X-Men Origins: Wolverine [Blu-ray] [2009] [US Import]

This X-Men film is set before the first three X-Men films and tells us the story of Wolverine and his twisted brother Sabretooth. The action comes thick and fast with a clever plot for a comic based movie. Deadpool makes a great villian and his final battle with Wolverine is super cool. One of my favourite X-Men heroes Gambit is introduced to us at long last, it only took four films but better late then never. I enjoyed this film just as much as the other three X-Men films and Hugh Jackman is on top form as Wolverine. The blu-ray transfar is razor sharp just like Wolverines claws!

Wolverine is one of the most beloved of comic book creations. His dark and vengeful character combined with a compassion that troubled and led to self-destructive behaviour has long been amongst the most popular characters of the genre. I know little of comic book history myself but perhaps because I know Barry Windsor-Smith the Weapon X storyline is one of the few that I have some familiarity with. With that in mind I had fairly low hopes for this film as the other X Men films have been dreadful. This one is not a terrible film but it is hardly one that will linger long in the mind.

The positives can be summed as: lots of explosions, three great characters for the ladies to enjoy, and some nice menace from the evil brother character. The negatives can be summed as: uninteresting plot, holes galore, poor quality audio and scoring, and a surprising lack of emotional involvement.

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine does a relatively good job with what he has to hand. He's in great shape and definitely scored as eye candy during his escape scene for the company I watched this with. He is believable as the gruff and tortured soul that is Wolverine, his lust for violence sated over the years in an excellent opening montage of warfare from the last century. It all begins to fall apart though come Vietnam as he and his equally violent and indestructible brother Sabretooth find themselves on the wrong side of the moral compass. This speaks as much to the massive change in western values in the last 30 years as it does these characters in particular - throughout history they would have been lauded as they were for their violence in the previous decades but now they are no longer acceptable.

Sabretooth and Wolverine have a strong bond but why it breaks so quickly and with such hostility is not entirely clear. Of the many plot holes, the collapse of this relationship is one that really stands out. Still, they fight well despite knowing that the other cannot be beaten and lots of things blow up.

A range of cameos are thrust into the film and that may be to satisfy the comic fans. They do not all work out all that well and visually some of them are not great. The Blob does not appear realistic and the fight scene featuring Deadpool late in the film looks much more like an arcade game than a film. The suspense of disbelief is difficult when the graphics and wire work are so poorly constructed.

Deadpool though is an instant hit and the apparent upcoming film featuring him looks more interesting than what goes on in Wolverine. The other of the characters that work well with the female fanbase is Gambit. Not much was made of him and in my own view the standard for great looking charming Cajuns has been upped massively by Sawyer out of Lost so the guy playing Gambit here didn't really make much of an impression.

Frustratingly the storyline does not really work. Wolverine is indestructible from the beginning and the adamantium just enhances what he already has. There is no real explanation of what difference this makes or why it had to be Wolverine. The love interest is marginally affecting but it diminishes the character to se him only out for revenge just like every other action film character all the time.

On the plus side this undemanding film delivers on the expected explosions, on the violence and stunts. Some of them are a little dated and corny and the much trailed helicopter sequence is not especially exciting. Still, go into this with low expectations and expect blasts, one-liners, and fast pace and it is not a waste of the 103 minutes. The submersion tank scenes are strong, the setting on The Island is great, the early action sequences where Wolverine and pals kill various bad guys are light hearted fun. This is no masterpiece but it is an easy way to while away a couple of hours without having to think too hard.

The Extras are pointless. The discussion with the director only adds to the feeling that this guy really has no business being in film while the one deleted scene is short and entirely out of context. Presumably more extras will happen on some kind of special/boxed edition but given the general standard of extras these days this had an empty feeling.

Absolutely loved it. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is brilliant. This film tells Wolverine's story pre-XMen as to how he came to be and the action is non stop. I hope they do origins films for some of the other main characters as I used to love the X-Men cartoons when I was younger. A brilliant film from start to finish and an excellent addition to my X-Men DVD collection.