Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Fox Home Entertainment – 107 minutes – 2009 – Rated PG-13 – 1080p Widescreen 2.35:1 – DTS Lossless 5.1 Audio Mix

The three X-Men movies have made a bundle of loot worldwide, so obviously a studio like Fox is not going to let that cash cow just retire in the pastures. Instead of making another official X-Men movie, the idea was to just make a film focusing on the most popular character, Wolverine. Duh…of course the idea of that is like winning the slots at Vegas. Just do the math. Comic book fans love Wolverine + women love seeing Hugh Jackman without his shirt on = a truckload of money. Up front let it be said that this film is a major let down, and even though some say “hey, at least it was better than the third X-Men movie,” for those I say if you aim low the bottom is the only place to go. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is now available on Blu-ray from Fox Home Entertainment, but be careful this one will cut through you like a pair of adamantium claws.

THE MOVIE

X-Men Origins: Wolverine instantly assumes that anyone who wants to see this movie already knows the legend behind the character, so there’s no need to go any deeper than a brief description of events. We instantly see through the opening credits montage beginning in the year 1845, that Logan (Hugh Jackman) and Victor (Liv Screiber) are brothers who have unique mutant abilities that allow them to survive longer than an average human.  Together they fight in every war from the Civil War all the way to Nam. Logan has the calmer head, but his brother is a killing machine who gets off on his body count. After being placed in front of a firing squad, which they obviously survive, they are recruited by Major William Stryker (Danny Huston), who has assembled a team of bad-asses who all have special abilities known as Team X. Logan eventually departs from the team because he doesn’t agree with their methods and hightails it to Canada.

Here Logan finally finds a peaceful life with a woman he loves, Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins), until his brother Victor finally finds them and kills her to get back at his sibling. Desiring revenge for what has been taken away from him, Logan volunteers to be an experiment Strker’s Weapon-X project. His bones are painfully fused with an indestructible process called adamantium, and from here on Logan is known as Wolverine. More powerful than before and absorbed with rage, Wolverine goes to hunt his brother to avenge the death of Kayla, and unlock all answers to his past by slicing apart anything in his path.

Okay, this doesn’t sound too bad on the surface, but somewhere something went wrong with this movie, which is a big disappointment, because in the right hands this could have been a solid superhero movie on the level of Iron Man, or even X-Men United. Several other directors were lined up to helm the film before Gavin Hood was brought on board, and rumors surfaced that he was being forced to stay away from his dark vision and make a more watered-down safer film. The result is a film that’s bright and kid friendly, which is fine for Iron Man, but Wolverine is a guy who decapitates enemies with is claws. There are episodes of the Superfriends that were edgier than this. There is a whole team of dangerous mutants in the film, but unfortunately they’ve all been castrated by a very weak script.

Hugh Jackman is doing all he can to make this film work, but where he shined in the X-Men films, here he seems to be hanging on for his life. Liv Screiber, who is a good actor, doesn’t seem to know where to plant his feet in this film, so at times he just comes off as comedy relief instead of the menacing Sabretooth. Ryan Reynolds tries to get into the character of Deadpool, but this never goes anywhere interesting; nor does the onscreen comic book characters of Gambit, Blob, or Agent Zero who are basically just background set pieces.

Another disappointing thing about this film is that the action is lame and unoriginal. Come on, all these mutants with crazy powers and this wasn’t utilized to be something so kick ass that your brain would explode? A better action director would have blown you out of the back wall of the theater. Obviously, being that the movie was a huge success at the box office, raking in over $350 million worldwide, we will definitely be seeing Wolverine on the big screen again. Let’s give it the benefit of the doubt and say that Wolverine was used to being on a team and had cold feet in his first solo adventure, but the next one will be his Wrath of Khan. Hey, I’m sure we’ll even settle for something on the level of Bad Boys 2, because anything has got to be a step up from here.

VIDEO

What it lacks in story, X-Men Origins: Wolverine makes up for in image quality with a full 1080p picture ticked into a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Colors pop and skin tones are nearly perfect, with detail so sharp that you can count the sweat droplets rolling down Hugh Jackman’s forehead. Hints of grain are present during night scenes, but overall there is not much to nitpick at because the source material is spanking clean, providing an excellent transfer.

AUDIO

Crank up those speakers, because this is the kind of movie that sound enthusiast will love. Offering a Dolby Digital DTS-HD 5.1 audio mix, Wolverine will make you believe that a mutant battle is breaking loose in your living room. Gunshots, screams, clanging metal claws, exploding helicopters, car and motorcycle chases, and a loud music score all combined for a solid audio experience. No complaints here.

EXTRAS

Fox has packed a lot of goodies on this Blu-ray, but there’s always the chance of a super-duper-definitive version that may pop up one day. In the meantime you won’t be disappointed in the selection, but the one thing that should have been included is a Digital Copy, which is would have made the deal sweeter.

There are two audio commentaries provided, one by the director Gavin Hood and the second by producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter. There are a few interesting bits, but you won’t be listening to either of these two twice.

‘The Roots of Wolverine’ is a fifteen-minute looks at the origin and evolution of Wolverine, featuring Marvel Comic’s Stan Lee and Len Wein.

‘Weapon X Mutant Files’ runs about an hour and details all of the mutants seen in the movie, including interviews with the actors portraying these characters.

‘Wolverine Unleahed: The Complete Origins Featutrette’ is a basic promotional package that included interviews with the cast and crew talking about the film.

Nine minutes of deleted/alternate scenes add nothing new to the film, especially the silly cameo by Storm as a young girl that makes you wonder what they were thinking.

‘The Thrill of the Chase’ is a quick five-minute behind the scenes look at the helicopter takedown sequence in the movie.

‘Fox Movie Channel Presents’ is a six-minute look at the world premiere of the movie that was held in Arizona. Typical Entertainment Tonight fluff.

‘Ultimate X-Mode’ allows you to watch the film and access picture-in-picture on the set background information for specific scenes. Via X-Facts you can also watch the film with trivia facts provided.

One interesting feature is called ‘Live Lookup’ which allows you to use BD-Live to access IMDB.com to get information on the actors in the film. This is something that can be utilized even better in future Blu-ray titles.

BOTTOM LINE

Wolverine is a character that many fans have been dying to see riding solo in a film ever since the first X-Men movie was announced. Many of them may be disappointed with the final outcome, but there are many who were probably pleased with the results. Either way there will definitely be another Wolverine movie, so let’s all hope more care goes into it. This Blu-ray offers excellent image and sound, and a good selection of bonus features, so you do get your money’s worth. This is one of those titles that is guaranteed to sell no matter what.

SCORES (out of 5):

The Movie: 2.5

Video: 4.5

Sound: 4.5

Extras: 4.0

Bottom Line: 3.0