Lots of action, drama, humor and... Wolverine

Rating: 8/10 (11 May 2009)

X-men Origins: Wolverine is an enjoyable film. There's a bit of everything in this movie. Let me start with the characters.
Most of the movie is about Wolverine and Sabretooth. Makes sense, if you look at the title. How they grew up together, what kind of life they lived and how, in the end, they became two men who couldn't go through the same door ever again. Rivals till the end of time.
There isn't much room for the other characters in this movie, compared to Wolverine. I was a bit disappointed that both Gambit and Deadpool didn't get as much screen time as I had hoped. The same can be said for the other well-known x-men characters like the Blob or Emma Frost. They both have a minor role in this movie. Maybe that was done on purpose, since this IS a movie about Wolverine, but a little more screen time would have been nice of course.
The villain in this movie is none other then general William Stryker. If you are a X-men fan, you know him very well. Danny Huston plays a VERY good Stryker. You are really going to hate this character, if you haven't already by reading the comics, playing the games or watching the previous movies.
Action. TONS of it! A lot of cool stunts and daring moves. Motorcycles, cars, helicopters, explosions, gunfire and even a tank. This movie has spread the action nicely, since there aren't very long pauses between the action scenes. So if you are a fan of action, you will love this movie.
There's also a nice amount of humor in here. Hugh Jackman plays a great Wolverine once again and it paves the way for a few obvious and less obvious jokes. Gambit and the Blob add some humor as well. This movie is not as humorous as the previous 3 x-men movies, but it wasn't meant to be. This is the story about Wolverine's past, which is very dark and dramatic. So I'm glad they didn't add too much humor. It would have killed the atmosphere of the movie.
I found the acting quite good, with the exception of Gambit maybe. But that's because I cling myself too much to the cartoon version of Gambit. I don't think anyone is ever gonna top that Gambit. He was okay in this film, but it could have been much better. No complaints about the lead characters though. I already mentioned William Stryker and Wolverine, but Liev Schreiber (Sabretooth) plays his character very well. You can almost feel the anger and somewhat sadistic aura whenever he shows himself on the screen. A job well done, Liev.
In conclusion, I found this movie entertaining. It could have been better at some points, but it's not horribly mutilated as I first thought it would be.
One last warning for fan girls of Hugh Jackman... There's like 5 minutes in the movie where he is completely naked...