Published: Wednesday, 24th June, 2009 11:11am

The great summer of films? Perhaps not

by Geek Chic

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Summer's started early this year, at least in film terms. Several of the big summer releases have hit our screens already, and so far, barring Star Trek there's been nothing that's really stood out as film of the year fodder.

In fact most of the big franchises to grace the cinema have been disappointing to say the least, as well as plagued with troubles ranging from furious leading men to piracy fears - although, frankly, in the case of the latter, in hindsight you can understand why Fox was worried, because if I'd known how bad Wolverine was going to be in advance I wouldn't have bothered seeing it at the cinema either.

The latest installment in the X-Men franchise was as dire as the naysayers feared it would be, leaving the prospects of a Magneto movie seeming even less alluring. I'm going to gloss over Gambit seemingly being parachuted in via The OC, with none of the moral ambiguity, cajun charm or, erm, indeed character of any sort shown in the comics, as frankly when I think about it I want to start gnashing my teeth. Honestly. Fine, Josh Holloway (Lost's Sawyer) doesn't want to do it? That's fair enough. But can we have someone vaguely decent in there please? Clearly not. Dire plot, Hugh Jackman phoning in his performance (Liev Schrieber was good though) and even the couple of nods to the geeks didn't alleviate my dismay. Wow. Emma Frost inexplicably pops up in a random cameo? I actually don't care.

Marginally better was Terminator: Salvation, which at least had a genuinely jaw dropping cameo and a couple of well worn phrases appear in fun fashion. You know what you're going to get with a Terminator film, and this was as bleak and apocalyptic as it gets, way better than T3 and cementing Anton Yelchin's position as the actor of the summer (and so much more than his Russian accent as Chekov).

Transformers 2. Well. I don't think there's anything I can say to better Roger Ebert's review of this monstrosity. So I shall just link to him and promise you that reading this review is 372 per cent more fun than actually seeing the film, and doesn't involve having to stand in a queue for popcorn. Check it out http://tinyurl.com/mbu73h

So what do we have to look forward to? G I Joe, which despite my initial scorn is actually looking like it could be dumb fun. Dragonball Z which isn't. And Tarantino's latest which, as well as the less-than-stellar reviews is so typo-laden in the headline it makes me grumpy in a way I haven't been since The Pursuit of Happyness came out.

So what are YOU looking forward to seeing this summer? And what's your verdict on the big releases of the year so far? Have your say in the comments below.