X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Rating: 3

I went to the movie not expecting much, just another comic book action film.  It was pretty much that.  Some pretty crazy action scenes and a lot of killing.  I definitely did not have a greater desire to do good afterwards, more like a desire to leap tall buildings and destroy anything in my way.  There is quite a bit of confusion between what is good and what is evil throughout the movie, though it's made a little more clear who's on which side at the end, but not entirely.

[Spoiler Alert] Wolverine's 6 year relationship with Kayla is supposed to make you feel sorry for him when she gets killed, and you do, but just not as much as you would had he decided to get married and really live a life different than what he did in the past.  His past is clouded with memories of killing (granted it was in war) and who knows what other type of atrocities (his brother is seen almost raping a woman and revelling in his murders).  Wolverine just never really turns into "the good guy" in this movie.  At various moments Wolverine finds himself on the edge of becoming like his brother, but something always seemed to stop him from finishing the fatal act.

Perhaps this is a good example of man's struggle to find out who he really is and where he belongs.  So many people don't know who they are or where they come from or why they are here, those in Hollywood probably falling entirely in this category.  I realize this is a form of art and everyone interprets it differently and it's really irrelevant what the author's purpose was in including everything in the film, so we've got to make a decision as to how it is to us.  I'd be interested to hear if anyone else got anything more out of the film.

I would not recommend this to someone who doesn't enjoy full-blown action movies, but if you enjoyed X-Men it's cool to see how Wolverine came to be, at least according to the director, Gavin Hood.

Update

After thinking more about this show and seeing it a second time, I really do like it.  There is a strong moral message that I didn't seem to pay much attention to.  Wolverine ends up leaving his family (brother) because what he and others do does not sit well at all with him.