05 June 2009

X-Men Origins Wolverine (2009)

Hugh Jackman plays James/Jimmy/Logan/Wolverine (the most popular member of the X-Men) in a film that explores his long, troubled back story. Logan is a mutant with a healing factor that makes him nearly immortal and nearly indestructible. He also likes to fight. This makes him a target for the government who decide to use him and experiment on him. Logan’s brother (Liv Shrieber, aka Vincent/Sabretooth) is not very nice to him either. The story is dark and action packed, much like Wolverine, with Hugh’s charisma and hunk factor helping to hold it together (while the questionable CGI and the inclusion of too many pointless mutants tries to undermine the drama). Of course it diverges from comic book mutant history, but all movies are annoyingly consistent in their inability to remain faithful to the source.

As much as the movie explains about our angry, hairy, Canadian mutant, I am left wondering…How can Wolverine bend his wrists when he retracts his claws? How many people keep the clothes of their departed sons and husbands so they can give them to strangers? And why are these relatives always the same size as the unexpected visitors?

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