X-Men Origins: Wolverine

This movie should come with a warning label: DO NOT WATCH WITH A COMIC BOOK FAN UNLESS THEY ARE THE (NON-EXISTENT) TYPE WHO LIKES TO PAUSE THE MOVIE AND ANSWER 'STUPID' QUESTIONS. My husband is not that type of comic book fan. (Did you guess that?) I'm not sure, but he may regret that he chose this movie.

I've never been into comic books, but I have seen all of the X-Men movies. I actually kind of have fond memories of X-Men: The Last Stand because Hud and I went to the theater to see it two weeks before our third child was born. I'm still waiting for the sequel to that one (and if you noticed the chess piece moving at the end, you're probably waiting for the sequel too). According to imdb, I'll just have to keep waiting for it, because they're working on a sequel to this one instead.

This movie seemed darker and less bubble-gum than the original X-Men movie. I also thought it seemed more comic-book-y (I based this opinion on Gambit attacking by tossing a deck of cards like belt-fed Chinese throwing stars) but Hud disagreed. And since he knows comic books far better than I do, I will have to defer to him.

Wolverine is my favorite of the X-Men, but only because under all of that silly facial hair he's still Hugh Jackman. Well, also because he spends a good bit of the movie shirtless or in that nice tight wife-beater you see in the picture. Just look at those shoulders! Oops, I'm drooling.

This movie is for comic book fans. Or Hugh Jackman fans who can manage to block out icky facial hair.

Australia

I was surprised by this movie in several different ways. First, I was surprised that my husband really liked this movie and encouraged me to watch it. (After I watched it myself I was even more surprised by this fact). Second, and I am not sure why, but I had previously had the idea that this was a musical (maybe because of Moulin Rouge, also directed by Baz Luhrmann), but it wasn't, although the Aborigine boys did sing occasionally, and the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was kind of a theme throughout the movie.

I found it interesting how the little Aborigine boy, Nullah, who was basically adopted by Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman's characters, seemed to be the keeper of all the secrets. He doled those secrets out in such a tantalizing manner without even realizing the power those secrets held. With the information he held, he could have manipulated all the people and situations surrounding him, but he was too forthright and innocent to even see this possiblity; and if he had seen the possibility he would not have desired it.

One warning--this is a long movie, so plan accordingly. Two hours and 45 minutes! I had to watch it over two nights because I couldn't hack staying up late enough to watch it all in one night. But that worked out pretty well anyway, as this movie had several "endings" (after the cattle drive... at the ball...) In fact, this might have made a better TV series.