Film only review

Introduction

Another welcome Christmas present for me last week was this "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" DVD that I watched the other afternoon, I had seen and enjoyed the three X-Men films so was looking forward to seeing how Wolverine became the man he did and this is my review of the film.

Plot Summary

The opening of the film introduces us to a young boy and the revelations surrounding his parents, following a significant event he goes on the run with his half brother and as the two boys appear to have special abilities they vow to always look out for one another. We see them grow into men standing side by side on battlegrounds fighting in various wars, their abilities are similar with both of them having regenerative and self healing powers and both having hidden, deadly weapons at their disposal. James Howlett now known as Logan can produce claws of bone from his knuckles and Victor Creed his half brother has razor sharp claws for fingernails, Creed is filled with anger though and becomes out of control with bloodlust and an incident puts them in contact with a member of the Military - Major William Stryker.

Stryker wants to enlist the brothers into his team of Mutants who are trying to track down a meteorite in Africa. Together with other people with special powers they track down who is holding the item but the murderous activities of the group sickens Logan who quits the team and becomes estranged from Creed.

Six years later Logan is settled in a new life with a girlfriend and a job, all is well until Stryker tracks him down with news about Creed. Following a deadly confrontation Logan has to put his past behind him and takes the opportunity to undergo an experimental procedure which enhance his special abilities, foregoing his past Logan becomes Wolverine and has a few old scores to settle.

Opinion

I didn't want to give too much away in my plot summary so have skipped over significant parts of the plot as I don't want to spoil some of the action for those who haven't seen the film. If you have already seen the three X-men films then you will already be aware of some of Logan/Wolverines back story and this film goes a long way to filling in the blanks. His early life is well explored and explained and the relationship with his half brother told. We find out why Logan is as much of a loner as he is and the flashbacks he has in the X-Men films are fully revealed and expanded on here.

I am only familiar with the X-Men franchise through the films as I have never read any of the comics or watched the cartoon series, so for me a relative newbie to this universe all of the information is new. I did get the impression that some of the dialogue in the film and some of the relationships were included for the die-hard "uber-fans" and whilst it didn't confuse me I did end up trying to find more information out from IMDB.com. I do recommend you do this if you want to learn more about the other characters that you are introduced to as there are some that do not feature in the X-Men films that follow on from this prequel so you may be left wondering who they are and how they figure in the X-Men universe.

For the fourth time of playing the part Hugh Jackman as Wolverine gives a faultless performance, you understand his pain and anguish more here and have much more sympathy for him than you probably would have had whilst watching the original 3 X-Men films. Jackman delivers a solid performance throughout and keeps you glued to the screen throughout the film. Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed is outstanding and as is more than a match for Logan, although not revealed in the film Creed ends up being known as Sabretooth in the later films (thanks IMDB!) and the film serves the purpose of showing us his rocky relationship with his half brother as well as providing us with the back story surrounding his character.

The actions scenes and set pieces are big and bold and keeps your attention fixed, the face-off at the end is particularly well done and effective even the small twist that is thrown in near to the end was satisfying even though I didn't find it that surprising. I did become immersed in this film and can safely say that I thoroughly enjoyed it; being a fan of superhero films anyway I hoped this would match my expectations and it certainly did do that.

I do recommend this film to anyone who enjoys this type of genre, being a prequel you don't really need to have seen the X-Men films that follow but if you have then it is good to find out about one of the more mysterious members of the X-Men and how he became the character he did. There are a few continuity errors from Logans flashbacks in the films that follow than what was depicted here but these are minor and only die-hard fans will find faults with them.

For me it was a great way to pass 107 minutes and the film answered a lot of unanswered questions that were posed in the original X-Men films. A 5/5 Dooyoo star rating from me, I can't find any faults whatsoever with it.

Now priced at a bargain £6.98 from Amazon, a great price for a great film.