X-Men Origins: Wolverine is the first big blockbuster of the summer (or second if you count Watchmen), and the first big disappointment of the summer (or, again second if you count Watchmen). Don't get me wrong; it's a movie that's filled with all of the explosive action one expects from a summer blockbuster, but it lacks any sense of purpose beyond getting from one big fight scene to another. Lots of people have asked if I liked Wolverine, as it's one of the movies I was really looking forward to this summer, and I was forced to say that I would have been fine skipping it.

Remember how Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was mostly made up of left over parts from Raiders of the Lost Ark? It was all of the ideas and action set pieces they couldn't cram into the first film; they just needed some sort of story to put around them. And that's exactly what that movie felt like: leftovers with thin strands of story to tie them together (although I still like the movie).

X-Men Origins: Wolverine has a very similar feel. It feels like all the things they didn't get to do with Wolverine in the X-Men trilogy is used here, along with some fan-boy service thrown in for good measure ("Wouldn't it be cool if Wolverine fought this guy?" "No, it'd be even cooler if he fought THIS guy!" "Dude, lets find a way where he could do both!" "Sweet!"). Yeah, that's pretty much what this movie is, which doesn't sound like such a bad idea, until you actually see it.

In the X-Men movies, Wolverine has had a sort of sardonic charm that made him more interesting than just another brooding anti-hero. Unfortunately, this time out when Wolvie finally gets his own movie, we don't get to see much of that side of him; we mostly get to see him get angry and destroy stuff, or get angry and kill people, or sometimes get angry and do both. Now I know that's what Wolverine is the best at, but there's more to him than that, and this film doesn't do a good job of revealing that.

What this movie does do a good job at is setting up fight sequences and for cool looking poses. I can't remember the last time I saw a film where it was so obvious that someone was telling the actors "You know what would look cool, if you all stood like this!" and that they did so for so many scenes. Don't get me wrong; the action stuff is pretty cool, but as is often a common lament in films like this, many of the best parts were already revealed in the trailer. Not all of them, mind you, but enough to make you feel like you've seen most of what takes place somewhere before. Plus, when it's obvious the motivation of a movie is to just get from one fight scene to the next it's hard to care about what's going on because, well, nothing is really going on except for the next fight.

I also have to admit I was concerned about the inclusion of so many mutants in this story that was supposed to be about the origins of Wolverine. In fact, I think this could have been a much better story if a bunch of that excess baggage would have been cut. When I saw the trailers, I really wasn't excited about the inclusion of Scott Summers (Cyclops) in this movie, but begrudgingly I must admit it works in setting up the trilogy and Summers' actual appearances are short. In fact, that's the case with just about all of the guest characters. The problem is there are just so many of them that they end up diluting what could have and should have been a solid origin story focused solely on Wolverine.

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