Rating:

Reviewed by: John Devore

The Skinny: The fourth movie about Marvel Comic's emo mutants is hellbent on redeeming the debacle that was the last X-Men movie. But this time, beloved berserker Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is front and center as we follow him from humble beginnings more than 100 years ago up until the point before he joins the pajama-clad frat that is the franchise's namesake. Joining the internationally-renowned star is Liev Schreiber as his Wolverine's brother Sabretooth, Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, and, making his film debut, hip-hop artist will.i.am as a character so obscure, Stan Lee is probs all WTF?

The Good: There's a lot of excellent nerd porn in this otherwise perfunctory pre-summer CGI spectacle. Besides an opening credits sequence as good, if not better, than Watchmen, X-Men Origins: Wolverine allows a little breathing room in-between preposterous action sequences and plot exposition. This helps small, non-kablooie moments to shine—many of those moments belong to Liev Schreiber, who delivers a sinister and savage performance. The movie is more brutal, the narrative tidier, and the onslaught of mutant cameos more evenly-rationed than its predecessors. It may not save the franchise, but for fans of the X movies, it serves as a replacement sequel to the best movie in the series, Brian Singer's X2. Kudos to Jackman, of course, who clearly respects the comic book character that doubles as his meal ticket. His frothing rages are credible, especially for an actor who sung and danced his way through hosting the Oscars.

The Bad: Like most comic book movies, this one tries to please both hardcore fans, and normal folk looking for a big, flashy action flick. In the end, it will probably disappoint the fans. The civilians who don't know a Danger Room from a Boom-Boom Room, will raptly consume the movie, and then feel hungry for another superhero jamboree an hour later. The problem with the flick, however, is that you've seen it all before. The wire-fu, the hero walking while a fireball explodes behind him, and the physics-defying climax are all...ho-hum.

Tantalizing Tidbit: Make sure you stick around through the credits. All the credits. Yes, until the end. Do what we tell you.

Theater, DVD, or TNT in five years? See it in the theater. It will no doubt be diminished on the small screen. I mean, if you're going to see a movie where a man is catapulted through the air by an exploding truck and onto a helicopter, you might as well see it writ large, and loud.