Comic book films have been popular ever since Michael Keaton put on the bat suit for 1989’s Batman, and even before that with the earlier Superman films. But this first decade of the 2000s will likely go down as the comic book film decade. Spider-man, a new Batman, a new Superman, Iron Man, X-Men, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, and every other major and often minor superhero comics you can think of have been adapted to the big screen. They have become the new trend of summer blockbusters, because they sell not only to comic book fans, but to general action fans as well. This, of course, often leads to both great and horrible films that comic book fans love to pick apart. It all goes back to making money, though. So after three semi-successful box office X-Men films, it was announced that a prequel about Wolverine’s origin would be release, despite the mixed reviews after the third X-Men installment.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine tells the story of how a young James Howlett Logan becomes the mutant superhero we know as Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). We see Wolverine as a sickly young boy in the mid 1800s at first. But then after a confusing tragedy involving illegitimate parentage, Logan is alone in the world with only his half-brother Victor Creed/Sabertooth (Liev Schreiber) along for the adventure, which crosses many centuries and many wars, including the American Civil War, World War I and II, and the Vietnam War. By that point, Victor had lost all of his properties of being a human. Working as part of a black-ops team led by the evil Col. William Stryker (Danny Huston), Logan becomes disgusted by the atrocities they are asked to perform. He walks away, leaving his bloodthirsty brother to carry out the evil deeds. Six years later, another tragedy shatters Logan’s peaceful life, and Stryker comes calling again, offering to help him get vengeance by making him more powerful with the aid of an experimental process that will bond impenetrable Adamantium to his skeleton. Logan becomes Wolverine and learns that he is just one of many victims of Stryker’s crusade against the mutant race.
This film has more in common with a revenge flick than comic books. In fact, it looks like the writers just threw in all the X-Men characters, besides Wolverine and Sabertooth, at the last second so they can justify the X-Men title. Then, we they do throw in a bunch of X-Men characters it feels like too much at one time. The director, Gavin Hood, and writers, David Benioff and Skip Woods, also appear to want to create this emotional depth in the story with the duality of humanity versus our animal instincts. But that never really comes through, and it’s not hard to predict what is going to happen during this film. It doesn’t help matters that this film revolves around the background and life of Wolverine. The most interesting facts of his life have already been explored in X2: X-Men United.
What really helps this film, though, is the acting. Hugh Jackman is again fantastic as Wolverine. Liev Schreiber also plays the excellent animalistic villain in this film as well. They looked like they had great fun playing off of each other. Ryan Reynolds, Will.I.Am, and Dominic Monaghan all take turns playing superheroes in this film, but no one really stands out except for Ryan Reynolds and Friday Night Lights‘ Taylor Kirsch. Their characters will likely be given bigger roles in future movies, but they are barely an afterthought in Wolverine. Besides the good acting, the other main positive were the action scenes. They were entertaining to watch for the most part.
It makes sense to make the first prequel featuring an individual X-Men character with Wolverine, since Hugh Jackman is the biggest star and Wolverine is arguably the biggest character in the Marvel Comics universe. But it doesn’t really make sense to make these movies in the first place, since the characters are not that deep, and especially since we have heard most of Wolverine’s story in previous X-Men films. Thankfully Jackman and Liev Schreiber are able to bring the weak writing to the watchable level. In the end, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is predictable, but entertaining action revenge film. Comic book fans will likely be disappointed if they expect anything more.
The video included is available in widescreen color presented at the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, which is enhanced for 16:9 TVs. Audio presentation is available in either English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound, Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround sound, and French Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround sound. There are subtitles available in English and Spanish as well.
“Wolverine Unleashed: The Complete Origins” Featurette –
This runs 12 minutes and and it’s your usual “behind-the-scenes” featurette. Pretty much a fluff piece with a lot of talk about how Hugh Jackman prepared for this role.
Unless you’re a big X-Men fan you likely won’t want to purchase this DVD. It’s a good action film, but hardcore comic book fans will be disappointed.
20th Century FOX Home Entertainment presents X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Directed by Gavin Hood. Starring Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Lynn Collins, Danny Huston, will.i.am, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch, and Dominic Monaghan. Written by David Benioff and Skip Woods. Running time: 107 minutes. Rated PG-13. Released on DVD: September 15, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
