Aphelion Issue 298, Volume 28
September 2024
 
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From the Balcony

X-men Origins: Wolverine
Directed by Gavin Hood

Review by Mark Edgemon


As a fan of comic book action feature films, I was curious how this fourth installment would stack up to the prior three X-men films and wondered if it would keep the franchise alive or relegate it to X-tinction. I chose the Rave Theatres because they had 200 showings of it daily and there is something special about viewing a film in a room all by yourself. In this case, I was accompanied by family and friends and so it was like having folks over to my personal home theatre.
 
I went to buy concessions prior to the movie, taking out a mortgage on my house to pay for them and settled in with a small vat of popcorn so large, I could hardly seen the screen.
 
Usually, I’m not really interested in origin movies or prequels, because I like to keep the story moving forward. But my wife is a big fan of Wolverine and so that gave me added reason to see the movie.
 
In this movie we explore Wolverine’s past, from childhood during the late 1800’s to present time. His brother, who turns out to be Sabretooth, (who knew) becomes his archenemy, well one of them anyway. By the end of the movie, he has so many archenemies, his brother allies with him against a seemingly invincible super mutant enemy, for the simple reason that as he puts it, “I don’t want anyone to kill you besides me” a sentiment shared by most brothers in this day and age.
 
A lot of good wholesome people die in this movie, I guess so we can empathize with Wolverines motivation to get even with his brother and also his mentor who created him and let’s see and also the super villain in the final scenes death match.
 
The movie was dark (when is there ever a light sci fi movie) not only in actual darkness, but also in tone and story development.
 
We were able to see a few more mutant beginnings like Cyclops and a younger Professor Xavier who saves the younger mutants at the end of the movie.
 
All in all, an enjoyable way to throw away 90 minutes of your life.
 
I should say something about the restroom facilities at this theatre. They do not have signs that read men or women, but emblems showing a silhouette of a woman in a dress, a silhouette of a man in a business suit and a third bathroom with one of each standing side by side. This one should be avoided unless you don’t mind women passing by you pointing and laughing while they watch you stand at a urinal.
 
© 2009 Mark Edgemon

Mark Edgemon is a writer in his spare mind and runs a studio production company during the day.

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