I confess that I love comic-book superheroes. And I have for as long as I can remember. Judging from the long list of movies based on decades-old comic-book characters that have been released in the last few years, I’m not alone. In fact, one could argue that the first decade of the 21st Century has been the era of the superhero in film. So many comic-book franchises have elevated successfully to the screen in the last 10 years – 3 Spiderman films, 2 Batman films, 3 X-Men films, 2 versions of The Incredible Hulk (one that sucked and one that was passable) and, of course, last summer’s demographic-bending blockbuster, Iron Man. (Yes, you’re right. I am omitting a few that were panned by critics or were box-office failures to make my point.)
Why do so many of these films work? For starters, they feature exquisite special effects. But beyond that I believe there is a trend. The best ones seem to be those who make the unreal look real. Spiderman was crawling up real buildings in New York City, and swinging down actual streets in Manhattan. Movies that try too hard to emulate the vibrant or lurid environment of a comic book or graphic novel don’t seem to draw as many viewers. My theory is that all the filmmakers are doing is animating the familiar. Big crowds come to see the same old stuff in a new and exciting wrapper. That’s why so many action flicks do so well.
But good mechanics clearly aren’t the whole story. The most successful recent superhero epics also have had a heavy dose of drama. Some of it gut-wrenching. The Dark Knight is the prime example. That movie was so emotionally dense that the actor who played the villain – Heath Ledger as the Joker – won a posthumous Oscar.
Which finally brings me to X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Yes, it has the usual trappings of success: Star power in Hugh Jackman playing the title role, and a healthy special effects budget. But those elements didn’t cloud the drama, which seems to be what sinks so many efforts in this genre. And it’s the drama in Wolverine that makes it an enjoyable ride.
Why does the drama work? I wouldn’t be the first to offer a theory or two about how superheroes tap into the American psyche. So I won’t travel that well-worn path. Instead, let me look beneath the cobblestones instead. It struck me that the title character and all the other troubled mutants in the story are trading on the same appeal that has made Greek mythology so timeless. In my freshman lit class in high school, Edith Hamilton’s “Mythology” was required reading. As we explored the trials and tribulations of the crew on Mount OIympus, we discussed how the basic conflict in all the relationship between human kind and the gods was that regular people wanted to be like the gods – and the gods apparently wanted to be like regular people. Zeus had a goddess for a wife in his penthouse in the clouds, but he was always chasing hotties down on earth. Three goddesses – Hera, Athena and Aphrodite – apparently enjoyed watching buff dudes flex and sweat so much that they created the Trojan War and made sure it dragged on for years. And generation after generation of people form all walks of life enjoy hearing these stories over and over. Hamilton’s work was first published in 1942.
That’s what seems to be going on in Wolverine. The title character and all the bizarre, twisted and torn mutants surrounding him seem to playing out the Olympus Syndrome. They have tremendous gifts. Wolverine appears to be invincible and immortal, for heaven’s sake! But none of them are happy unless they are messing with people. All those muties have their own flavor of obsession with the regular folk – they despise them, love them, resent them, manipulate them, envy them, and so on – just like their predecessors from antiquity did.
So, sure, watching metal claws slide out of Jackman’s knuckles is cool. And watching his epic battle bring down the cooling towers on Three Mile Island (suggesting that mutants were the true cause of that famous 70s disaster) was a kick. But I believe I enjoyed Wolverine for the same reason that I – and so many other people over the centuries – have enjoyed tales of the Greek gods. They may be babes and hunks with dazzling powers, but they all have bigger problems and foibles than me.
--Reviewed by Bob Dirkes
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