lot of fun action without devolving into too much "um.....what?" that left me throwing up my hands in exasperation. It hasn't been getting really good reviews from critics, though, so perhaps there's just a little ounce of fanboy leaking out.
I'll just say it now - I'm a Weapon X fan and the thought of having the alternate, "updated" Wolverine origin story made into a movie scared me. Hollywood has this irritating infatuation for taking classic stories and "reimagining", "retelling", or "updating" them in order to make a new movie or give the flavor-of-the-week director a crack at telling the story his way. I hate this idea...I consider it revisionist history of the highest order. The reason I come to see a movie is precisely because I like the original story and/or characters, and I don't want to throw out everything I know and start all over from scratch with a clean slate. So, any time I hear a stupid "this is not your father's {movie}" tagline in a trailer, or find out that Michael Bay is directing it, I die a little inside and curl into the fetal position expecting the worst. I know that they do it in comic books all the time, but that doesn't mean that I accept the practice - if a popular character already has an origin story, then leave it that way. I had a little bit of trouble accepting ideas like Logan volunteering to get the adamantium fusion (rather than being coerced) and the "X" standing for "iteration 10" instead of "experimental"... it was a small change but a nonetheless irritating one.
As an aside, the only "reset" that I've actually enjoyed has been the Chris Nolan Batman series, which is based on Frank Miller's version of Batman. I particularly like this version because Batman has always been made out to be a superhero when he's not - he's an anti-hero that just happens to be rich. He's the most flawed vigilante out there without superpowers and making him into some campy crime fighter just doesn't fit the bill. Not to say that the other superheroes out there don't have their own issues to deal with, but none of them have dark business like Batman. George Lucas, Michael Bay, and Ang Lee can keep their versions. I want the classics.
Anyway, I thought I was going to hate Liev Schreiber as Sabertooth, but he did a pretty good job and the interplay between Wolverine and Sabertooth was well done. I didn't really appreciate having all the extra mutants in the story because they served to dilute it a bit and were highly unnecessary, but I will say that their treatment of Deadpool (as the eventual Weapon 11) was kind of cool (even if I really hated the Sylar-like "supermutant" storyline). I wish that Deadpool (aka Wade Wilson) had been kept in his original form for more of the movie because I think that he was the only character really worthy of a showdown with Wolverine besides Sabertooth. My personal preference would have been to stick with the Weapon X storyline where Logan was an unwilling participant and had to fight to regain his humanity, because I think that is a much more compelling story.
That being said, however, showing Logan's "pre-indestructibility" story was cool, interesting, and also shed some light on the complexities of the Logan character. Seeing how he came to be such an angry, afflicted, and distant reluctant hero makes him a little more human and gives the viewer something with which to identify. Sure being indestructible and having claws shoot out from your hands is way cool, but at what price? In summary, I enjoyed the story and was glad that I went to see it, and I would recommend it to anyone who's a Wolverine or X-Men fan. In any case, it was way better than X-Men 3 - that movie was a total turd.
