DVD Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine/Frozen River

Published on Thursday 15 October 2009 18:58

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE FOX, £19.56 FROZEN RIVER AXIOM, £15.65

GIVEN that Hugh Jackman's star-making turn as the amnesiac mutant Wolverine in the first X-Men film helped kick-start the current boom in comic book movies, it's too bad that, less than a decade on, a character with a rich 35-year history in print form already looks so washed up. Blame the money-grubbing practices of Hollywood, which once again have taken something that was good and ruined it by desperately trying to bleed more revenue from it.

With the dismal X-Men 3 putting the kibosh on more sequels, the plan now seems to be to give the popular characters their own individual spin-off movies. Alas, it's a sign of how greedy and/or inept the X-Men franchise holders are that even though this first stand-alone film chooses a character whose origins were already comprehensively explored in the first two films, it can't even content itself with focusing on its titular hero. Instead it drops into the mix a whole slew of new, distracting, fanboy-courting characters, presumably in the hope of laying the groundwork for further spin-offs.

In any case, the cumbersomely titled X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which has been directed with no great distinction by Gavin Hood (Tsotsi), spends a lot of time rehashing stuff we already know or don't really care about (a major plot point is built around revealing how a character acquires a non-iconic piece of clothing). Jackman, meanwhile, may look the part with his pumped-up, sinewy flesh, but all that time he's clearly spent in the gym seems to have drained him of the humour, exuberance and depth of feeling he brought to the role in the first place.

Far better is Frozen River, which picked up a couple of surprise – and very well deserved – Oscar nominations earlier this year for best screenplay and best actress. The latter came courtesy of Melissa Leo for her raw, earthy performance as a desperate single mother in living on the Canadian border whose dire financial situation convinces her to engage in a dubious criminal enterprise with Lila (Misty Upham), a similarly beaten-down single mother who lives on the Mohawk reservation and earns a crust smuggling illegal immigrants across the border from Canada.

Debut writer/director Courtney Hunt has a great feel for the anxieties of her characters' poverty-row lives and she knows how to deliver the tension necessary to make a great high-stakes thriller.

&#149 To order these DVDs at the special price listed, call 01634 832789