2009
DIRECTOR: Gavin Hood
May Contain Spoilers!
Gavin Hood should be ashamed of himself. Not just for sullying the good name of the best X-Man, Wolverine, but for directing his film as if it was his first effort at film school, presuming that he ever went. The characterisations are appalling and as vacuous as the action and visuals. None of which gives Hugh Jackman room to breath, let alone explore the character.
The cinematography is simply slipshod and rubbish, turning what could, and trust me, I mean COULD have been decent action set pieces into a string of ludicrous jokes. Nothing really makes any sense. Unlike the follow up, X-Men: First Class, there’s no effort to contextualize the time, outside the droll montage during the opening credits which has Wolverine and his brother, The Beast doing a Saving Private Ryan on the beaches of Normandy amongst other things throughout history.
There’s just no soul to this movie. It’s not camp. It’s not dour. It’s not even the Fantastic Four! It has as much identity as Wolverine himself, after his memory is wiped in the final act. Sorry, spoiler, if anyone really cares. This should have been the coolest of the X-Men films, but even without Bryan Singer at the helm, this should have been better than this. It’s not just a lazy film, it seems as if Hood as deliberately sabotaged the project, actively destroying the film from the inside!
Clearly, you have to wonder just how much DC Comics were paying him to destroy Marvel’s X-Men brand? Well, thank god for Matthew Vaughn, and his excellent X-Men: First Class. Pay attention Hood…
N.B. Originally reviewed 23rd January 2010
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