X-Men Origins: Jimmy. Out of all the names, why Jimmy?

So after the commercial success of the three X-Men movies, a logical thing to do would be to give a spin-off to one of the most recognizable members of the team, Wolverine, giving him a backstory that was barely told in X-Men 2... and jumping the gun a bit here, barely told in this movie as well. People hated this movie, and can't say I blame them, though I at least have a few more personal things to add to the story, such as somehow ending up with a leaked, unfinished version of it on my R4 when I was younger, so I have the distinct "pleasure" of saying I've watched a full movie on my DS... no, I am not reviewing that one. It doesn't need it.

I swear, take the title out of that and I'd believe you if you told me this was a poster for X-Men 3

The story basically runs through Jimmy's (again, why Jimmy? Logan is fine for a name!) history with the Weapon X program. Including participating in every war since the US Civil War (for some reason), obtaining the Adamantium with a totally not X-Force, getting the Adamantium grafted onto his bones... and then nothing but filler as he realises that William Stryker is the bad guy ("something he does such a magnificent job hiding that I find it very hard to believe that anyone would believe he is a bad guy, even when taking out the fact that he was the villain in X2 and stick purely to the whole genetic engineering side to him and the fact that he wanted to level a village for the sake of getting some metal"). In an attempt to shut the program down, after learning about all the other experiments happening, learning that his brother and believed to be dead girlfriend were on Stryker's side but go against him once they stop acting like idiots, is forced to go toe to toe with Stryker's greatest experiment, but before the big battle, some guy in spandex comes and kills him and... crap, wrong movie. Insert a big battle with Weapon XI, being shot with an Adamantium bullet to give him his trademark amnesia, Professor X cameos to take the experimented mutants away, including Cyclops who's in this movie for... some reason... and that's it, the movie's over. Like with Amazing Spider-Man, the script itself is generic, and a complete mess, but it doesn't have the advantage of the cast trying, with the exception of Ryan Reynolds, both in the original cut of the movie, thanks to the start of the movie, and the 2018 cut where he kills Weapon XI.

Can you play "Guess the Mutant" with this photo? I can't!

The reason I'm referring to Ryan Reynolds character as Weapon XI and not Wade Wilson (more commonly referred to as Deadpool), stems from a big issue with the direction of this movie. Almost none of these characters are recognizable. I enjoy this movie's take on Gambit, and Hugh Jackman is basically a living Wolverine (though you can tell in this movie that he isn't really trying), everyone else though... I had to be told later on that they were in this movie because they're so badly done. I didn't know Weapon XI was Deadpool until 2012, where I had to be told by a friend of mine that he was in the movie, and didn't know Logan's brother was meant to be Sabertooth until two weeks ago. While it's true that when I first saw this movie, I didn't know who Deadpool was, I was familiar with Sabertooth thanks to the original X-Men. It also brings up continuity issues because you'd think that your brother would, at some point in the decade-ish between the movies, Sabertooth would say "Yo, I hear you lost your memory, I'm your brother". There are actually numerous issues of continuity in this movie which makes me wonder if this was even supposed to tie into the previous three movies in the first place. Going back to how drastically different from the source material a lot of these characters are, the only mutant in this that I like is Will I Am's character. Why? Because it's an "original" character for the movie, and the guy just wanted to be basically himself but with Nightcrawler's teleporting ability. I honestly wouldn't mind seeing more of that kind of mentality.

First, can you blame me for not thinking this was Deadpool? Second, no one thought this was a bad idea because...?

In terms of presentation, it's hard to explain. Not because it's good or bad, but because it is so dull at it's best moments that I can't describe how dull it is without making it sound better or worse than it really is. When it's not dull, it's so laughably outdated with its effects, and stunts that it thinks is still cool that it's hard to take anything seriously. At least with Amazing Spider-Man, the script was the movie's biggest issue. Here? next to nothing feels good. The best it gets to is "Meh, it's alright". Would I still recommend watching it?... Kinda? While the movie itself isn't interesting, the mindset that went into it is, and I recommend watching it too see just how far removed things can be from a source. It's an interesting watch for those who want to direct these kinds of movies. The joys of culture in its many forms, it always inspires the next generation in some form. From creative but forgetful of its roots, too "oh scrap, we need to play catch up fast!", it's back to Sony with The Amazing Spider-Man 2... at least I have things to look forward too at the end of the month...