After Brett Ratner single-handedly felled the franchise when he took over for X-Men 3, I had few expectations for the first in the prequel trilogy, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Having said that, those expectations were met but never succeeded.

As far as basic structure, plot development and protagonist/antagonist establishment go, it’s all there. The important lesson learned is that mutants don’t kill people; people kill mutants and furthermore make mutants look bad by killing other people. There is a neat little twist at rug pulling, then an open ended ending so we know X-Men Origins: The Rest of the Guys, is on it’s way eventually to a theater near you.

The major failings script wise are the characters and number one is Wolverine; he’s just no fun with all his intensity and seriousness and constantly howling in rage. A one note presence, his arc is non-existent. Getting shot point blank in the head and losing your memory is not necessarily character development.

Sabretooth and Gambit are wildly more interesting and one yearns for them to come back ASAP when they are out of the scene.

Sabretooth and Stryker vie for antihero status here; ultimately Stryker wins out as he’s more in balance. But exactly what are his motivations? We get a nano-second scene and a line of dialogue as explanation. Might I suggest less howling and more character motivation?

Could have been better, could have been worst, definitely a fumble for the summer movie season kick off, X-Men Origins: Wolverine gets four lemons. More Gambit would have helped considerably, I’m just saying…