X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Built on a foundation of wild and woolly fun, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is way better than it has any business being. Directed by Gavin Hood, the South African filmmaker behind the incredible Tsotsi, this is one superhero movie that plays the angles properly and comes across with a neat story bolstered by good performances and some pretty exciting action sequences.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a background story of the popular Marvel Comics superhero. Writer David Benioff used the Weapon X storyline from Barry Windsor-Smith as well as Chris Claremont’s comic series from 1982. In some ways, the movie could be considered a prequel to the X-Men series of films. The X-Men Origins series is expected to take off, too, with several other characters receiving their own planned features.

Hugh Jackman stars as the titular character. We are given some set-up, of course, that includes the first appearance of his claws back when he was a child (Troye Sivan) in 1845. The claws, originally made of bone, send young James fleeing with his brother Victor Creed (Michael-James Olsen). The two grow up together, with Victor (Liev Schreiber) and James fighting in various wars and eventually joining up with a man named Stryker (Danny Huston) in order to more effectively use their talents.

Stryker operates Team X, a group of mutants. Eventually, James leaves the group due to their disregard for the consequences of their actions and heads off to the Canadian Rockies to live. He changes his name to Logan and lives with Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins) in relative harmony. One day, however, their peaceful lives are changed forever when Victor reappears and causes some trouble. This leads Logan to dedicate his life to revenge and he goes back to Stryker for help. Stryker infuses him with adamantium and Wolverine heads out on his quest for revenge, only to discover that nothing is quite what it seems.

The cast of characters is a lot of fun, with Gambit (Taylor Kitsch), John Wraith (will.i.am), Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds and Scott Adkins), Bradley (Dominic Monaghan), and Blob (Kevin Durand) all factoring in. We also get early looks at Cyclops/Scott Summers (Tim Pocock), Emma Frost (Tahyna Tozzi), and Charles Xavier (a digitally enhanced Patrick Stewart).

Hood is a capable, exciting director and he proves that he can handle a blockbuster built with tonnes of explosive action sequences. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is fast-paced and exhilarating, with very few breaks in the stimulation. Hood keeps things moving at a fair click, even infusing some of the duller back-story sequences with frenetic energy. At the same time, he isn’t overzealous or showy.

The casting is great, with Jackman leading the charge as a brilliant and amusing Wolverine. He is a character to root for and his pain is more emotional than physical, clearly. We are made aware of his vulnerabilities and, as such, are presented with an incredibly human character. Wolverine/Logan has issues with trusting people, rightly so, and is presented as a man who has had his world taken away from him. He is to be used as an object of destruction, but his conscience won’t allow it.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a well-tuned summer blockbuster. It isn’t needy, it isn’t top-loaded with speeches and tedious moralizing, it isn’t overly long, and it offers glossy, cool action sequences with great frequency. The fight scenes are enjoyable, the one-liners are clever and entertaining, and the plot holes are easy enough to ignore thanks to some great acting and cool special effects. It’s far from the best superhero movie ever made (that one goes to Spider-Man 2, of course), but it’s a lot of fun without being too heavy.

Trailer: