X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Released: 2009

MPAA rating: PG-13

Run time: 1:47

Being a bit of a comic-book geek and a fan of "Wolverine" and the prior X-Men films, you can expect this review to be totally biased. On top of that, I think Hugh Jackman was a great casting choice to play Wolverine. This latest movie takes the X-Men franchise in a different direction. They are now making films that center around one character and their origin story. It is a wise choice to start with fan favorite Wolverine. We follow Wolverine from his childhood with a life-changing incident and then, after a title sequence tracing his history, along with that of his brother, Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber) aka "Sabretooth", though that name is never used in the movie, we meet up with Wolverine as a man serving in the military. He becomes disenchanted with how much some of his squad mates enjoy killing (especially Victor) and looks to lead a normal life. Of course, this secret elite branch of the military is not quite done with him, so much of the film tracks his conflicts with William Stryker (Danny Huston), his former CO and leader of the squad. Alongside that, you have the sibling rivalry of Wolverine and his brother, which becomes an "only one can survive" hatred of each other. It is this aspect that causes Wolverine to agree to the experimental procedure which grafts adamantium (an indestructible metal) to his skeleton, including his retractable claws. The movie is exciting with some great battles and set pieces. The performances are pretty good and Liev Schreiber was a great addition. The entire movie takes place prior to the events of the first 3 X-Men movies. Despite my affection for this material, the film did have some flaws. At times, it tried to hard to be visually "cool": In each of the confrontations between Wolverine and his brother, they begin with the "schwing" of the claws, Wolverine beginning to run at his brother, while Creed goes down and runs "cat-like" toward Wolverine. It had a cool look the first time. By the third, it was like, yeah, OK, we got it. My other complaint was what they did with Deadpool/Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds). After a brief scene early in the film where his character is sort of established, he disappears most of the film, only to turn up as this WTF "creature" at the end that was just a little too over the top for me. I was looking forward to Deadpool getting his own movie, but less so after seeing what they made him into. Overall, you have a fun action movie that comic book fans should like, not love: nothing more, nothing less.

Grade: B-

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