X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Dir: Gavin Hood
2009
**

I think the first Wolverine origins story was a total wasted opportunity. The film flashed past all the interesting bits in the opening credits, it would have been great to have seen a little more of the brothers at war and then to see more of the special team of mutants on a few more missions. There was at least a trilogy's worth of story right there, the rest of the film seems a bit weak in comparison to what could have been. Gambit, one of my childhood favourites of the comics, was also a huge let down and don't even get me started on Ryan Reynold's Deadpool. There were a few nice surprises though and Hugh Jackman is always a joy to watch, particularly as Wolverine. Liev Schreiber was also brilliantly cast. The special effects were quite good for the best part but the scene whereby Wolverine looks into the old folks mirror is truly awful and really was the turning point for me in wondering if the film was all that good or not. Supposedly, thanks to the poor reception of the film, they abandoned the idea of more singular origin stories for the other X-Men. X-Men First Class is good but I can't help but think the franchise (X-Men universe) would have been richer by somewhat separating the X-Men over several films. Not that anyone is tiring of Jackman's Wolverine though, long may he continue.