Quality Prequel Not Without Some Flaws

Rating: 6/10 (30 April 2009)

Hugh Jackman turns in another good performance as Logan in a film that'll probably provoke love/hate reactions if I'm honest. Fans of the comics may point out that many of the supporting characters like Gambit, Deadpool and Cyclops appear only briefly, with a few lines of back story and a short sequence displaying their powers to not much effect- they'd be right, but the general cinema audience won't care too much about this. By and large the movie works, has some goodish action sequences, and allows Jackman to occasionally show the character's gentler side.
Wolverine's back story informs us he's over 150 years old, has a brother with a much meaner streak (a glowering Liev Schreiber)and beefs up his relationship with Stryker, familiar to us from X2 as the general in charge of the Weapon X project. Marvel is all about character development in their super-heroes, and Wolverine is no exception. Jackman doesn't hog the film but shines throughout.
It starts like a war movie, throwing in a bit of Saving Private Ryan for good measure, and then jaunts around a lot, in the manner of Rise Of The Silver Surfer. There's even a Ma and Pa Kent kind of sequence, and a right old dig at D.C. comics homely upbringing of Superman. At least that's the way I read it.
The story largely concerns Wolverine's desire to have revenge on his brother for killing his partner, and what he's prepared to go through to get it. There's nothing new here but the relationship of the two brothers is at the centre of the movie, and works very well. Jackman and Schreiber play off each other splendidly.
William Stryker, clearly using Wolverine for his own ends, infuses Logan's bones with Adamantium, making him virtually indestructible.
There's a neat helicopter battle with Agent Zero and an excellent action packed climax to the movie. The effects and cinematography are somewhat variable - Agent Zero's hill sequence is rather poorly done, for example, though elsewhere the effects are fine.There's also two very brief post credit sequences and another version floating around out there with Deadpool re-combining but this wasn't in the print I saw.
Just try to forget about the bout with The Blob, which is meant to be comic but clashes strongly with the tone of the movie in general. Blob looks like Fat Bastard from Austin Powers. Some of the super-powered characters are underdeveloped and just exactly what their powers are aren't always clear. Gambit, a character I'm not familiar with, left me a little confused.
Still, there's life in Ol' Wolvie yet. He's still the best at what he does.