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Wolverine has long been a favorite character of comic fans, though I admit I've never seen the appeal. His powers are super-healing ability and razor-sharp knives that come out of his fists. Comic fans know how this came to be, but those who've only enjoyed his belligerent antics in the first three X-Men  films would like it spelled out for them.Wolverine was born James Howlett in the Northwest Territories. He and his stepbrother, Victor (Liev Schreiber) witnessed a pretty nasty domestic altercation at an early age that left two men dead, one of them by James's hands (claws, actually). James ran into the night; Victor ran after him, and the two kept running together, jumping into as many wars as they could - the Civil War, WWI, WWII, and Vietnam. They fight side-by-side in a really clever opening sequence that tells us not only of the brothers' bloodlust but also of their longevity (I guess that immortality goes hand-in-hand with extreme healing abilities). Like all the X-Men, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) was born with his powers. This makes him a mutant, unlike Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, who gained their powers through freak accidents. James and Victor get into some trouble with the military, and their rare abilities help to get them recruited for an elite killing squad. After so many years of bloodshed, a mission in Africa finally brings out the differences between the brothers. Victor jumps right back into killing willy-nilly, whereas James wants to put it behind him. Wolverine is a popcorn movie, with plenty of whiz-bang special effects that are simply wowing. One sequence in particular in which Wolverine leaps from an exploding truck to take out a helicopter is just a thrill to watch. I went into this movie looking for not much plot and a fair amount of action, and on that level I was not disappointed, but Wolverine doesn't provide much else to endear it. The one major motivating factor for Wolverine's return to bloodlust is later removed from the equation... doubly. We know from the X-Men films that Wolverine is missing most of his past memories, so we go into the film knowing that most of the stuff that happens in Origins will be meaningless at the end of the film. Rather than playing this up as a regrettable tragedy, the narrative whimpers to a stop.The purely visual aspect of the Blu-ray edition of X-Men Origins: Wolverine , on the other hand, is exemplary. The
beautiful scenery (New Zeland for Canada) is crisp and breathtaking.
The picture-in-picture director's commentary I so love is also featured here, along with pretty good making-of featurettes and some in-depth character studies of all the majors. Interviews with X- Men creators Stan (The Man) Lee and Len Wein help round out the extras with a flourish. The BD Live features up-to-date looks at the actors' current resumes via IMDB. |
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