X-Men Origins: Wolverine

A perfect example of why women should direct action movies. So much screen time was wasted showing us pointless action sequences that mean nothing at all because we know that both Wolverine and Sabertooth live on to be in the first X-Men movie. So how do you make an action movie interesting when you already know the hero and villain won't be killed? You have to give us some emotional dramatic tension. Give us a freaking reason to care about these people! The opening war montage was ridiculous because we have already seen war footage from all the various wars of the world in tons of other movies. Why do we need to see both these guys run angrily through the battlefield being indestructible? We know they can heal. What we need to see is how they both feel about the fact that they are essentially gods that can't die and have decided to spend their extended lives killing people. Give us these moments of emotional connection when we learn that Sabertooth has let the power of immortality and the ability to take lives make him a crazy killer with a god complex while all the atrocities have made Wolverine completely disgusted with his own power. Let us see how they react to horror and each other. Let us see the love they have for each other so we care when that brotherly love is threatened and finally ripped away.

I was also thinking about the scene when Wolverine gets his adamantium skeleton. All the tension in this scene is based on the fear that he may die from the procedure, but we all know that he won't die so it completely falls flat. What would have really helped this scene was going back to the original origins hinted at in the first movie, that procedure took months and months to complete. That he had to undergo the treatment day in and day out in order to complete it. Let us see Wolverine at his absolute weakest, at his breaking point. He absolutely cannot take anymore pain. The daily procedures are too much for even him to bear and they only thing that keeps him going are his thoughts of Kayla. She comes to him in his dreams and keeps him motivated and bent on revenge. (This could even be questionable, because once we find out she is still alive it could be that she was real, not his imagination, and another construction by Striker to complete the ultimate experiment. Rad.) Also this would have been way more effective if we cared at all about their love story, which also would have been way more effective if we understood more why Wolverine could no longer take the inhumanity of all of his multiple lifetimes of killing. If all he has done is kill for his country than why does he suddenly get a conscious in Africa? I don't get it.

The stunts were neat, but we saw them all in the trailer and I was just as invested in the characters during the trailer as I was during the film, which is not a lot. The high points came when we got to see the other, younger mutants deal with the newness of their powers, like Scott Summers and the Diamond skinned girl, but these moments were far too fleeting. Gambit was also a high point, but his story was a cluster-fuck mess. Why the hell was he fighting Wolverine when Sabertooth, the guy who initially captured him, was right there? Hugh Jackman is usually complicated and captivating as Wolverine, but I only ever saw one note from this guy. Angry and more angry. His angry meter being indicated by how high his eyebrow was arched. I wanted him to be vulnerable and feel and truly fall in love. His memory loss felt very tacked on and Kayla dying when she did was pointless. It would have been waaaaaay better if she had lived. I would have really felt the tragedy of his memory loss if I knew that the love of his life was still out there somewhere and he just didn't remember her. Having her die and he doesn't recognize her was just like meh, whatever. Which pretty much sums up how I felt for the whole movie.

My final conclusion: I think women should direct action films because so many of them lately, Watchmen included, only care about neat action, but I have seen it all before and I am starting to zone out during pretty action scenes lately because I just don't care. Action only works if you are emotionally invested in the consequences of the fight. What will the character lose if they don't win the fight? What will they gain by winning? It all comes back to hopes and fear which can only be expressed if you have those scenes of emotional connection between the characters before the action. Please Hollywood, make me care!

A side note, the comedy completely fell flat and the tone of this movie was all over the place, mostly because Wolverine didn't have a range of emotion. Why not make him charming and quirky and funny so we miss this in the later films when he no longer has a memory? The scene in the bathroom with Wolverine's new claws was really bad CG and completely took me out of it. Yikes, reality and digital effects have not converged this much yet. Give him some real claws.