X-Men Origins:Wolverine

Rating: 6/10 (28 September 2009)

When I first read about the one cast as the great Marvel X Men character Wolverine, I asked myself, "Hugh Jackman? Who's Hugh Jackman?" Once I watched Bryan Singer's X Men for the first time, I needn't bother asking it anymore because not only had Jackson impressed me as the mighty Wolverine, but I can no longer see anyone else in that role but him. That said, his character's self-titled 2009 X Man Origins movie dispenses with worrying about a rich, textured plot, there's merely a series of situations tacked on big budget action sequences. I mean you see the green bleeding all over the place, I was curious as to how much the opening war sequences, merely seconds-only vignettes showing Logan and his brother, Victor Creed(Liev Schreiber)fighting side-by-side against the enemy, actually cost.
This film moves an incredibly rapid pace, shooting from scenario to another, barely catching a breath. Logan and Creed decide to join a military leader, William Stryker(Danny Huston)on secret missions for their government..their options are limited considering Creed's homicidal tendencies led to his killing on of their own, Logan with little to do but support his brother. Logan realizes that Stryker is a corrupt sociopath willing to resort to any measures necessary in order to retrieve a type of material, found from a type of meteor which fell to the earth, Adamantian steel which can do wonders for the anatomy of the proper human host who could withstand such abnormal biological change. Logan has moved on with his life, working as a logger within a breathtaking Canadian wilderness, finding a comforting relationship with Kayla Silverfox(Lynn Collins). Meanwhile, Victor is hunting down members of Stryker's former squad, those with specific powers who decided to leave the evil regime. Soon Victor finds Logan's locations, and Kayla appears to have been collateral damage. Stryker appeals to Logan for returning to him, offering a certain surgical procedure which could give him unlimited power, using the Adamantian material to completely change him into an anatomical anomaly. This would give him the power to engage his brother and get revenge..but, what ultimately happens is Logan discovers that Stryker was behind the whole ordeal regarding Kayla, understanding later, when he meets up with old comrades, John Wraith(Will i Am)and Fred Dukes(Kevin Durand)that he is hunting down mutants, deriving their various powers in the goal of creating one type of all powerful soldier, conducting his experiments on an island. Logan will not stop until he finds Stryker, needing the help of a mutant who got away, Gambit, a gambler with remarkable powers like twirling cards which have such force they can send bodies through brick walls..as Logan will find out all too well.
While there seems to be plenty of plot, stringing together various other sub-plots including the introduction of Gambit(Taylor Kitsch)and Scott Summers(Tim Pocock), aka Cyclops, the whole movie is essentially "show us the characters for a moment or two then get to the good stuff". You get plenty of duals between Creed and Logan, bodies stabbed into and thrown into various large objects. Buildings crumble and / or are blown apart by mutant powers(..awesome scenes include Gambit's incredible use of a cane and Scott's laser eyes sending penetrating beams which tear apart a school building). Danny Huston, as Stryker, shows here how good he can be as a villain, given only just snippets of screen time to work his magic. Dominic Monaghan(..as a mutant whose powers manipulate electrical power, controlling an elevator or sparking light bulbs)and Will i Am(..as a mutant who can move from one distance to another in a flash, actually reminding of The Flash)have nice, if minor, cameos, but Ryan Reynolds is wasted as a swordsman with wicked mad skills at stopping bullets through swift(..to say the least)technical maneuvers..he's quite arrogant and unflappable, but he only appears at the front, replaced at the end by a stuntman. Daniel Henney is Agent Zero, his skills at using guns properly efficient at removing the line of defense when his boss' teams are being shot at..Zero also unflinchingly answers his master's commands without a degree of remorse or guilt regarding who he kills, including an elderly couple who give shelter to Logan. A surprising amount of profanity, I thought, for a Marvels feature rated PG-13, but when Wolverine stabs those who combat him, you rarely, if ever, see blood which was kind of a drag. A major disappointment to me was seeing Stryker's original regime receive such little time together as only one major action sequence, where they seize upon the lair of a militant, features this group. I'm pretty sure Reynolds desired more action than he receives. But, this is Wolverine's show all the way, no doubt, despite the fact that Schrieber's Creed had plenty of "time to kill."