Posted by The early critics’ reviews of the new movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as well as a perusal of Rotten Tomatoes have not been good. The PG gave it 1 1/2 stars. Rotten Tomatoes gives it an aggregate 37%, with the top critics landing it an abysmal 18%.
This reminds me of a recent conversation I had with a friend, re: critics’ reviews. A basic summer blockbuster will have ridiculous plot holes, diverge from the original written story (if based up on one at all) in mind-boggling ways, and likely have horribly crafted dialogue. It’s intended to be a summer blockbuster – lots of explosions, action, maybe some teasing nudity. X-Men Wolverine apparently has that in spades.
A movie review shouldn’t be based on solely on whether it delivers the required schlock for its target audience. X-Men Wolverine will probably have one of the biggest opening weekends in recent memory after all. That won’t make it a great action movie or just another well-marketed one.
A critical review, on the hand, should help us differentiate even between good summer blockbusters and mediocre ones. Movies like like Dark Knight do a good job of delivering some level of escapism and explosions and still not manage to make us scratch our heads in disbelief at the plot or cringe at the dialogue.
You can read the critics’ reviews of the movie for yourself and agree/disagree with them. I have a feeling I will likely agree with the critics but still enjoy the movie. It probably won’t rank up there with Batman Begins or The Incredibles but that doesn’t mean it will be a failure. More likely, just a-ok.
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