X-Men Origins : Wolverine

Venue - GSC Midvalley

Walking about nowadays, I’ve noticed the lack of anything good in the cinema. I suppose its spring or pre summer so therefore the big movies are all being postponed until the summer blockbusters. Think at one point you had an array of chick flicks such as Confession of a Shopaholic and He’s just not that into you. So what exactly do we have for the men then? You’re not going to believe this.

My Endless Love

Story starts by trying to explain Wolverine’s origin as a small child and his relationship with Victor Creed or as we will come to know him as Sabertooth. It seems as though they are related or something and seemed to have outlast all kinds of wars (this probably shows that they are immortal or something). If you follow comic books you would know that Wolverine isn’t immortal but he has a self healing mechanism as well as some boney claws which was quite amusingly depicted during the film. What exactly is Sabertooth’s mutant powers besides unkept fingernails is anybody’s guess. Besides I’m far too lazy and couldn’t really care if his secret to eternal youth is a healthy diet, lots of sleep and regular exercise. Okay, back to the story. As the years go by Sabertooth starts to be a bit of a lose cannon. During the Vietnam War, he and Wolverine are then sentenced to death for breaking the code of war (harming innocent civilians). But as you probably can guess, they don’t die. Along comes general Ryker who sees an immense opportunity to draft these two highly vicious mutants into his special squad. They go along but Wolverine then realises that this “new” squad isn’t really very nice and they too are into killing civilians. He then packs up and leaves the team and Victor behind forever. But little does he realise that his past will catching up with him real soon.

Spa treatment tends to bring out the tiger in you

In terms of action sequence I would be fair and have to say that it brings out the mutant action element for all to see and enjoy. But besides that this was a terrible terrible terrible movie. Most of us already knew that this wasn’t going to be a very good movie what more a tribute to the Wolverine character from the X-Men 1 and 2 (not 3 cause that was crap). This just had such a cheap B-grade element to it and effects were so dire you could even pick out poorly edited scenes in the movie (watch out for the toilet scene where he’s checking out his new claws). On top of that, the story really couldn’t expand to anywhere else. Yes he has claws, yes he lost his memory, yes he smokes cigars. As much as I do like Wolverine, I’d have to say his background in this movie really isn’t that interesting. It just looked like another way to milk the whole Hugh Jackman phenomena while it still lasts. For fans of Ryan Reynolds (who plays Deadpool in this film) may have been slightly disappointed for of his lack of screen time over the course of the movie. Fret not girls (I’m assuming that’s why you came to watch this movie) for a spinoff of Deadpool is already in progress so you should be seeing more of him when the movie comes out.

So what exactly have we got to look forward to now? Well at least I’d have to say the worst is over (kind of like the recession I suppose). So now only good things should be coming out for the month of May, June and July. Brilliant.

Ratings – 1.5 / 5

The Spirit

Location – Berjaya Time Square

Been a while since I last went to the movies to watch anything worth reviewing. Think during the past month or so I’ve been more likely to watch a couple of animated features (some even in 3-D) than to have a go at anything remotely serious. So what better way to welcome the New Year then with Frank Miller’s version of an old comic classic by Will Eisner entitled The Spirit.

My City. My Soul. My Vi.

The story is fairly simple. The Spirit is a mask crime fighter in Central City and is hell bent in keeping the city safe from evil. You won’t actually know much about this red neck tie crime fighter except that he is a vigilante who works very closely with the police commissioner. And just to spice things up a bit, the Spirit has an arch-nemesis named The Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson). As the story progresses, you will learn that most evilness that is going on is quite closely related to The Octopus and his daily activities. TA-DA!

Low cut dresses usually invited some form of ass grabbing

I know what you’re thinking. Was that really the bulk of the story summarised in 2 minutes? Actually, I wouldn’t say that’s the whole story but unfortunately, that’s pretty much all you need to know if you decide to spend your hard earned cash on this movie. The movie does start out with a bang but slowly falters into the abyss of nowhere. The Spirit doesn’t really have a 24 hour battle with various baddies, but more of decent conversations with them. I guess in a way this movie is like going on a date with that hot chick you’re really into but come date night, you realise that she doesn’t really talk much, has very little knowledge about current affairs, and doesn’t seem to get most of your well rehearsed jokes which you have so conveniently googled the night before.

The casting is alright (Eva Mendes, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson) but for a Frank Miller movie (Sin City, 300) you’d really expect a better storyline. Most people were leaving just before the movie crossed the halfway mark. Think everyone felt that the movie wasn’t really going anywhere and I suppose sneaking into another movie (Bedtime Stories, Beverley Hills Chihuahua, Brainscan : Aku Dan Topi Ajaib) seemed like a better option.

Ratings – 1.5/5

Top 5 Let-Down Comic Adaptation Movies

5. Daredevil

I think most people would disagree with me putting this on my list but in the end, it was a letdown. I have to admit that I’m not such a follower of The Daredevil comics but the movie hardly moved a pulse in my body. It was roughly around this period that the comic book phenomena was really booming and you could tell that Movie Studios were trying to cash in as much as they could. In the end, moviegoers were treated to senseless action of a blind superhero (who can see more than others because of his radioactive eyesight) defeating oddly named villains such as Eightball and Kingpin. Again casting was a let down with Ben Affleck in the main role. Somehow I just don’t feel like the Daredevil brand was strong enough to keep most movie fans excited until the end of the movie.

4. X-Men 3

How oh how did they manage to mess up this movie? If you decide to change the original director with a subsequent less popular and less talented director, the outcome would be the very unmemorable X-Men 3. After the success of X-Men 2, there was a lot of hype surrounding the third and final instalment. The trilogy then started plummeting from a team of mutant warriors to a one-man show. The Wolverine character was over-used and was depicted as if he was the saviour of all mutantkind when in truth his character was nothing more than an anti-hero. Add on to the fact that Superman was actually a fairly decent movie, the X-Men trilogy would have never known what a good ending it might have had.

3. Spiderman 3

All good things come in 3? Another example of no matter how good the first two movies were, nobody will end up buying the boxset because of the third movie. In this one, Peter Parker not only has to deal with 2 new villains in The Sandman and Venom, but even the recurring problem of the Green Goblin. Sounds like one big supervillain party right? The movie was too jam packed of this sudden obsession to fit all of Spiderman’s enemies into one single movie. Venom was wrongly casted as every moment with Topher Grace felt like a scene where they share a smoke in the basement in That 70’s Show. Spiderman 3 gave and gave and gave and didn’t stop giving. Whether or not there will be another Spiderman movie remains to be seen considering they’ve used up Spiderman’s arch Nemesis in this one.


2. Ghost Rider

Just thinking about this movie is like reliving the time your parents used to hit you for something you didn’t do. This movie narrowly misses out on the top spot and I cringe just thinking about it again. From start to finish there were endless corny moments and offered no signs that this was a movie aged 18 and above. The Ghost Rider brand was extremely tainted after this movie adaptation as it not only showed Nicholas Cage’s awkwardness at playing the Devil’s servant, but also some bizarre country music as the Ghost Rider rides off into the night.

And now, the number 1 let-down comic book adaptation movie is……


1. Hulk

It has to be this one. I’ve yet to come across a normal sound thinking human being that actually enjoyed and cherished this movie. Ang Lee not only destroyed the Hulk, he also turned him into a gay cowboy. The movie offered no memorable moments and sent movie viewers on a wild ride to absolutely nowhere. When Eric Bana eventually changes into the Hulk, he was fighting with a pack of wild mutated dogs. It was as if this was all that we had paid for and we needed to top up an extra RM10 just to see a better baddie. If you weren’t trying to kill yourself slowly with the straw from your coke drink, you were probably trying to swallow as much popcorn as you can which you will then choke to death. The only shame from this is that they would discover your body in the cinema watching the Hulk.