Review by Paul Edwards

Last summer, Marvel opened the season with the box office and critical hit, Iron Man. It enjoyed a long box office run that ended past the $300 million mark. This year, Marvel is teaming with Fox to try and replicate that runaway success. Both films star talented lead actors; Hugh Jackman, who hosted the Oscars this year and Robert Downey Jr. who reclaimed his image with films like Tropic Thunder and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. This year, Marvel even had the advantage of having a universally recognized character. However, unlike Iron Man, Wolverine shades more on the side of average in terms of results on the big screen.

Hugh Jackman brings back Wolverine, a character he got into the mainstream appeal with the X-Men series, with his own origin story. In the story, a boy named James (who would grow into the man named Logan) winds up killing what he thought was his brother’s stepfather, but in a twist seen miles away, it ended up being his own father. Queue camera pan out as our protagonist screams in shock and anger! (Yeah, we’ve never seen that before).

But it does get much better. The opening credits are on par with Watchmen as some of the best out there. We witnesses Logan and his half-brother Victor Creed as they fight through World War I, World War II, and Vietnam. The shots are really marvelous. They are like slowly moving photographs. And then the film starts, and it all goes downhill. Wolverine joins a Canadian Strike Force team led by a man named Col. William Stryker. Unfortunately, the mutants involved are some of the weakest cardboard cutouts there aer. There is even one mutant whose special power is shooting a gun really well. No, really. Even the Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am. is a mutant whose powers are really basic and he doesn’t even add anything to the story. Also, needless to say, when Logan eventually grows a conscience and leaves the Strike Force, we fast-forward to several years later when Logan is living with his sweetie and working as a lumberjack, the cringe factor goes up to a higher level. My goodness, the way Wolverine gets his name is so corny, you would think you were watching Days Of Our Lives, not a special- effects-laden popcorn blockbuster starting the summer season.

Anyway, this film was carried on Hugh Jackman’s back, both in his performance and in his pocketbook, but it relies on too much cheese, too much corn, and too much cliché to pass along the story. Also, two of the best supporting characters, Gambit and Deadpool, don’t get nearly enough screen time as they deserve, and we are left with a guy in a fat suit and an otherwise respectable actor running around on all fours. It is neither sexy nor cool. If I had a choice at the box office I would pass on Wolverine and hope that something better comes along later in the summer.

1 ½ / 5 stars