Anyway, the movie, for me, was a fair old dud. This version had a few special effects missing-these were strangely rendered by grey, matted animation, which obviously needed shading and editing. It didn't detract, much, from my overall feeling that this was lazy stuff- produced, edited and directed by committee, to satisfy the short attention span of the all-important 18-25 demographic.
Hugh Jackman oozes charisma throughout, but it's a bit unfair for the filmmakers to expect it all to fall on his shoulders, especially as the writing, at times, is pretty bloody weak. The opening sequence had a certain flair about it- but following the rule of keeping an audience glued by what you show them in the first few minutes-this quickly descends into trite territory, with lots of swirling camera angles, pre-censored, teen-friendly swordplay and knockabout violence. The tacted-on plot devices of sibling rivalry and corrupt government officals are just too hackneyed to be bearable.
The trailer gave away all the best bits, including the cheesy one-liners. But even the action is lazy: if there's no plot device or well-written verbal joust, just blow things up, which this film does- over and over again. I suppose as this the start of the Summer blockbuster season, you can't expect much more than popcorn fodder, but the best movies, be it Summer, Winter, rain or shine, give you something to think about as they blow everything to kingdom come.
We used to have comic book heroes in movies- John Matrix in "Commando", for instance. But now, because Hollywood, having had a dearth of original ideas for far too long, has had to take everything so literally, and plunder the actual comic book heroes of the actual comic books.
I wonder how many scripts with originality are being thrown to the wayside because, on the surface, they're just not marketable.
Hollywood- you need to think a bit harder, and, have more security on your product, so top-quality leaks of your new movies don't get into the hands of people who won't be encouraged to watch films in the cinema or rent them on dvd. Before anyone says anything, I will probably see "X-Men: Wolverine" in the cinema, but not until the crowds die down. Although I still don't hold out much hope that the reasons I didn't like it will improve on a big screen.
I noticed that lots of extras in the film get to flay their arms wildly and look earnest and exciting at the same time, even though most would probably be thinking: "how dumb I look trying to look cool"... and failing miserably. The uber-smug and piddingly talented Ryan Reynolds gets little screen time- thankfully so.
When all is said and done, it's an hour and a half of entertaining mayhem, but it could have been so much more. I'm sure it'll make 20th Century Fox a bundle of money, and that's the bottom-line. You might think that if this is all Gavin Hood and the gang have to offer, are they just toying with us? Is there a better film in the pipeline to be released in a parallel universe?
Let's hope the re-imagined "Star Trek" lives up to the hype, otherwise I'll boldly go back to watching classic foreign films.
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