"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" is pure franchise movie-making. Even the title reeks of franchise management. This is not a film; it's a vehicle to move merchandise and to set up other projects that presumably will have the same "X-Men Origins" prefix in the title."Wolverine" provides none of the fun and wonder of previous X-Men films. It also pales terribly in comparison to last year's Marvel film, "Iron Man."
It's surprising because director Gavin Hood ("Rendition") is such a serious artist. I would have expected his first foray into the superhero genre to have style and intelligence in spades. Instead he turned himself into a paint-by-numbers director for this project, producing one of the most predictable and flat comic-book movies of the decade.
Wolverine is once again played by Hugh Jackman, who brought the character so memorably to life starting with 2000's "X-Men." Jackman here brings all the manliness and athleticism he has brought to the character before but none of the conflicting emotion and edginess. Wolverine here emerges as an ordinary do-gooder: Clark Kent with claws. Yawn. None of the supporting characters are given interesting personalities either.
This is a disturbing sign for Marvel Film, which reportedly is looking to bring the Avengers to celluloid following the X-Men model. I pray that Marvel gets back to the freshness and verve of "Iron Man" and declares "Wolverine" a mistake. If there's any more auto-pilot movie-making like this, the Avengers will be DOA.
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