By Ryan Parsons | Image property of 20th Century Fox
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
With X-Men Origins: Wolverine ready to hit theaters midnight tonight, I couldn't wait on our own review -- due tonight -- and instead thought I'd point out a couple others. Considering that this film is the official kick-off to the summer blockbuster season, does it live up to they hype?
Reviews: X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Not exactly but, then again, we all sort of saw this coming. The good news is that the film is supposedly better than X-Men 3: The Last Stand, which comes as somewhat of a relief. I've got two of the most official reviews for you below with maybe a second batch coming later today.
The Hollywood Reporter
Origin stories are one way to jump-start stalled movie franchises as Christopher Nolan has brilliantly done with two "Batman" movies and J.J. Abrams has apparently managed with "Star Trek."
The scheme fizzles badly, though, in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," in which Fox has selected the popular Wolverine character -- and that of energetic entertainer Hugh Jackman, his interpreter -- as the headliner to revive its mutant-race series that showed signs of wear and tear with 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand." A new director, Gavin Hood, and new writers, David Benioff and Skip Woods, put in overtime to develop plot twists and double crosses but ultimately fall back on a surfeit of action and visual effects to mask a lack of imagination.
Variety
Heavily fortified with adamantium, testosterone and CGI, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" is a sharp-clawed, dull-witted actioner that falls short of the two Bryan Singer-directed pics in the franchise but still overpowers 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand." For all its attempts to probe the physiological and psychological roots of its tortured antihero, this brawny but none-too-brainy prequel sustains interest mainly -- if only fitfully -- as a nonstop slice-and-dice vehicle for Hugh Jackman. An unfinished print leaked online weeks before the film's May 1 Stateside release will prove a mere flesh wound to Fox's B.O. haul, which should be muscular locally and abroad.
See? Not terrific but not exactly a flop either. Check out the entire reviews on X-Men Origins: Wolverine by clicking the bold links above.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine opens to theaters on May 1st.
Add to Heffee!
