ebonlock | (no subject)

I have had an unbelievably busy weekend and at least a couple of hours of it were spent seeing "XMen Origins: Wolverine". I think my overall reaction to the film can be boiled down to:

I'd read "Origins" way back when so the beginning so no big shocker and I thought Liev did a reasonably good job as Sabretooth. He doesn't really have much to work with and he does what he can with it. Hugh was sufficiently buff and did the "Throw your head back and howl your fury/despair at the heavens" thing as well as usual. He had a few onscreen rage-gasms and there were a few shots that probably looked way better in the storyboard phase. Indeed there were a lot of sequences that would've worked better in comic form than in motion. And I noticed that the CGI animation on Wolvie's claws was surprisingly sloppy, but that may have been because there was simply so much of it this time around.

Things I did like, Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool, at least until he became the latter. He was fun and chatty and a delightful smartass. Also his blade work was delightful. I kept thinking, "Ooh if there's a fighting game for this one I want to play him!"

Also quite liked Fred Dukes as the Blob, he actually gave the character a bit of a personality. Poor Dom Monaghan was utterly wasted, but it's always a delight to see him. And I expect he was excited to be able to play a mutant, if only a lame one.

The less said about the Kayla Silverfox character the better. Stryker was his usual evil self, fair enough. And they set up the preceding movies surprisingly well. Emma Frost got about as much time in the trailer as in the actual film and basically just made me shrug. I mean without the Hellfire Club she never did much for me anyway. Although no accent? Weird.

Of course there's Remy who was, well, not bad. I'm glad they basically hand-waved off the accent because that could've been painful. I'm not sure where he got the powers upgrade, but fair enough. And he's a pilot now too? Whatever.

It would've been great to actually get an introduction to the unlucky mutant kids at Stryker's secret base. If anybody can definitively identify them please speak up. I swear one looked like Quicksilver to me. He was definitely a speedster who...inexplicably...decided not to actually run when he had the chance to get away.

And, of course, there was the walk-on (literally) moment with Charles Xavier taking the kiddies along to the Institute (presumably). That was quite sweet.

Ok, the one thing I do have to warn people about is, if you want to retain any respect for this film please do not stay for the post-credits sequence. Seriously, once the credits start rolling just leave the theater. Trust me, you'll thank me for it.

In other news the latest season of "Wire in the Blood" was decidedly disappointing. Still better than American tv, of course, but the series has entered the stage where the plot was driving the characters' behavior. Tony's personality quirks have become outright plot devices. And I spent far too much time yelling at the t.v. Mostly, "Tony, you idiot!" It is, perhaps, for the best that this was the last season.