One of the few...

There aren't a whole heck of a lot of the movies that come out these days that I give to hoots about seeing. I really want to see "HP & The Half-Blood Prince", but I'm afraid that I missed it in theaters...bummer. The Harry Potter series are really the only flicks I'll make the effort for cause I'm a big geek that way. Dig seeing them on the big screen. Guess I'll have to make do with the DVD when it comes out. There is another film that I've been wanting to see, and last night...well...I saw it.

The highly anticipated "Wolverine", starring the very fetching Hugh Jackman, wasn't bad. Wasn't great either. True, I'm not as well versed in the details of the Marvel Universe as some, but I know enough to know that certain things were 'off'. First, I'll say that the argument regarding Hugh Jackman's size (meaning his height, people...) was raised and let go during the first installment of the X-Men trilogy. It was for me anyway. (Wolverine is about 5' 3" in the comics...who'd you get to play him then? Danny Devito? That conjures a disturbing image, to say the least.) Jackman has done a fine job as Wolverine. Moving on to a couple of others in the film.

Liev Schreiber as 'Sabretooth'. Schreiber is a good actor. The first time I recall seeing him was in a quirky indie-film starring Parker Posey..."Party Girl". Since then he's done a number of things, including a remake of 'The Manchurian Candidate' (which I haven't seen...why they remade it in the first place is beyond me...it's a classic). I had my doubts about him playing Sabretooth. Didn't know if he would achieve the 'crazy' aspect, and he's really too small. (Yes, I know - Jackman too big/Schreiber too small...doo dah, doo dah). He did kind of come off as an unhinged killer, but there was something missing for me. Not entirely sure what it is, but...something.

The other thing that was very noticeable was 'Gambit's' lack of a creole accent. Either the actor wasn't pushed to do it, or he couldn't do it well enough. That's about all I have to say about him.

There were several mutants who I didn't know. Some were more obvious than others. Then there was the subject of Weapon XI. 'Dead Pool' (played by Ryan Reynolds...I know a lot of ladies out there think he's "hot", but he doesn't do it for me...) is made into a 'fighting machine' with a collection of attributes taken from other mutants. I know next to nothing about Dead Pool, so I turned to the Marvel Encyclopedia sitting next to me (A.K.A. Glenn) and he didn't really know what the deal was either. Looks like it might have been injected into the film, and not pulled from the comics. Don't know, but that's the theory over here.

Overall? Wasn't great, wasn't bad. Had a nice smattering of eye candy throughout, which is always welcome. The story was...okay. Didn't entirely follow the comic books, but movies rarely follow the original work to the letter. Is there a sequell? I haven't heard that there will be, but I suspect there might be. If for some reason they decide to move in that direction, I hope they make a great film and not a passable film. I'll just say that I'm glad I waited until the DVD on 'Wolverine'.