May 3, 2009
An unbelievably silly and disappointing film. Not quite as bad as Van Helsing, but way below the other X-Men movies (yes, even the ghastly mess that was X-Men 3) in every way - an utterly predictable plot, massive internal inconsistency, feeble and unconvincing character development, infantile ethos, unoriginal FX and, I'm afraid, piss-poor acting. Apart from the nice girlfriend and the bad boy (a splendidly menacing but sadly under-used Liev Schreiber) you have already seen every bit of this story if you have watched X-Men 2.
It seems to have been designed to showcase Hugh Jackman's increasingly over-developed arms and torso - certainly not his acting talents, as he isn't required to do much more than roar, grunt, and look cross (he has no-one but himself to blame, as he produced). Body-building is actually an excellent metaphor for the movie. Viewers will no doubt appreciate that if you pump up certain muscle groups so that they are bulgy and shiny and covered with popping veins, it has the effect of making certain other body parts look smaller by comparison and thus undermining the very effect it wants to create. Jackman is not yet a grotesque caricature of a human being, but he should watch out, as the pumped arms in fact draw attention to his rather delicate, feminine hands. I say no more.
It seems to have been designed to showcase Hugh Jackman's increasingly over-developed arms and torso - certainly not his acting talents, as he isn't required to do much more than roar, grunt, and look cross (he has no-one but himself to blame, as he produced). Body-building is actually an excellent metaphor for the movie. Viewers will no doubt appreciate that if you pump up certain muscle groups so that they are bulgy and shiny and covered with popping veins, it has the effect of making certain other body parts look smaller by comparison and thus undermining the very effect it wants to create. Jackman is not yet a grotesque caricature of a human being, but he should watch out, as the pumped arms in fact draw attention to his rather delicate, feminine hands. I say no more.