Last night, I stayed up to watch the 12:01AM showing of the new X-men Origins: Wolverine movie. Easily, I could say that this movie is not worth losing sleep over.

Heralded as the "first film of the Summer," Origins is action-packed but not quite a blockbuster. The fight scenes are average for the most part, but are short and lack depth. The fighting skills of Wolverine seem childish and elementary, while the sequences are altogether predictable. The special effects are up to expectations but are not cutting-edge as there is not much fascination of how it was done. Hugh Jackman as a physically convincing Wolverine is still palatable and the casting overall is well done, a remainder leftover from the X-Men films.

Simply on a the level of basic film mechanics, Origins is sloppy and has many shoddy elements. The editing is choppy and it seems almost as if the editor did not have enough time or attention to weave the story together in a cohesive manner. Besides the inaccurate plot points [which will be discussed later], the film's focus is lost as the direction is muddled by the interjected cameos of other mutant stars. All of the characters, including that of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), are not developed completely and appear to be half-baked. Even for a sharp viewer, these elements are distracting and take away from the complete movie going experience.

Unlike DC, Marvel is often known for their use of humor in the comic books as well as the films. While these conventions were strong in films like Spider-Man, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, there is simply a lack of connection with the audience in Origins. The use of classic Wolverine phraseology is contrived and ill-placed; it seems as if the writers were begrudgingly forced to put those words in the script.

If you are a X-Men comics reader, disappointment is unavoidable simply because of the detraction from the original story. Each of these straying factors create a weaker more sensitive Wolverine character that is not true to the comic book. The story starts off in a with the classic tone of the X-Men movies, with a past anecdote. This plot line unnecessarily links two characters who, although have similar ties, are not linked by blood.

**WARNING: Spoilers ahead**

Wolverine and his arch-nemesis Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) do have a long history, but by no means are brothers [though it has been implied, but never concretely established in the comics]. Since they are depicted as brothers in the film, Wolverine has a very soft corner for Sabretooth which eventually does not override his hate. Film and comic book fans alike know that Logan is a warrior; he wears dog tags and has the classic loaner soldier persona. In the movie, Wolverine is shown as less of a soldier but more as a compassionate individual. Sure, Wolverine always has the internal struggle between man and animal, however, it is a well known fact that Wolverine does not become less of an animal until he is under the guidance of Professor Charles Xavier. In Origins, it almost makes it seem as if Wolverine was more of a man prior to this encounter which just is not accurate. He was a ruthless soldier, more similar to Sabretooth's character than different.

Along those same lines, there are a number of other plot hiccups which hinder the evolution of other Marvel characters. The mercenary Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is correctly shown as another subject of the Weapon X Program, but his outcome is much different in the movie than in the comic book. Mutants were not captured to take their powers to create an ultimate fighting machine, the result being Deadpool. In the comic book, Wade Wilson volunteers for the Weapon X program in hopes of curing his terminal cancer. He does become outwardly disfigured as a result, but had amazing healing power, and his disease is cured. Wade gets the moniker Deadpool after being experimented on countless times after his Weapon X treatment, and surviving the process. The film cuts around this story and makes it seem as if Deadpool was more of a Frankenstein of mutant powers which is wrong.

Gambit a.k.a. Remy Lebeau (Taylor Kitsch) was another draw to see this movie. As a child, I loved The Uncanny X-Men cartoon and observing any character that I know by both comic and cartoon is a treat. Plus, there was little to no mention of Gambit in the past X-Men movies [except when Mystique is looking through mutant files in the first film, and "Remy Lebeau" is one of them]. As mentioned before, many of the mutants after our own hearts were given little play; Gambit falls into that category. He is thrown into the pot of the film with little regard to who he is or the role he later plays as an X-Men. This Marvel hero was always a little bit over-the-top and a showman whereas the Gambit in the film seems lukewarm and uninterested. His accent is not even close to that of a New Orleans native, and does not come across as the recognizable "Ragin' Cajun."

The film was strange in the sense as it seemed to transplant the Wolverine we left in X-Men: The Last Stand into his past. He seems very similar to that character even in the beginning of Origins which takes away any development that we may have thought he had in the past films. He is not the warrior Wolverine that comic-book-fan-turned-viewers may be expecting and instead is more of the same character that viewers learned to love in the past trilogy. This tactic, which was probably supposed to help the audience connect with the protagonist, hindered any hope of that happening. Conclusively, this movie needed to be strong in plot, character development, and direction since it is the beginning of Wolverine's story but instead lost focus in a number of ways.

It is a Marvel movie so if you love the comic book you will probably go see it, just as you have seen Daredevil, The Hulk (2003), and maybe even Electra. Unfortunately, this film is not so much better than any of those and does not tap the echelon of quality established by the X-Men trilogy, Spider-Man films or any of the Marvel releases of last year. If you see X-Men Origins: Wolverine, do make sure to stay for the credits until the end. Two rotten Easter eggs for the price of one, however, still does not save this film from falling flat on its face.