It's a study about the animal savagery instincts vs the gentile human qualities!

Rating: 8/10 (1 May 2009)

Who exactly is Wolverine? Oh yes, I was hoping to see a solid story in which Director Gavin Hood leaves no stones unturned to bring out a stunning, astoundingly memorable character growth and character expansion of Hugh Jackman's iconic Wolverine, not seen on screen before. I wasn't disappointed. Even the events and twist involving Silver Fox are nicely rolled into the tale to support Logan/Wolverine's motivations. Do I care that Silver Fox is seen to have a tactile mind control ability rather than accelerated healing factor? Not really as the creative change works beautifully for this film. Her presence in this film is a vital part of the inner struggle between the Logan/Wolverine's animal savagery instincts and the Logan/Wolverine's noble human qualities.
We do get a little bit more of Wolverine's past, a past that flows back to 1845, building on a brief, but satisfying introduction to the relationship and sibling rivalry between him (James Howlett) and his troublesome half brother, Victor, and then onwards to their involvement in various war- whew, I sure did have a jolly good time identifying the four historical American wars! But as events move to Logan's mercenary involvement in the Weapon X project and with General Stryker, the scenes start to get more and more thrilling as the raging Wolverine faces deceit, betrayal, revenge, empowerment...and the loss of memory. Okay, there's relatively nothing ultra new about Jackman's Wolverine that X-Men comic book fans don't know, but, boy, oh boy, never have I seen Hugh Jackman going so super-energized and so fabulously athletic in a film... and so constantly highlighting his shirtless, well-preserved, sexy physique! And I'm especially pleased that his Wolverine has more character depth in this film. It's definitely compelling to watch his changing behaviors at each stage of his metamorphosis. Whoa, watch him growl and howl in rage...yep, a dark character, but never losing his charismatic charm! The most striking moments for me are when the opposing traits and sentiments come into conflicting play between the two brothers. Oh yes, Liev Schreiber is picture perfect and very credible as Sabretooth! Whoa, Jackman and Schreiber are indeed a dynamic duo in this film! Danny Huston, too, succeeds in bringing out the devious and villainous William Stryker. And as befitting its title, this film does not fail to deliver the many familiar X-men mutants in this film...hhhmmh, Deadpool, Gambit, Wraith, Cyclops, Mystique, Storm, Ice Man having made the list. Hey, surely no X-Men film can be complete without at least a cameo appearance of the most celebrated promoter of the peaceful affirmation of mutant rights? Although there are some rather interesting lines of dialogue, expressing clear political as well as social observation, the dialogue, overall, is rather clunky. And while some of the fight scenes are very impressive, they tend to loose their appeal with the over-repetitive takes. Some also feel too far-fetched. The chase and the slow-mo explosion scenes? These may be considered as clichéd, over-used, and almost obligatory, but I'm not displeased with those seen here. The cutting-edge special effects and stunt razzmatazz are outrageously spectacular, working well with the story's elements and to offer non-stop actions for inciting the audience's visceral reactions. Besides, it'd be foolhardy to think that we all aren't thrilled to see villains being blown to smithereens in films!
Overall, I was happily entertained. And I did stay to see the post-credit 'bar' scene, too.