Hugh Jackman stars as Wolverine, a mutant born with a strange set of retractable bones. When he kills a man in a moment of blinding rage, he and his equally clawed brother abandon their home to grow up as indestructible warriors. This is just the beginning for the future X-Man who will go on to befriend Cyclops and Professor X, but in the hands of director Gavin Hood, this prequel manages to balance the psychological backstory with all the action the franchise demands.
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Will.i.am, Taylor Kitsch, and Ryan Reynolds
Rating: Three and a half stars out of five
We all know Wolverine is probably the coolest of the X-Men, and not just because he’s played by the ever-studly Hugh Jackman, but also because he’s the closest thing to a human kitchen gadget we’ve ever seen.
A flesh-covered penknife capable of sheathing a pair of deadly claws inside his well-defined forearms, Wolverine was always the one mutant who seemed to function just outside the realm of Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) -- the eventual leader and educator of the X-Men, a mutant crew of superheroes.
The previous three X-Men outings went out of their way to establish Logan/Wolverine as something “Other” by pushing him to question Professor X, as well as shroud his personal history in conspiratorial mystery.
This prequel’s hook is embedded in that mystery, as we discover the origin of Wolverine’s name, his adamantium skeleton and the emotional thorn festering in his side.
The curtain rises over 19th century Canada!
Somewhere in the Northwest Territories is a little boy burning up with fever. Little James -- one day to be known as Logan and Wolverine -- is very sick, but he’s watched over by a slightly older lad named Victor, who encourages him to get better with stories of his own recovery.
Within about five minutes, James explodes with rage as he realizes someone has murdered his father. Right there and then, we witness the transformation as pointed bones sprout from his knuckles and sink deep into the chest of the assailant.
Sick little James thought he killed the man who killed his father. Turns out, James killed the man who actually was his father. With nowhere left to turn, newly discovered blood brothers James and Victor dash off into the night as murderous mutants on the run.
A quick montage over the opening credits takes us from the 19th century intro into modern times as we watch the now adult James (Jackman) and Victor (Liev Schreiber) fight brilliantly in one war after the next.
With a super ability to heal, as well as razor sharp claws and fingernails, the two brothers make a deadly tag team, but as the decades roll by and the body count skyrockets, James begins to tire of the bloodshed.
Victor, meanwhile, is only getting better at the hunt -- and in the process, ramping up his level of enjoyment with each new mission.
When he attempts to rape a woman in a village raid in Vietnam, he’s ordered to stand down by a superior officer. He refuses, ends up killing the officer and soon both he and James are standing in front of a firing squad.
When they both survive the volleys, the military sees the incredible potential contained in these two near-immortals, and conscripts them to join a special tactical squad assigned all the nasty, secret missions the government doesn’t want recorded on the books.
At first, the brothers are happy to belong to some kind of group that doesn’t mind the “bag lady” nails and odd hair style, but eventually, the assassin game loses its appeal -- especially for James, who feels his brother has turned into a sadistic monster.
James leaves the odd squad to head back to Canada, where he does what all full-blooded Canadian mutants are born to do: Swing an axe through the forest.
He’s a lumberjack and he’s OK with it, but when James gets a visit from his old commanding officer William Stryker (Danny Huston), he learns someone is out to kill off the old crew -- and that someone is his estranged sibling, Victor.
There isn’t anything all that new rattling around in this Crackerjack box of candy-coated special effects, sweet action sequences and sticky love connections, but under the direction of Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, Rendition) the movie jogs along at a good pace and never gets stuck in the thick web of franchise detail.
X-Men fanatics will be able to spot the references to the latter narrative arcs, but the average viewer will be able to embrace Wolverine as a summer yarn unto itself -- partly because the movie wears its elemental sense of fun on its sleeve, but largely because Jackman has the depth of talent to make even the most basic scenes, and some plain bad writing, feel a little deeper.
Jackman’s range may seem limited to bicep flexes and existential shrieks skyward, which are hard enough to pull off without looking idiotic, but the look behind his eyes changes from moment to moment -- which brings an edge of intelligence and awareness to an otherwise mono-dimensional comic book universe.
Empty confections like these need to feel human at some level, even when they’re about mutants and machines, in order to be more than bland escapism. Jackman and Schreiber bring home the dramatic back bacon, and in the process, keep Wolverine’s claws pressed against the carotid of human experience.
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