Enjoyable if slightly inferior X-Men Prequel

Rating: 7/10 (29 December 2013)

Set before the original trilogy this film follows Logan and his brother Victor from their birth two hundred years ago up to the moment Logan's memory is eliminated. In the opening scenes we find the pair fighting in various wars from the American Civil War to Vietnam where Col. Stryker realises that there is something special about the pair. He sets up a unit of super-powered mutants in order to capture other mutants but before long Logan becomes disenchanted and leaves. He settles down in Canada but his brother comes looking for him and kills his girlfriend. Stryker offers to give Logan the means to kill Victor but after the process is complete Logan hears him give the order to erase his memory and escapes. The process replaced his skeleton with the almost indestructible metal adamantium so Logan is tougher than ever and determined to get his revenge against Victor and Stryker.
Of all the mutants from the original X-Men films Wolverine was the obvious choice to make the main character in a prequel as we have learnt enough to know it should be interesting. Of course one problem with any film about a character's back story is that there is less sense of danger before it even begins we know that Logan will survive but loose his memory. That doesn't mean characters we haven't seen before will make it though. There is a decent amount of action though; much of it fairly physical due to the nature of the featured mutant's powers. Hugh Jackman does a fine job as Wolverine but while the rest of the cast aren't bad they don't stand out the way he does. Fans of the original films may be pleased to see another original character being introduced as well as a brief cameo from another. Overall I'd say that while this wasn't great it was better than I had expected; it is definitely worth watching if you are a fan of the original films.