(Long Island, NY) Back in 1963, the comic book “X-Men” was created by the duo of writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby for Marvel Comics. Considered very progressive for its time, the comic used the fictional subject of human mutation as a metaphor for the growing civil rights movement of the time. The X-Men were mutants, an evolution of humanity born with abilities that set them apart from normal people, making them a target of fear and hatred by those that didn’t understand. But despite being ostracized from society, the X-Men sought to co-exist with and protect humanity, which often drew them into conflict with all manner of naughty bad guys. Over the years, the series itself evolved to reflect current social issues, and while the team’s roster saw characters come and go on a regular basis, it has always remained a best-seller.
One of the X-Men’s most popular members (and indeed one of the most popular comic book characters of all time) is Wolverine. A Canadian amnesiac named Logan born with regenerative abilities that enable him to rapidly recover from almost any wound or disease, enhanced animal senses, retractable, foot-long, razor-sharp claws housed in his forearms, and a skeleton bonded with an indestructible metal called adamantium, Wolverine is a ruthless loner with an attitude.
Running contrary to the squeaky-clean image of the typical superhero at the time, Wolverine was a breath of fresh air to funny book fans and rapidly grew in popularity, crossing over into other forms of media including action figures, video games and cartoons. And when the current craze of adapting comic books into live-action feature films came to pass, he was featured prominently in 2000’s X-Men and its two sequels, portrayed by actor Hugh Jackman (who embodied Wolverine so well that it lead many to speculate that the Aussie actor was genetically bred in a lab somewhere to play the part). Sadly, the rather lame third X-Men movie may have spelled doom for that franchise, but now 20th Century Fox, the holders of the film rights for all things X-related, is foraging ahead with multiple character spin-offs. Who’s the first on the list, you ask…? Well, who have I been talking about this whole paragraph?
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a prequel whose main storyline is set about 15 years prior to the original X-Men, before Wolverine’s skeleton was bonded with adamantium. However, our tale begins actually beings waaay back in 1845 in the Northwest Territories of what will one day become Canada. Young James Howlett (Troye Sivan), who will one day grow up into Wolverine/Logan, has just killed his adoptive father’s murderer (Thomas Logan, revealed to be his real father) with his newly-discovered mutant bone claws and is on the run with his half-brother, Victor Creed (Peter O’Brien), who shares similar animalistic powers. Wait, now the X-Men comics take place in the modern day, you say? How is it that Wolverine was even alive back in 1845? Well, it’s simple…Wolverine’s healing abilities also serve to slow down his aging process a great deal, so modern-day Wolvie is easily over 160 years old. Now, if you could please stop interrupting me…
Anyway, as the two brothers slowly age into adulthood they eventually join the American military for unexplained reasons. The opening credits sequence of X-Men Origins depicts grown-up James (Hugh Jackman) and Victor (Liev Schreiber) serving in all of the major conflicts of our country’s history, including the Civil War, World War 1 & 2, and Vietnam. Despite James’ attempts to control him, during the latter war Victor finally succumbs to the same feral nature that James has been suppressing for years and kills a superior officer, resulting in a military firing squad for the brothers. However, due to their mutant healing factors, the bullets merely “tickle” and James and Victor then find themselves wasting away in a cell. They are visited by William Stryker (Danny Huston, playing the role originated by Brian Cox in X-Men 2), who offers them a pardon if they join his secret covert-ops team comprised solely of mutant operatives. Naturally, they accept, and James and Victor soon find themselves engaging in special-forces missions with their new teammates, which include several other Marvel Comics characters including fan-favorite Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), a wisecracking yet deadly mercenary. Just picture how Reynolds played Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity, replace the guns with swords, and you’ll get the idea.
Soon, James discovers that Stryker’s covert-ops team is up to no good when they start slaughtering innocent villagers in Nigeria while looking for a mysterious meteorite. James, disgusted by the actions of the team (including his own brother), abandons the group and disappears, only to resurface years later as a logger in the Canadian wilderness under the name of “Logan.” He’s living with his girlfriend, Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins), and is basically enjoying the good life of a hard-working man who has a rustic mountaintop cabin with a hot woman waiting for him inside every night. Alas, one day the past rears its ugly head, and William Stryker arrives at Logan’s job to inform him that “someone” is killing the members of the now-disbanded unit, a plot point that instantly reminded me of the Schwarzenegger classic “Commando.” I half-expected a guy in a chain-mail tank top to show up and kidnap Logan’s daughter…if he had a daughter, that is. Never mind.
Of course, Logan ignores Stryker’s warning and soon after Kayla winds up dead, an apparent victim of Victor, who is also revealed as the one hunting down Stryker’s team members. Logan sets out for blood, but the stronger Victor, who has now completely given into his animal nature and is harboring resentment towards Logan for leaving him behind, easily manages to defeat him. While recovering from having 6 tons of logs dropped on him and being run over by a truck, Logan is again approached by Stryker who offers him his old job back and an ace-in-the-hole: to have Logan’s skeletal structure and claws enhanced with a newly-developed super-metal called adamantium, harvested from the infamous Nigerian meteorite years before. Logan agrees, and taking the code-name “Wolverine” (based on a story Kayla told him), undergoes a painful procedure that he is only able to survive due to his unique regenerative abilities. After the procedure Logan overhears Stryker’s order to have his memory erased and to harvest his body for an experiment, starts killing everyone, and flees. But Stryker isn’t about to let his creation escape without a fight, and dispatches a small army after him.
Wolverine eventually discovers that Victor was actually working for Stryker all along, naturally wants revenge, and begins tracking down their base of operations. He enlists the aid of former teammate John Wraith (will.i.am) and Remy LeBeau, AKA Gambit (Taylor Kitsch), a character fans have been waiting a long time to make his big-screen debut. But even with their help and his now-unbreakable skeleton and claws, will Wolverine be able to defeat his own brother, uncover the conspiracy behind Stryker’s fiendish plot, face the return of friends and foes thought long-dead, and deal with the possibility of having his very memories ripped away from him?
Overall, X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a good movie. Aside from stupid little things (Why didn’t they explain why little Jimmy’s real dad killed his adoptive one? Why did Jimmy and Victor fight in every major war? Why did they feel the need to completely ruin Deadpool at the film’s climax when he started out so well early on? Why was a popular character like Gambit barely featured? Oh, and memory-erasing bullets? Who came up with that one?), the film really outshines some of the negative reviews I’ve read on it thus far. The story had a few holes, yes (prequels sometimes do), but overall it was fairly epic and interesting. The pace was nice and fast, the action scenes tight and flashy, and best of all: it’s better than the horrid X-Men 3, and for that ALONE it deserves credit.
Acting-wise, there’s not much to say. None of the actors are really testing their emotional range, but they all do fine jobs. Hugh Jackman seems to have tackled his signature role on his first solo outing with a fervor rarely seen, having whipped himself into amazing shape. I mean, the man has veins popping out all over the place. It’s gross. Also, he’s very, very good at looking very mean and screaming a lot. There’s really not much more required for the role of Wolverine, although Jackman does manage to sneak in some flourishes of genuine emotion here and there when the need arises. He also seems to specialize in roaring to the heavens while clutching a departed loved one in his arms, something he does at least three times in this film. And you though that was done to death in parodies…
The rest of the cast was solid as well. Liev Schreiber deserves credit for effectively channeling the ferocious nature of Victor Creed (AKA Sabretooth, although he’s never called that in the movie). Basically, he’s just playing a meaner version of the character he played in 2008’s Defiance, except he has claws and and jump real high. Taylor Kitsch is good as Gambit, the card-dealing’ Cajun (aide from his almost non-existent attempt at a Cajun accent), but he’s given so little screen-time that his character goes almost nowhere. Ryan Reynolds manages to make a big impression in the brief time he’s allotted for his role as Dead-pool, and word has it that he’s up for a spin-off feature of his own. Of course, considering what they do with his character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, whoever ends up writing that flick will find themselves in quite a hole to climb out of…
The special effects, of which there are many, are generally well-done and convincing, aside from a scene involving Wolverine’s newly-metal claws and a bathroom mirror (in which the CG is almost embarrassingly bad). The digital DE-aging effect seen in the opening of X-Men 3 is present again when a special someone makes a surprise cameo near the end of the film, and it’s just as effective now as it was then.
So, X-Men Origins: Wolverine paves the way for a series of solo adventures for everyone’s favorite mutant. Talks are already underway for the series’ second installment involving Logan’s time spent in Japan fighting Samurai and Ninja, which personally has me pretty excited at the possibilities, because let’s face it…ninjas are awesome. But aside from that, the opening weekend success of this film (87 million domestically, 160 worldwide) ensure that not only sequels will be coming our way, but hopefully other movies depicting the origins of famous X-Men as well (rumored up next: X-Men Origins: Magneto, the X-Men’s arch enemy). It’s a good time to be a fan of comic book movies, that’s for sure.
