X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Plot synopsis:
In 1845 in North-Western Territory, British North America, young James Howlett (Troye Sivan) sees his father John Howlett (Peter O'Brien) killed by his friend Victor Creed's father, Thomas Logan (Aaron Jeffery). In an act of vengeance, James kills the elder Logan using bone claws which have grown out of his hands due to the stress of the incident. With his dying breath, Logan tells James that he is also his son. James runs out of the house, followed by Victor, who finds him and promises his younger brother that he'll look out for him. James and Victor (Michael-James Olsen) run away, pursued by a torch-wielding mob.In the years that follow, adult brothers James (Hugh Jackman) and Victor (Liev Schreiber) are seen fighting together in the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, and eventually the Vietnam War. Their regenerative powers keep them from being killed in the battlefield and they both age considerably slowly compared to non-mutants. James is forced to act as a check on Victor's increasing rage and ferocity. In Vietnam, Victor kills a superior officer after being stopped from raping a girl, and James and Victor are sentenced to death by firing squad, though their unique regenerative abilities keep them alive.While they are incarcerated, Major William Stryker (Danny Huston) approaches the two mutants and offers them membership in Team X, his elite group of mutants. The team consists of mutants Fred Dukes (Kevin Durand), who possesses super strength and invulnerability; John Wraith (Will.i.am), who can teleport; Chris Bradley (Dominic Monaghan), a.k.a. Bolt, who can control electricity and possesses telekinetic abilities; expert marksman Agent Zero (Daniel Henney); and mercenary Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), an amazing swordsman who never stops talking. The brothers join the group and are sent to the team's first mission: Invade the headquarters of a diamond trafficking operation in Lagos, Nigeria, to retrieve a meteorite. When Stryker asks the diamond smuggler about the source of the meteorite, the smuggler tells him that it came from a remote village further into Nigeria. The team goes there and Stryker and the team brutally interrogate the local people to learn where the meteorite was found. James is disgusted by the murders committed by his teammates and abandons the group over Victor's persuasions and protests.Six years afterward, James -- now going by his last name, Logan -- is a lumberjack living with his girlfriend Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins). Meanwhile, Victor hunts down and murders Bradley, who works at a circus; Victor mentions that Wade is already dead. Stryker locates Logan and claims that someone is killing members of the now-disbanded team. Stryker asks Logan for help, but is refused. Shortly after, Silverfox is murdered by Victor. Wolverine hunts down his half-brother, but is easily defeated. Stryker once again asks Logan for help, and Logan agrees. Stryker has Logan's skeletal system reinforced with adamantium, a virtually indestructible metal retrieved from the meteorite source found by Team X in Nigeria. Before the procedure, Logan asks for his new dog tags to say "Wolverine," a reference to a story that Kayla told him. After the procedure, Stryker orders Wolverine's memory to be erased, but Wolverine overhears this and flees. Stryker orders Agent Zero to hunt him down and take his head off.An elderly couple, Travis (Max Cullen) and Heather Hudson (Julia Blake), see Wolverine -- who escaped in the buff -- enter their barn. They're wary but welcoming, giving him food and clothing, including a leather jacket of their son's -- and their son's motorcycle. The next morning, both are shot dead by Zero. Wolverine takes out several HMMWVs, a helicopter and Zero himself, telling Stryker over Zero's radio, that he'll hunt him down. Stryker warns Wolverine that if he chooses to go after the answers he seeks, he won't like what he finds.Wolverine locates former associates John Wraith and Fred Dukes (who is now massively obese from a guilt-driven eating disorder), seeking to learn the location of Stryker's new laboratory. After beating Dukes in a boxing match, Wolverine learns the disbanded team had been capturing young mutants for Stryker. One of them, Remy LeBeau (Taylor Kitsch), also known as Gambit, escaped the island laboratory and knows its location. Dukes tells Logan that his brother Victor is actually working for Stryker, capturing and killing mutants for him. Meanwhile, Stryker captures a teenaged Scott Summers (Tim Pocock) with Victor's aid.Wolverine and Wraith locate Gambit in a New Orleans bar. Wolverine talks to Gambit while Wraith keeps watch outside, but Gambit suspects Wolverine was sent to recapture him and, using his ability to charge objects with kinetic energy, throws several playing cards at Wolverine that send him flying through a wall. Outside, Wolverine sees Victor has killed Wraith and taken a sample of his blood. Wolverine fights Victor, only to be interrupted by Gambit. Victor escapes, and after a brief struggle, Gambit agrees to take Wolverine to the Stryker's secret mutant prison/laboratory.The facility turns out to be Three Mile Island. Once there, Wolverine confronts Stryker and learns Silverfox is still alive; Victor faked her death with hydrochlorothiazide. She was keeping track of the mutant to free her sister, Emma Frost (Tahyna MacManus), who is also in the prison. Wolverine is devastated by this betrayal.Now having no quarrel with Stryker, Wolverine departs. Victor, angered that Stryker let Wolverine go, demands the adamantium procedure. Stryker, however, tells him that he won't survive the procedure and in an act of rage, Victor tries to kill Silverfox, her power of persuasion failing to influence Victor despite her physical contact with him. Wolverine hears Silverfox's screams and attacks Victor. Finally having the chance to kill Victor, Wolverine chooses not to give in to his animal instincts and instead knocks him out. Silverfox shows Wolverine to the holding cells, and he frees the mutants there; among them are Emma Frost and Scott Summers.Panicking, Stryker prematurely activates his newest creation, Weapon XI (Scott Adkins and Ryan Reynolds), a bald, pale-skinned and deformed Wade Wilson, lacking a mouth and with patterns on his skin marking his adamantium bone structure. As the rescue party approaches an exit, it is blocked by Weapon XI, who is under Stryker's control. Wolverine tells them to find a new exit as two long blades extend from Weapon XI's arms. The blades are similar to Wolverine's claws, but more like katana swords, Wilson's weapon of choice. Wolverine realizes that this monstrosity is actually Wade Wilson. "Looks like Stryker finally found a way to shut you up," he quips.Weapon XI, also called Deadpool, is a mutant Frankenstein's monster, with the abilities of several of the killed and captured mutants: Summer's optic blasts, Wraith's teleportation, and Wolverine's healing ability. During the escape, Silverfox is mortally wounded. The other mutants escape through the facility's tunnels, guided by Scott who is unable to tell them how he knows the way out. Emerging from the tunnel, the party encounters a helicopter. Riding in the helicopter is a familiar figure: Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), who has guided them to safety and offers them a home at his school.Meanwhile, the fight between Wolverine and Weapon XI moves to the top of one of the nuclear power plant's cooling towers. Weapon XI overpowers and prepares to decapitate Wolverine, but Victor returns to aid his brother. Wolverine and Victor, now working together, are able to decapitate Weapon XI, sending its head, still firing optic blasts, down into the cooling tower. Wolverine coldly informs Victor that despite his help, their relationship is over. Victor reminds him that as brothers, they can never be finished, and jumps off the the cooling tower. The damage from the optic blasts causes the cooling tower to collapse, but Wolverine is rescued by Gambit.Wolverine asks Gambit to ensure the prisoners are safe, while he returns to find Silverfox, who stayed behind because she was wounded. As he carries her to safety, Stryker shoots him in the back with an adamantium bullet. Wolverine charges Stryker to kill him but is shot in the head, knocking him unconscious.Stryker approaches Silverfox and prepares to shoot her as well but she uses her powers of persuasion to order Stryker to first throw away the pistol and then walk away until his feet bleed. She then dies from her injuries. Gambit returns to assure Wolverine that the mutants are safe, but due to amnesia caused by the brain damage the adamantium bullets inflicted, Wolverine does not remember anything (this was Stryker's intention, knowing that even the adamantium bullets could not kill Logan but will cause amnesia). Gambit tries to get Wolverine to come with him, but he declines. Gambit wishes Wolverine good luck before departing, and Wolverine flees the scene as the ambulances and police arrive.The film has several additional scenes during and after the credits. The first of these scenes plays a few seconds into the credits, and depicts William Stryker walking down a road. Due to Silverfox's order, the toes of his shoes are torn and bloody from walking for so long. A military vehicle drives up behind him and he is apprehended by military police for questioning about the death of General Munson. (Stryker murdered the general earlier in the film in order to protect his vendetta against mutants.)Depending on which theater the movie was shown in, one of two possible endings then appears following the credits. In the first ending, Weapon XI's hand reaches out from the rubble of the nuclear complex to touch his severed head. Deadpool's mouth is now open and he says "Shhhhhhhh" to the audience. The second alternate ending shows Logan drinking at a bar in Japan. The bartender asks if he is drinking to forget; Logan replies that he's drinking to remember.

Tags: boring, murder, stupid, paranormal, cult, violence, flashback, good versus evil, action, comic, revenge, entertaining, storytelling

Review:
Forget the reviews that focus on dialogue (it's a comic book character, of course it's clichéd) or other types of thing you may look for in movies like a Room With A View.
No, but enough to keep it very interesting, with answers like where Adamantium comes from, Sabretooth and Wolverine relationship, introduction of Deadpool, early view of Cyclops, and much more that keeps the movie going along just fine.
The superhero genre reached a higher echelon in 2008 with "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight," and considering the success of 2/3 of the X-Men franchise so far, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" can certainly be held to those standards, especially a movie whose title alone suggests getting right down to its hero's adamantium core.But "Wolverine" plays more like a spin-off, defining "origins" as the back story and not the psychological workings of the character.
Basically, it fails where "X-Men 3" did, trying to do too much at once, rushing the plot along and sacrificing the deeper reason audiences are drawn to Hugh Jackman's character other than he's cool and has a crude, sarcastic sense of humor.
Although director Gavin Hood doesn't bring more insight into the film with his work, he certainly has as good of an eye for the stylish as anyone.The first sign that you know this movie isn't going to be top tier for superhero flicks is the number of mutants/villains.
For a story about one, singular X-man, there are way too many other characters to follow: Col. Stryker is their ringleader, but Sabretooth (Schriber), Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Reynolds), Bolt (Monaghan), Gambit (Kitsch), Wraith (will.i.am), Agent Zero, the Blob and young Cyclops (not to mention a slough of extras) make the film dizzying.
Especially at the beginning, we need to see more Wolverine -- it's his movie.To the film's credit, its quick movement makes it easy to watch and entertaining and there's some surprisingly good comedic timing on Jackman's part for an action movie.
Recognizable X-Men characters are continually shoehorned into minuscule parts (fans of Deadpool, Blob, Gambit or, *groan*, Cyclops don't go in expecting much but disappointment) for seemingly the sole purpose of leapfrogging off Wolverine's story into their own spin-offs.
I know you agree with me because after all, I know everyone is dying to see Apocalypse as the bad guy.My only real complaint of the movie is that Gambit (my favorite X-Men character) did not have as much screen time as I'd hoped.
I know the characters, although almost haven't watched the cartoons or read the comic books, but I watched the 3 other X-Men films and they're great.
Logan/Wolverine returns (or better, forget everything this movie is about his past) played by the great Hugh Jackman.
I finally watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine today not too sure what to expect hoping for at least traces of the quality of the previous X Men movies which i love.
Star power, sex appeal, a powerful and emotional script, and a great plot make this one memorable flick.Real fans (not those whinny online imposters who can't let go of their own warped preconceptions) can breath a sigh of relief because X-Men Origins: Wolverine takes the X-Men franchise films to the next level.
Yes, it is centered around Wolverine and his "origins", but they do give some screen time to other mutants (some we know, some we don't).We get a lot of information about Wolverine, his past, and how he ended up in the condition in which we find him in X-Men. We also get a look into the beginnings of the Human vs Mutant storyline, without really rehashing old ideas and concepts from the first movies.
All-in-all a good story, well-acted, excellent special effects, and a must-see for X-Men/Wolverine fans.
Jackman never tames the animal in Logan, but he manages to humanize him with honor and compassion."Wolverine" tells the back story of the most captivating character of the "X-Men" mythology.
"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" has great story telling and heart pounding action throughout the first half.
It is a look at Wolverine's early life, in particular his time with the government squad Team X and the impact it will have on his later years.Leading up to the events of X-Men, X-Men Origins: Wolverine tells the story of Wolverine's epically violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed, and the ominous Weapon X program.
Two mutant brothers, Logan (Hugh Jackman) who will become Wolverine of the retractable claws and Victor (Liev Schreiber), born 200 years ago, suffer childhood trauma and have only each other to depend on.
Along the way, Wolverine encounters many mutants, both familiar and new, including surprise appearances by several legends of the X-Men universe (Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch, Dominic Monaghan, Daniel Henney, et al) whose appearances in the film series have long been anticipated.The first half of the film is sensitive and humanistic (Ryan Reynolds manages to insert his expected spot-on one liners to keep the story light) – the second half is pure CGI tricks (though according to the featurettes Hugh Jackman performed all his own choreographic fights).
This movie gives us all the screen time for Wolverine that we wanted in the first 3 X-men films.
I am informed by my close friends, many of whom are enthusiasts in early comic books, that the X-Men character roster stretches a mile wide and one cannot watch a few films of the X-Men franchise and expect to know all the characters of the series, let alone a select few in great detail.It is precisely this reason why I feel that the idea of an X-Men Origins series being made is not such a bad idea, although with the middling reception and box office returns that Wolverine managed to recoup, I feel the studios are thinking differently.
Jackman is assisted here by Schreiber, who manages to work with him to create an entertaining partnership that is less about buddy-buddy charisma but more about two men stuck together and bound by what seems to be a curse.X-Men Origins: Wolverine lacks the clear love and affection for the material that director Bryan Singer delivered, along with being burdened by some poor CGI/green-screen work here and there, but the film is also missing the downright awful dialog that was present in X-Men: The Last Stand.
Writers David Benioff (who wrote Troy and went on to write several episodes for HBO's breakout hit Game of Thrones) and Skip Woods forgo the abundance of useless one-liners for drama, and director Gavin Hood changes pace from directing South African dramas (including the incredible Tsotsi) to a film that allegedly has more depth than one initially would think.Hood comments on X-Men Origins: Wolverine's possible political side by saying, "Any movie that is simply about good versus evil...is in my view putting out into the world and certainly into a mass audience and young audience's mind a rather dangerous philosophy, which is that there is good and evil in the simplistic and easily defined way.
This is a guy who recognizes his own capacity for evil and I think that's exciting in a sort of popular culture kind of way." Because Hood recognizes Wolverine's deeper side and delivers it in a way that is critiquing of age-old philosophy, we get a film that subsequently gives us a more enriching endeavor than your average superhero film.Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Dominic Monaghan, and Ryan Reynolds.
There was plenty of good over the top action and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is superb as usual but the story just wasn't as interesting as it could have been.
Basically what should have been a deep story about a man struggling to control the animal within turned into a series of fight sequences punctuated by a bit of exposition here and there to say who Wolverine is fighting and it's supposed to be cool because they are loved characters from the comics, but when you give said beloved character (Such as Gambit) all of ten seconds of back story and about five or six actual lines it tends to annoy fans more than placate them (This goes for Deadpool as well).
X-men Origins: Magneto better be awesome because this film is seriously lacking in quality.P.S. Gambit's southern accent should be stronger - even though he hardly has any thing to say with it.Liev Schreiber was great as SabretoothHugh Jackman was born to play Wolverine - even though he didn't have a lot to work with, with this poor script.
The only dramatic license I did not like was that Sabretooth and Wolverine are shown as brothers.Since the weAponX story by BWS was drawn in a cinematic style, a lot of the imagery from that book survives translation to Film format just as well as any Frank Miller book.While a lot of creative license was taken with some characters and some of the events that occur, much of the dialogue is taken straight from the books and the overall concept is maintained.Regarding the look of the film, I can use one example, when "Gambit" reveals his powers, the image we are given matches the iconic profile of Gambit- From the comic books and the 1992-96 Cartoon.Since "Victor Creed/Sabretooth" was a major part of this film, I was semi-disappointed that they did not get Tyler Mane to reprise his earlier 2000 role (Or, pre-prise, whatever the word would be) - The original X-Men film had perfectly cast Sabretooth.
Where did the Adamantium metal come from, what Stryker wanted to do with it, and why, all of these questions are explored in this film and as a fan of the comic book series, and also a fan of films in general, I accept the questions, answers and the way it was filmed unequivocally.I know I enjoyed this film highly, and so did the large amount of people I saw this with, this film got a lot of crown response.And so, I say the critics and paid shills that are panning this film can go to blazes and I hope that someone does to them what Wolverine does to "Deadpool/Wade Wilson" at the end of the film - And you'll have to go see it to find out what he does.
Sure, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not the best movie ever made, but it sure gives you one heck of a good time.
There are good supporting roles by Liev Schreiber and Danny Huston.Overall, I had a very fun time watching this action-packed movie.
I'm no expert on Marvel Comics characters and have only seen two of the X-Men movies so far, but I'm pretty confident in saying that if you enjoy super-hero films in general, then X-Men Origins: Wolverine will provide 107 minutes of solid entertainment.Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine makes for a very charismatic hero, and the character's back-story is more than worthy of its own movie—a compelling tale of sibling rivalry, betrayal, revenge and self-discovery.
The film also boasts some great secondary characters in the form of his fellow mutants who display an impressive array of incredible supernatural talents, allowing for some really impressive action set-pieces.If I was going to be picky, some of the digital effects are not quite up to the standard that I have come to expect from such fare—Wolverine's claws in particular looking pretty dodgy from time to time—and the final battle is perhaps taking things a step too far, even for a comic-book based movie, but I won't let that stop me from rounding up my rating of 7.5 to an 8..
". Out of the incredible world of Marvel comics, arrives this fantastic movie called " X-men Origins: Wolverine.
The two young men Logan and Victor (Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber) are given an opportunity to join an elite team created by William Stryker (Danny Huston).
Wolverine is hands down the most popular and interesting character of all the X-men and to preserve this reputation the producers had too deliver with no excuses.After the successes of Batman Begins and the Dark Knight I was praying they would inspire the writers to go along those lines with multi layered personalities, shades of grey when it came to good and evil with a dark overtone of doom throughout.What we got was the exact opposite, god awful one dimensional acting, glossy Hollywood action sequences and as much depth as a shallow swimming pool.I've read that this movie despite its wooden acting and script is a 'mindless fun action film', the thing is I didn't find that either.
This movie is a great no actually and amazing addition to the x-men franchise and i look forward to seeing Jackman reprises his role as wolverine hopefully at least one more time..
From the look of the preview,I thought that this movie was going to be pretty good.So me and my friend decided to go see this movie together.After the movie was over,I didn't want to wait until the movie came out on DVD.I loved this movie!!!I haven't seen the other X-men movies,but even I know that they can't possibly be as good as X-men origins:Wolverine.The special effects were outstanding,the acting was top notch,and the storyline was as powerful as Wolverine himself.Here are all of the words that describe this movie:Outstanding,intelligent,awesome,fantastic,exciting,jaw dropping,wonderful,and X-cellent.Don't hesitate.Go see this movie NOW!!!!.
Being a feature film, it's obvious that they can't explain, explore and probe every single moment in Wolverine's life as depicted in the comics, and some die-hard X-Men fans seem to think it's blasphemy to leave out a few details.
Well, unless they're asking us to forget the original 'X-Men' films, it's kinda like someone saying in Star Wars 1-3: "I'm going to kill Anakin" or someone actually attempting the murder of the Anti-Christ in 'Left Behind.' And speaking of the original movies, didn't they already give the origins of Wolverine throughout all three films?
The cast is really good, Hugh Jackman for the 4th time in the role of Wolverine/Logan, he already dominates this character, it just looks so natural on him.
Perhaps their scenes were not as cut up as others, but watching them act alongside anyone is proof that there is some form of a good movie buried deep within X-Men Origins: Wolverine.But the real strength of the film belongs to Jackman.
We can see the layers of emotion, and the scarring this character goes through.I was not expecting a lot from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but I got even less than I wanted.
Marvel just decided to cash a check this time - The story was mediocre and rushed, the special effects were terrible considering todays standards(I am talking about the theatrical version), the editing didn't make sense at times, the mutants powers didn't even seem right, and for a movie about Wolverine, there was a lot of other character development which isn't bad but personally I went to see Wolverine.
Some subtly (like Agent Zero), some vastly (like Deadpool), but ultimately not so much that it detracts from the film's story (it is, after all, a different continuity to the comics - X-Men fans would do well to remember this going into this movie!).
Exciting action scenes and all around fun, plus plenty of shirtless Hugh Jackman to roar over.I liked the story here too, exploring the beginnings of Wolverine's powers, his tumultuous relationship with his brother Victor (Liev Schreiber) and its decline.
Viewers of previous X-Men films can see that there are a lot of unanswered questions when it comes to his character, and his story is certainly a special one.X-Men Origins: Wolverine delivers.
Hugh Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine is a little bit different than in other X-Men films - we truly see his humanistic and protective nature through in this film, especially with Sabretooth (Victor Creed)as his character foil.
The story is boring, in spite that they have so many plot lines Its called Wolverine but they better made a Sabretooth movie because Liev Schreiber is the best thing on the screen in this movie.
The way his amnesia - which is a very important aspect of the original X-Men flicks - is explained is one of the most disappointing aspects of the film - a very idiotic and ultimately senseless explanation indeed.If there's one level I thought the movie worked beautifully, it's action-wise.
Considering both their characters were some of the most anticipated by the fans, their limited screen time is a really bad move by the filmmakers.I was really entertained by X-Men Origins: Wolverine, mainly because Hugh Jackman is so damned good at playing the titular character and because, although the action sequences were pretty ordinary, they looked awesome.
Hugh Jackman again proves that HE is Wolverine, but Liev Schreiber proves also that HE could be Sabretooth in an upcoming X-Men movie.
There are too many characters to keep track of, and the action seems to be intentionally frantic, the better to distract you from the fact that little of the story makes a whit of sense.We get to see the actual origins of Wolverine (that is, as a young child) when he discovers that the man he just killed with his bare, uh, claws was his real dad and that the guy he thought was just a good pal is actually his brother Victor, aka Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber).
But somehow, the first two movies get a pass from critics and fans alike, while "the last stand" and this one get ripped to pieces.I mean, this movie has it's share of flaws, but has plenty to like too: Hugh Jackman plays this character he knows so well to perfection, as Liev Schreiber does with Sabretooth, the action scenes are nicely done, and quite exciting, an quite a lot.
Origins: Wolverine is a one-legged dog.Liev Schreiber and Hugh Jackman both do well in their roles, but the first 10 minutes of the movie are rushed and underdeveloped.
For those of you fans of the Wolverine comics (Origins and other), do not see this movie.
Even if you haven't seen the other X-men movies you don't have to because this one is about Logan/Wolverine which intrigues you more I think.