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Wolverine: Origin
R1 - America - Shout! Factory Review written by and copyright: Anthony Arrigo (24th August 2014). |
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The Film
 Ah, the origin story. If a series doesn’t nail it down in the beginning, chances are the only time they’ll come back around to it is when ideas are at a low and offering up exposition on once-mysterious characters seems like the only solution. Sometimes it works, but more often than not you wind up shattering the enigma that made a character work so well in the first place. The X-Men’s Wolverine has had his backstory told through dribs and drabs over the course of his many comic book and film appearances; an origin that has probably been retconned numerous times, which is the norm for comics. Surprisingly, he’s never had a full series devoted to explaining his shadowy past. Wolverine’s got a bit of a memory problem, relegating his history to little shards of a full recollection. That changed in November 2001, not long after director Bryan Singer’s “X-Men” (2000) turned out to be a worldwide smash. Suddenly, there was renewed interest in learning where Logan had come from, what made him the man he is today. Marvel commissioned a six-issue limited series that would open the floodgates and tell all about his early days. What’s interesting is that even the writers who worked on this series were hesitant to do so. Wolverine is a complicated dude, furtive, and shining a beacon on his nascent days isn’t completely necessary since that’s, you know, a major part of his appeal. Does it matter where he came from? Not really, but Marvel is in the business of selling comics, and with Wolverine’s popularity at an all-time high thanks to his feature film debut there was no way they’d let such a grand (if poorly conceived) opportunity slide on by. Set in the late 19th century in Canada, the story begins with a young orphaned girl, Rose (Kelly Sheridan), being shuttled up to the Howlett estate to be a companion for John Howlett’s ailing son, James (Alessandro Juliani). The two kids get along well and enjoy playing together on the grounds. They also spend some time with Dog Logan (Michael Dobson), son of the Howlett estate groundskeeper, Thomas (Brian Drummond). It should be mentioned that Thomas looks almost exactly like Wolverine, so much so he might as well be wearing a shirt that says “I’m Wolverine’s Dad”. Things have been sour between John and Thomas due to an ongoing feud involving, Elizabeth (Kathleen Barr), John’s wife and clearly Thomas’ lover. The children are driven apart because of it, and due to Thomas’ constant beatings of Dog the young boy grows up to be a wretched scumbag just like his old man. One night, after some heavy drinking, Thomas and Dog decide to rob the Howlett estate (if they hated them so much, why keep working there and living on the property?). Shocker – things go poorly. So poorly, in fact, that John is killed and James, in a fit of rage, proves that he is actually young Wolverine, and not Dog even though it was very obvious long ago that Thomas was the father and Elizabeth was nailing him. It’s also implied James’ older brother, who died during childbirth, was afflicted with the same mutation: bone claws. Thomas gets killed, Dog gets clawed in the face, and Elizabeth blows her head off. James and Rose go on the run. The next day James remembers nothing. He has no recollection of what happened to his parents or any of the people who were involved. He and Rose make their way to a stone quarry, where James, now being called Logan, a cover name Rose selected, the last name of the family that murdered his parents, gets a job. Couldn’t come up with anything else, Rose? Over the years Logan works hard, building up his physique and learning to hone his animal instincts. He no longer resembles the frail boy who arrived at camp and had his ass kicked many times. Rose lives with him, taking notes about all of their experiences together from childhood up through this point. Maybe her diary can jog his memory one day, since for right now he doesn’t want to know anything about his past. He becomes close with Smitty, the quarry foreman, but continues to have problems with Cookie, the obese on-site chef. Because Logan and Rose are undercover as cousins, Smitty sees no problem in courting her, which she reciprocates. Logan is hurt, but he can’t reveal his true feelings, leading him to take out his aggression in cage matches held at the camp. Smitty wants to run away with Rose, so he signs up for a cage match looking for quick money, eventually leading to a match with Logan, who allows Smitty to win on the condition he take care of Rose, treat her right. He agrees, but their pact is short-lived when Dog arrives at the camp, provoking Logan into a fight. During their skirmish, Rose is killed and Logan runs off into the woods, to live his life as an animal amongst the wolves. The biggest problem “Wolverine: Origin” faces is that, frankly, Wolverine’s origin sucks. The revelation that he’s the son of Thomas should surprise exactly no one, the decision to christen him Logan is even worse, and traits of his character are sprinkled throughout as a type of fan service but, really, it’s just eye rolling. Like how Smitty calls him “bub”. All of the mystery is suctioned right out of his character. The writing here feels sloppy and lazy, and the writers should have trusted their first instinct not to tackle such a needless project. They were right; Wolverine’s unknown history is a major part of the character’s appeal. By pulling back the curtain, Marvel has presented a rote history – parents killed, true love lost, hardships… this could have been anyone’s origin. Some things are best left unsaid.
Video
Marvel Knights’ animation output generally seems to conform to the style presented within their comics – which makes perfect sense given that this is basically the printed page supplemented by movement. That being said, the 1.78:1 16x9 anamorphic image is competent in all the right areas – color is accurate, detail is as strong as each frame allows, contrast is good – but the actual source from which this film is derived is all over the place. Some frames are beautiful, very artsy, with excellent details, shading and color. Other frames are an ugly mess, devoid of form and sloppily put together. It’s almost obvious what was a splash page and what was a throwaway frame. Technically, there’s not much wrong with the picture here; artistically (which also means subjectively), there’s much that could look a whole lot better. If you read the comic you probably know what to expect; if not, know that scenes go from good to great to bad at any given time.
Audio
As usual, this is another robust, active English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound track. Shout Factory! absolutely kills it on these releases, with strong fidelity and powerful sound that almost overwhelms at times. The sound effects are many and discreet, coming through all corners of the room to really pull viewers into the comic world. Just listen to the roar of the crowd during the film’s cage matches, or even something as subtle as someone coughing in a room. I’ve said it before, but some major motion pictures don’t mix effects this well. During the fight scenes, bodily hits register with real force and weight. Once again, this is another strong effort. There are no subtitles.
Extras
These Marvel Knights releases are always light on bonus features, this release being no exception. Just a couple featurettes are found here. “Creating the Story of Wolverine” (16x9 1.78:1) is a featurette that runs for 12 minutes and 50 seconds. Some of Marvel’s creative team, including Joe Quesada, speaks about putting together this prestige title, which they wanted to have focus more on characters and less on major action scenes. More than one person also mentions the reluctance to tell Wolverine’s story. “Creating the Art of Wolverine” (16x9 1.78:1) is a featurette that runs for 15 minutes and 18 seconds. As the title suggests, this piece looks at the artwork created for the series. The team wanted a cohesive look through every issue, so lots of collaboration was required to achieve that.
Packaging
The single disc comes housed just as all the Marvel Knights animated films do: in a thin cardboard package that opens like a book, with the disc housed on a clear tray inside.
Overall
Wolverine is one of the most popular comic book characters of all time, but a large part of that popularity stems from his nebulous upbringing. Shining a light on his past might not have been such a bad idea if the story were strong, but it isn’t.
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