Wolverine script review

From collider, Mere days ago I regaled you all with tales of a Magneto script. I’ve always made mine Marvel Mutants, so I’m also going to have to drop Wolverine on you as well. And in case you’re wondering what version I read, it’s the David Benioff draft with revisions by David Ayer dated 6/1/06.

The Story

Wolverine is a prequel. I don’t think that’s news.

When it starts, Logan only pops bone claws and they don’t make that lovely SNIKT sound. He’s living out his life as a lumberjack in Maine with a lovely lady (Silverfox) by his side. He’s blissfully unaware that Victor Creed trolls America, killing random mutants. That is until Stryker shows up one day asking Logan to come back to the fold. Though Logan says no, an encounter with Creed sends him on the path of revenge… which of course leads to the doors at Alkali Lake, the waiting arms of Stryker and some superheated Adamantium.

The Skinny

To start off, let me just say that I wouldn’t be averse to David Goyer tackling nearly all comic book properties. To compare his use of language in Magneto and David Benioff’s Wolverine is like comparing a thesis paper to a high school senior’s college essay. Sure, that college essay is most likely better than much of what you see out there, but the thesis kicks it up a hundred notches. An example of this – the writer neglects to really set the time period in which this occurs. This makes it hard to logic out exactly where we stand in terms of what we already know from the X-Men trilogy.

As a script, Magneto had more depth. Wolverine has more bar fights. That makes sense though. I don’t think viewers walk into a movie about Wolvie expecting to toil over the issues that have long plagued human existence. They want him to pop claws and take out bad guys. To that end, your asses are covered.

My inner fan boy (which is pretty much an outtie at this point) was a bit pissed off at the inclusion of Heather and James Hudson’s names as characters, but not hide nor hair of their comic book counterparts to be read. It was almost like they are included as an Easter egg, but improperly. Because of the X-Men movies, the experimentation done on Logan is done by the United States government, not the Canadians. Any die hard Alpha Flight fans out there (yes, all three of you) will have the message boards clogged with the treatment of the Hudson’s. The production would be well-advised to do a simple name change. Beak makes another cameo, though his characterization is a shade more in line with the comic book. Christopher Nord shows up as Stryker’s lackey Agent Zero (not Maverick). Rounding out the Weapon X files is Texas’s own John Wraith.

Ultimately, this is a watered-down version of Barry Windsor-Smith’s Weapon X storyline that ran through Marvel Comics Presents. It hits the beats, but it lacks the gristle. Had I read this script before Magneto, I might feel better about it. By no means is it bad, it’s just not as good as the source material. Not X-Men 2 or X-Men good, but not X-Men 3 bad.

The Final Word

Prediction:

Hard core comic book fans will say the book was better.

Fans of the X-Men films will go, “Yay! He said Bub!” and enjoy the ride.