Wolverine! Or Logan... Or is it James? (X-Men Origins: Wolverine (DVD))

Member Name: xKatieeex

Product:	X-Men Origins: Wolverine (DVD)
Date:	30/10/09 (71 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great entertainment, Hugh Jackman's body

Disadvantages: Got a bit confusing...

Although I've never read the X-Men comic books, I really enjoyed the movies and was really gutted when they made the last of the trilogy. Imagine my glee when I found out that they were releasing X-Men Origins - Wolverine! Wolverine was one of my favourite characters from the X-Men movies, so I was really looking forward to seeing this movie. Sadly, I had to wait until the DVD was released but I finally got to see it the other night and I wasn't disappointed!


.::What the film is about::.

I don't want to go into too much detail, but the film is about Wolverine's origins...funnily enough. It takes you back to when his claws, which were then bone, became adamantium and tells you all about the love, hurt, loss and pain he had along the way. It's full of action and you really get to see a rawer, more emotional side of Wolverine that you don't really see in the X-Men Trilogy.


.::Cast::.

I didn't realise how many famous faces were in this film until I was watching the titles!

Wolverine (also known as Logan, or James) is played by the wonderful Hugh Jackman. He played this character in the Trilogy and plays it even better in this film. This Wolverine is more impulsive and explosive than the one we've seen previously and it's great to see that side of him. Hugh Jackman did a great job.

Sabretooth (he's called Victor in this film) is played by Liev Schreiber and I think it was one of the best performances in the film. He's a truely raw animal, he's cruel and doesn't care about who or what he hurts.

Danny Huston plays William Stryker who's son is a mutant who drove his wife to suicide which makes him have a strange attitude towards mutants, he loves them and hates them at the same time. I didn't really like Huston in this role, I don't think his love for mutants came across as much as his hate did.

Kayla Silverfox, Wolverine's girlfriend before he's Wolverine, is played by Lynn Collins. I think the only reason she did well in this role as because of her gorgeous eyes, it kind of fits in with who she is. I don't think her acting was particularly great as she had plenty of opportunities to ham it up a bit but she just decided to stay pretty instead.

Taylor Kitsch as Remy LeBeau (also called Gambit). He's a strange character who has the ability to put kinetic energy into any object, making it explode. I quite like Kitsch in this role, he seemed to put a cheeky kick into it.

will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas plays a teleporter called John Wraith. He was quite cool and laidback and I think he did a good job in this film, I really wouldn't have expected him to be able to act.

Fred J. Dukes (also known as Blob) is a mutant who has an indestructable layer of skin and can create a gravitational field around him. In this film, he changes from a lean-mean-killing machine into a complete fatty which added a touch of humour to the movie.

Some more humour was also added by Ryan Reynolds who played Wade Wilson who certainly knows how to plays with knives! He later turns into Weapon XI/Deadpool, who certainly looks a lot different! I didn't realise how much of a good actor Ryan Reynolds is, my opinion of him keeps getting better and this film certainly didn't stop it.

David Henney plays Agent Zero who's a baddy, he's an expert in tracking people and shooting them from long distances. I quite liked this character, he was unemotional and seemed a bit robotic which was great.

Dominic Monaghan is Chris Bradley who is a technopath. I loved Monaghan in this role, he was really cute...which probably wasn't what he was going for...

Other characters includes; Tim Pocock as Scott Summers (the guy with lasers for eyes); Tahyna Tozzi as Emma Frost who's skin changes to diamond; Peter O'Brien as John Howlett, Wolverine supposed father; Alice Parkinson as Elizabeth Howlett, Wolverine's mother; Aaron Jeffery as Thomas Logan, Wolverine's real father; Max Cullen as Travis Hudson and Julia Blake as Heather Hudson who look after Wolverine after he gets the adamantium.

Overall, it's a star-studded cast and most do a great job.


.::My opinion::.

I really liked this movie, it was full of action and generally easy to follow although at times I did find myself getting a bit lost and asking my poor mother lots of questions about what was happening.

Another thing that confused me was the names for characters, I think they switched between human and mutant names too often and didn't really let you know who was who. But you can easily watch it without knowing the characters names as they don't tend to talk about other characters a lot.

I also felt that it was too easy to know who would die in the film because if they weren't in the X-Men Trilogy, that meant that they were going to die. That's one of the problems with doing a prequel though.

Other than the problems I listed above, the film was great. The special effects were amazing and really added to the film. They made it was exciting and action packed and they were actually believable even though it was metal claws coming out a persons hand and such like.

I also liked the fact that it seemed to be filmed in a similar style to the X-Men Trilogy, even though it was by a different director. I liked that it seemed continous and as though if you watched this then watched the trilogy, it would all seem like one movie. It would seem mismatched if it was filmed in a different style.

It was great to see the man behind Wolverine, his past and how he came to have those great big claws. I also liked seeing the emotional side of Wolverine, I liked seeing his love for Kayla and his love/hate relationship with his brother; Sabretooth. There was also a bit of humour in there when he was trying to use his new adamantium claws for the first time.


.::Overall::.

It's a fabulous movie, especially if you're a fan of the X-Men Trilogy. Even if you're not, it's a great movie to sit in on a Friday night with. It'll keep you entertained and maybe even get you onto an X-Men night watching all the movies back to back. Even if you hate the movie, all fans of Hugh Jackman and men in general will very much enjoy his fabulous body in the film...!

It has a 12 rating which I think is appropriate as it does have a bit of violence in it. It also lasts 102 minutes if you're interested!

It's available to buy from most places, I bought my DVD from Asda for £13.71, but you can get it in Tesco for £12.00; HMV for £9.99; Amazon for £9.98 and Play.com for £9.99 but I'm sure it'll get a lot cheaper as times goes on.

This isn't a DVD review, just a film only but I would like to note that the DVD I purchased comes with a digital copy of the movie so you can upload it onto your iPod or whatever other player you have. I've never seen this before on a DVD but it's a great idea and I'm going to take full advantage of it as I have no idea how to copy DVDs onto my computer.

I'm giving this film 4/5 because as it is a good movie, it does have some minor points that stop it from being a great movie...or maybe I'm just too easily confused...

Summary: Excellent movie!