X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) - Rating: 4 petals out of 5

An indestructible force meets immovable objects

Photos in this post are from http://www.picapp.com
(Spoiler Alert - This review may contain spoilers)

I am always amazed that scientists (mad or otherwise) create indestructible forces and then are surprised at how much damage they actually create. But I am getting ahead of the review. The creation of the near immortal wolverine does not come until about halfway into the film.

The movie stats in the 1800’s with a young James (Wolverine/Logan) who in an unfortunate manner realizes that he is a mutant and that he just killed his father. Not good for the young cub but luckily for him, his best friend (or one and only friend) also happens to be his brother by the father he just killed. Okay, so the kid had a rough night and a fairly rough life afterwards. Rough in the sense that these brothers only seem to spend their free time fighting in wars and getting themselves “killed”. During the war scenes it is painfully obvious by the disgusted looks that James gives his brother Victor (Sabertooth), that James is not enjoying himself very much. Another surprise is that Victor either ignores it for some 200 years or, he just does not realize it (also not plausible). So, James hangs around with his big bro for 2 centuries while hating Victor’s lust for collateral damage and not doing much about it except once in a while trying to stop him from completing the more heinous crimes. One wonders what he does not stop him from doing.

Things change for the bros when they meet Striker and join some other mutants on secret government missions. Well, not before long, James decides that he has had enough and walks out, leaving Victor a little sad and a lot peeved. Before he goes, the audience gets to see the other mutants in action. Ryan Reynolds has a great scene showcasing his sword fighting skills and pretty much steals the scenes he is in, including the ones at the end of the film.

In true action flick genre style, guy meets girl, falls in love, bad guys return, girl gets hurt and revenge rant leads to hero doing something unthinkable like becoming a human experiment for the government. And the meaner, tougher, stronger Wolverine is born. Cool, we’ve been waiting for this. After watching the first three X-Men films enquiring minds want to know how Logan becomes Wolverine, and now we know. Great – and again in true action flick fashion, the reason is stupid and avoidable. I can think of many different ways to seek revenge on the guilty party in this film, however none of them would have resulting in the adamantia (did I spell that right?)enforced Wolverine. So my reasons are mute.

Back to the review:

If Wolverine is the indestructible force, does that make Sabertooth the immovable object? Or is Striker the immovable one. These two are extremely focused on their goals, both of which included getting Wolverine to cooperate. And neither one dies in this portion of the storyline. Sabertooth reemerges in the first X-Men film and an older Striker comes back in the second. So we know that they live to see another day.

But the film is more action than substance. Luckily the actions scenes are good and nicely computer generated. There is also a scene with 2 old folks who resemble Superman’s foster parents complete with barn and pickup truck. The film works because it is loaded with good actors (not just superstars).

• Hugh Jackman is great as Wolverine, having played him in 3 previous films. He does both the action and comedic scenes with great finesse.
• Will –i-am is wonderful as John Wraith – who knew he could act.
• The other X-men, including Gambit are fun to watch. The actors really got into charater and were very convincing.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not as good as Iron Man (which gets 5 petals) but it does a few things right:

• It answers those questions X-Men fans wanted answered.
• The film introduced great X-Men characters who will probably be soon getting their own films.
• The picture has great stunts and good action sequences.
• There are some funny lines which help with all the action stuff.

So, 4 petals. I can’t give it 5 petals and it does not deserve 3.

Warning – the film contains partial nudity.