X-Men Origins: Wolverine: More blah than anything.

All of the elements were there to make X-Men Origins: Wolverine a solid entry into the spectacular series of X-Men films (well, X-Men: The Last Stand wasn't all that great thanks to the craptacular direction of Brett Ratner). Hugh Jackman was returning to the lead role, the cast was rounded out with other credible actors including Liev Schreiber and Ryan Reynolds and it was being helmed by a respected director in Gavin Hood. But that's the thing about expectations, (especially for big summer blockbuster films), sometimes what you are expecting does not even come close to what you get.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine failed to echo the first two X-Men films in story, character development, action and even fun. The director of those first two X-Men films, Bryan Singer, took the time to cultivate the stories and the characters within them. He developed both the heroes and villains and, through their development and that of the plot/story, was able to draw the audience into the film emotionally so that when the action and tension arose one could not help but watch intently at each individual characters' internal struggles as well as their physical ones on the battlefield. Singer was able to create a full and rich X-Men universe that not only entertained the masses through effective action sequences but also created memorable characters that audience members could relate to on a personal level. Unfortunately those kinds of things were missing in Wolverine. Hugh Jackman was unable to do much emoting, if any at all, as his range of emotions went from silent to snarling and that was about it. Hood tried to get across his internal conflict of not wanting to become what it was he seemed to be bred for but it failed to connect and came across as maudlin at best. The same could be said for the rest of that "credible" cast I mentioned earlier, who seemed like window dressing at best (here's a note to all casting directors, not all rappers can act. Will. I. Am looked as out of place in the film as Kenny Rogers in a rap video).

In the end, X-Men Origins: Wolverine mirrored X-Men: The Last Stand in its silliness and lack of subtlety, choosing to treat the audience like a gaggle of five year olds and throw a ton of action sequences and special effects at them (some of which looked so amateurish that one could not help but laugh) in the hopes that they would not notice how truly bad it was.

Grade: D+

Superman Returns: And what a return.

In this day and age of constant Hollywood adaptations of classic comic book heroes a relaunching of one of the most popular, Superman, seemed like a sure fire box office smash. But when this film was released, it was met with mixed emotions from fanboys and critics alike. But unlike most superhero films, Superman Returns shines.

After a five year search for his home planet, Superman returns to earth. However he finds a great number of things have changed. There are some people that think the world does not even need him around anymore. But when his arch enemy Lex Luthor hatches an evil plan to destroy billions of lives, Superman will once again take up the mantle as protector of the planet.

In re – launching the Superman franchise, director Bryan Singer made a wise decision to not simply retell his origin and rehash what was covered in the first Superman film. Instead, Singer and the film’s screenwriters used the story of his return to ponder, in a broader sense, if the world truly needs superheroes at all. He then set about filling the screen with impressive action, treating the audience to the whole menagerie of Superman’s powers and resplendently composed shots which could take their collective breaths away. Some true action fans might have been disappointed that there was not more fighting and henchman butt – kicking in the film but what separated this film from other recent comic book to film adaptations (and made the first two X-Men films which Singer directed so good) were the directors’ ability to make those quiet moments in the movie so human and sincere. Yes the audience got to see Superman fly around, save lives and other spectacular feats, but that also got to see him interact with Lois Lane as they tried to hash out their personal relationship and grapple with the inner turmoil of trying to be the earth’s savior again. It was those quiet moments which made the return of Superman a film to remember. The lack of enough action could have also been due to the main villain of the movie. Kevin Spacey effectively tore up the screen as Lex Luthor, giving him the kind of snobby flair the character demanded, but his evil plan to destroy the world felt feeble and made Luthor look like nothing more than an evil land developer and not a proper nemesis for The Man of Steel.

Grade: B