User reviews

I'll state my credentials up front: I'm a chick. I have read X-Men comics in my past, but it's been years. I don't remember every detail of every relationship and back story, so I'm not a huge X-men expert. I LOVED the original X-Men movie and X2.

I was so excited when I heard they were making a Wolverine movie. He and Gambit were my two favorite characters from the comics, and Wolverine was by far the best written and one of the best acted characters in the X-Men franchise. I thought, "This should be good!" I counted down the days until it came out. And I went to the theatre, and came out not disappointed, but not excited either. It was a middle-of-the-road movie, which seemed to not know what it wanted to be. But I would say go see it if you're an X-Men or Hugh Jackman fan.

The main crime committed in Wolverine is in the writing. I always say writers don't get enough credit on a good movie. But no amount of good acting (pretty much everyone in Wolverine does well with what they're given) and okay directing can cover up crappy writing like this. The script was all over the place. It didn't have any of the jaunty yet edgy feel of the first two X-Men movies. Wolverine's wisecracks and smart wit were all but forgotten. That would've maybe been okay if they had chosen to make Wolverine the dark, nearly evil character that he was supposed to have been before he lost his memory. But they didn't. He was neither good nor evil. This was ambivalent Wolverine. Kind of Emo Wolverine. Not above doing bad, but not really into it because it made him Feel Bad. No really interesting lines or plot points either way. The writers didn't seem to even know how to develop the relationship between Wolverine and Sabertooth. And was the love story put in by the studio just to satisfy us chicks who wouldn't go a see a comic-book movie without it? If so, the studio did us a great disservice, because if you wanted to make a story about Wolverine the lover (which, hey, I would go see), this movie wasn't that either.

And when I saw in the trailer that Gambit was in the movie, too, I was thrilled! Gambit in a movie, at last! But here he is, the underdeveloped and kind of confusing Gambit. Couldn't he at least have had his New Orleans accent? The cards were cool, but he was mostly underutilized and didn't feel like Gambit that much.

The movie does have some good moments in it where you actually say, "Yes!" I'm not putting spoilers, so I won't tell you what they are, but for me, they made the movie worth seeing. While I wouldn't put it anywhere on my worst-movie list, I wouldn't rank it with X-Men and X2 on my favorites list, either.

Forget the reviews that focus on dialogue (it's a comic book character, of course it's clichéd) or other types of thing you may look for in movies like a Room With A View. In this movie you want to see cool action, cool use of superpowers, great fights with CGI that is not obvious and some tension about what happens next. This movie has it all. Academy awards? No. Amazing plot? No, but enough to keep it very interesting, with answers like where Adamantium comes from, Sabretooth and Wolverine relationship, introduction of Deadpool, early view of Cyclops, and much more that keeps the movie going along just fine. This is a solid action film, better than most.

The early years of James Logan (Hugh Jackman) , and his sibling Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber) , two mutant brothers , born two hundred years ago, and fighting in the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War. And being set in 1845, the 1860s, the 1910s, 1944, 1973, and 1979. Subsequently , featuring the strong rivalry with his brother Victor Creed , his service in the special forces team Weapon X led by Stryker (Danny Huston) . The latter is a U.S. Colonel who recruits them and other mutants as commandos and his experimentation into the metal-lined mutant Wolverine. Then Logan quits and turns a logger, falling in love for a local teacher (Lynn Collins) .Things go wrong when Logan refuses to rejoin . When he's most vulnerable, he's most dangerous. The hero. The fugitive. The warrior. The survivor. The legend. The fight of his life will be for his own. When enemies rise... when immortality ends... the ultimate battle begins.

The story is more complex and thoughtful to follow than previous entries for newbies and takes itself seriously and displays interesting characters involving through the movie and some new mutant . Fine acting from dual starring : Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine and Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed , both of whom suffering childhood trauma and have only each other to depend on . Furthermore , appearing other superheroes as prisoners of Striker's Island as Gambit , Cyclops , Emma and Deadpool who was only going to cameo, but the role grew after Ryan Reynolds was cast , and , of course , an essential guest star : Sir Patrick Stewart as Prof. Charles Xavier to become rejuvenated thanks to digital efects by computer generator . It has great action some brief fitting humor and it also has good intrigue. The script provides a well-executed and exciting final and tied the threads were leaving along the film . Based on Chris Claremont , Frank Miller comic books strips from "Wolverine" and suspenseful and twisted screenplay by Skip Woods and David Benioff of Game of thrones . The film had started out as a prequel to X-Men (2000) , but later he decided to make it an independient Wolverine film with some strings relationed with X-Men series .The film contains an impressive, breathtaking ending battle with plenty of computer generator effects . The great duo of protagonists Hugh Kackman , Liev Schreiber are well accompanied by a nice support cast, such as the beautiful Lynn Collins , the usually villain Danny Huston , Kevin Durand , Dominic Monaghan, Taylor Kitsch , Daniel Henney , Ryan Reynolds , among others.

Thrilling and rousing musical score by Harry Gregson-Williams . Colorful as well as evocative cinematography by Donald McAlpine . The motion picture was professionally directed by Gavin Hood delivering a decent filmmaking .Overall, this has a good look, some nice action, a little bit of humor andoverwhelming final battles . Director Gavin Hood does a good job pulling it all together . Gavin was born in South Africa , he is an actor and producer, known for Tsotsi (2005), Eye in the sky (2015) and Official Secrets (2019). Rating : 7/10

I have no idea as to why people bash Wolverine. I think its an extremely well made, highly entertaining movie with great acting and a fitting storyline. Its also pretty dark and uncompromising in many scenes.

The fight scenes are brutal and intense which makes them really awesome.

I was actually surprised by some of the plot twists. Great.

The opening title sequence should win some kind of award. Gave me goose bumps. The editing is perfect.

Only complaint is the few plot holes towards the X-men trilogy.

Wolverine is a decent movie. It is worth the price of admission and the 2 hours of screen time. The movie works well as a prequel of the events of the X-Men movies. However, to enjoy the movie, one must suspend knowledge of the comic book material. The movie was made for the average movie-goer and a little for the ultra hardcore X-Men comic book reader. The story has everything anyone could want: family, a little romance, love, comedy, revenge and plenty of action.

I was pleased with most of the acting. I will admit that some dialogue seems forced from the minor cast, but the main characters - Wolverine, Sabretooth, etc. - all work well together. The story did seem a little rushed and choppy at times, however. The 1:45 time goes by quickly enough to feel like maybe the movie could have - and should have - been closer to 2:00.

The movie is as good as the first X-Men movie, and better than X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand. I am actually looking forward to seeing how they handle the Magneto origins movie that's being made. And I am really hoping that all of this work brings it together for a possible X-Men 4. I know you agree with me because after all, I know everyone is dying to see Apocalypse as the bad guy.

My only real complaint of the movie is that Gambit (my favorite X-Men character) did not have as much screen time as I'd hoped. He better either get his own movie, or make an appearance in a later Marvel movie.

Ignore the syndicated critics and the negativity surrounding this movie. I'm glad I did. Go see it. Don't let people scare you away from spending your money on this movie. Form your own opinions. Oh, and if you go, stay after the credits.

The first X-Men film was fun and well-made though with a beginning-of-the-franchise-not-yet-properly-finding-its-feet feel; X-Men 2 was very, very good indeed and an example of a bigger and darker sequel better than the original(even if it wasn't quite perfect either) and X-Men 3 The Last Stand while nowhere near as bad as its reputation was disappointing(after being so impressed by the previous two) and a step-back in the franchise. X-Men Origins: Wolverine had much going for it but while it is nowhere near a bad film it could have delivered more, considering that this was an origins prequel story. X-Men Origins: Wolverine does have good things, it's well shot and edited(if a little rapid in a couple of the fighting sequences), the special effects are nicely executed and not used too much and the dark, gritty style of the previous three films is wisely maintained, nothing overblown or static here. The opening sequence is robust and exciting and gives you the sense of "looks like we're in for a treat here", most of the action sequences have tension and thrills especially at the end(which also makes a real effort to tie up loose ends), Sabretooth/Victor and Stryker are well-realised and there are a few good performances. Wolverine may be too ambivalent character-development-wise but Hugh Jackman's charisma and grizzled demeanour is pitched perfectly, Liev Schreiber brings real meat, toughness and menace to Victor/Sabretooth and Danny Huston as the villain Stryker is both classy and ruthless and does them very effectively, Stryker avoids being too one-dimensional. Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Kitsch do what they can and are quite good.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine does suffer however from a lot of the same things that X-Men The Last Stand had. The script is very contrived and in a worse way than X-Men The Last Stand, emotional moments are forced, exposition and any explanations are underdeveloped and any bits of humour are on the broad side(X-Men 2 especially avoided this and had a much more even balance). The story has some good atmosphere and good scenes and has some tension, but it does try to cram in too much and things feel rushed and not as developed as they ought. Gavin Hood does reasonably admirably in the action but very like Brett Ratner he is surprisingly not as comfortable in the non-action scenes, in a way that the writing and story, that should give the film depth, are sacrificed by the action(again mostly very good, apart from ones that did lag and you couldn't always tell who was who). Apart from Sabretooth and Stryker (Wolverine was written much better in the first two films but Jackman's presence did make up for things), the characters are disappointingly written, especially Deadpool who had a lot of potential but disappears just like that and appears even more abruptly much later at a stage where you think they've forgotten all about him. Gambit was also treated fairly insignificantly, and other characters like Blob and Kayla(Lynn Collins' acting is wooden in this part) are pretty useless. It doesn't have the too many characters problem like The Last Stand did but it like that film doesn't develop or write the characters well but not as insultingly. On a side note one positive review said that they couldn't understand why The Last Stand and this got criticised for the characters and the first two get a free pass; actually the first two films have been criticised for under-utilising characters and bad acting in them, namely Cyclops and Storm, but at least they tried to respect the characters and not distort them or deprive them of personality like this and Last Stand did(and this is NOT coming from a comic-book purist, far from it, you don't even need to have read an X-Men comic to have this criticism). Harry Gregson-Williams' score has some excitement and induces some suspense but at other points it's too over-bearing and strident, of the X-Men films this film had the least effective score in my opinion. Will.i.Am being cast in an X-Men film would cause alarm bells and his performance is not any better, it felt out of place.

To conclude, could have been better but it's not that bad. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Forget tedious expose and pointless set up, the movie delivers a crisp story and exactly the Wolverine I wanted to see. This is a pure meat and potatoes movie. Stick with me on the food analogy. I've seen some complain about subsidiary characters but when the main course is this good and this filling, who cares? Whining about Gambit, Wade Wilson and company is like whining that the mushrooms aren't as good as they should be when the steak is juicy and remarkably tasty. Great kick-ass action, remarkable visuals, a coherent plot, this is definitely the highlight of the year so far. As I like to note, a must see event film if there ever was one. Anyone that says otherwise isn't telling the truth. I can't think of a truly weak moment in the film because the pace is near perfect. It's strong from start to finish. The powerful moments resonate throughout the film, both the tremendous action and the heartfelt moments. The confrontations are simply incredible, best of the series.

Wonderful film for fan and non-fan alike. Highly Recommended.

I was worried when i heard that they were making this movie. A prequel to a series that i liked a lot. I wasn't worried so much about Hugh Jackman as i was worried about the rest of the cast. After watching it i came out with mixed feelings. The Action and special effects, were awesome and Hugh Jackman was funny and cool. But the overall acting in the film was very average. The beginning of the movie felt very rushed, it seemed they wanted to get to the middle very quickly. The middle of the movie was cool but somewhat confusing if you arnt Knowledgebale about X-Men. The ending was the best part, i don't want to give anything away but there is a pretty epic battle at the end. And the ending bridges this movie with the others quite well. I liked this better than X-Men 3 Last Stand, but this wasn't a great movie. It's a gap filler nothing more.

Despite the unoriginality of the title, X-Men Origins: Wolverine accomplishes what few titles do: it acknowledges the main character in the film (as played again by Hugh Jackman), and tells the audience exactly what it is going to be about – the origin of Wolverine. Crisscrossing around timelines before settling on one undisclosed period before the first X-Men film, Wolverine chronicles how James Logan got his adamantium skeletal frame, how his relationship with Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) began, and everything in-between.

While my small amount of knowledge in regards to X-Men lore is not as vast as others, I had an idea of what to expect from the film story-wise. And while it deviates from the comics in some rather large areas, other parts are fairly true to them.

But in adapting this story to film, the filmmakers stumble right out of the gate. The storyline, as fantastical as it is, descends into silliness and absurdity faster than Wolverine can bring out his claws. I understand the material is based off of a comic franchise, but the filmmakers take this for granted. Instead of fleshing out a jumpy origin story, the film rushes from one point to the next, throwing dialogue and characters at the audience that people will either understand or be completely thrown off by. It takes the time to really make you understand the bond between Wolverine and Sabretooth, but then never makes any of the motivations of anyone else clear. There is so much going on here, and so little explanation that it is a miracle any of this came together at all. The whole film hinges on explaining Wolverine's origins, and what lead him to the gang in X-Men, but the film feels incomplete – like something integral is missing.

The X-Men series has always been about a group of people, and this film is no different. But whereas the other films had strong supporting casts backing up the main individuals, this film lacks any good supporting characters. Characters played by Dominic Monaghan, Kevin Durand, Will i Am and Daniel Henney are given so little to do that they could have been played by special effects. Each is given something to do, but so little is done to make them more than one-note that it is a wonder why they are even here in the first place. Other characters, played by the likes of Lynn Collins, the horrendously miscast Taylor Kitsch (who needs accent lessons) and Ryan Reynolds (in another stereotypical wise-ass role) are integral to the film, but have no time to really prove themselves as being useful to the film. They merely stand as plot devices, and items that the like of Jackman and Schreiber use to move from point A to point B. They have a point, but the filmmakers care less in giving them any real motivations or emotions. If they do not care, then why should an audience?

If the story and the acting were a bit out of touch, the CGI fares even worse. In some scenes, it looks just fantastic and smoothly developed. In others, it looks fake and rushed. The bootleg copy of the film that circulated online before the movie opened apparently had very little special effects in place. That came out a month ago. Was that the working version of the film at that point, and everything else has been added in since? It would make sense for how patchy of a job some scenes look and how incredibly horrendous others look. Even simple scenes involving Wolverine's claws, which should look quite realistic by this point four films in, look horrible. Even the makeup effects (especially for one key character) are laughably bad. I know the film had its problems on-set and in post-production, but there is no excuse anyone could make for how bad some scenes look. When dated films from years past look better than something current, I think there is a problem.

The villains played by Schreiber and Danny Huston are the most interesting part of the film. While not as key to the film as Wolverine himself, both deliver excellent performances that belong in better movies. Huston is deliciously evil as always, using his face to hint at ulterior motives while saying something else entirely. Schreiber gives a level of depth and ferocity that was totally missing from Tyler Mane's original performance in the first film. The animal of a man Schreiber becomes is nothing short of excellent. Both actors take the film seriously, even at its most ridiculous moments, and they make something of their roles that none of the supporting cast really attempts. Perhaps their scenes were not as cut up as others, but watching them act alongside anyone is proof that there is some form of a good movie buried deep within X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

But the real strength of the film belongs to Jackman. He nails everything about Wolverine from his attitudes, to his mannerisms, to his behaviours. This is his most physical portrayal of the character, and it works the best because of how concrete and involved Jackman is. He knows this character, and never once does he leave him. He never falters. He dives headfirst into every scene he is in, and he gives it every single one the same amount of depth and complexity to make the character a real entity. This is not just a simple comic book character. We can see the layers of emotion, and the scarring this character goes through.

I was not expecting a lot from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but I got even less than I wanted. The film feels too rushed, too silly to truly be what was originally envisioned for this film. Jackman, Schreiber and Huston all make it work, and make it watchable because they genuinely try; even with the often horrendous material they are given. I just hope this is not the beginning of a lousy summer.

6/10.

This is the origins story of the mutant known as Wolverine and how he was attached to the weapon x project.

When I first heard they were going to make this flick, I thought that the series was going to go into a nosedive. The third film in the X-men franchise lacked everything that made the first two films enjoyable. Now a spin-off? I wasn't having it and the fact that they seemed to ruin one of my favourite x-men characters in the trailers didn't seem to help either. Well, I can say this, the film is not that bad. It's actually decent and a step up from the horrid Last Stand. Although they do miss a few steps that really hurt the film as a whole.

First off Hugh Jackman was born to play this character, here he is given more room to dive deeper into the animal and he does a great job. Mixing both comedic and dramatic elements, there is nothing new here to the character, just more of the same. More of the same though is fun and kick ass. Liev Schreiber plays Victor Creed, aka Sabretooth. His look is different from the first time we see him and he actually has some speaking lines here. Excellent casting choice, Liev really lets go here and you can see the fun he is having with the character.

Now, onto the two things that are ruined, from a "fan" perspective. Deadpool and Gambit. Many fans knew going in that these two guys were both kick ass and that the film was not going to do them justice. Well, it's true. These two guys lacked the screen time and the badass personas that people have come to love. Ryan Reynold has 5 minutes of screen time, he does he usual jokey bits like in Blade Trinity, but here it fits for the character. We see one scene in which he uses his blades to deflect bullets, quite cool. Then he is gone for the rest of the film. Gambit shows up 3/4 of the way through and is horribly underused. Why is he in here again? His scenes lacked a lot of punch it seems that his character was only used to draw in fans. The character in the film could have been anybody else and it wouldn't effect the story, but they chose Gambit cause fans wanted to see him. You will be disappointed.

The final fight sequences is interesting, I don't want to go into details cause that would give away certain plot points, specifically who the final fight scene is with and why he is fighting him. I have to raise another complaint though, as for the explanation for Wolverine's so called memory loss. They don't explain it very well in the film, they just say that this will make him not remember. Why? I don't know. Fighting fire with fire just doesn't make sense to me. The explanation for his memory loss is truly pathetic and doesn't make any sense.

There are cameos from a lot of mutants, cyclops as a kid is one and another one at the end that fans will enjoy. I thought that they could have trimmed the running time down a bit, currently 1hr46min. Subplots don't really work in this film, I'm talking about his love interest. A lazy way to try and drive the plot forward.

The action sequences range from enjoyable to laughable. The opening credit sequences is neat and mirrors what Watchmen did.Fans will most likely be disappointed by the lack of respect this "origin" story deserved. It's leaps and bounds over the last film, but that's not really saying much. The special effects are the worst in the entire series, which is a huge let knock against it because it's almost ten years after the original.

To tell you the truth I'm pretty surprised by all the negative reviews I've been reading on the IMDb and elsewhere on the net (AICN for example). I thought X-Men 1 and 2 came close to being masterpieces and that X-Men 3 sucked big time. The Wolverine movie however is well made, exciting and surprisingly effective. But that's an opinion from somebody who doesn't know anything about the comics. To me Wolverine is mainly a movie hero and maybe that can make a big difference.

Two elements make this movie really work. Liev Schreiber - a very underestimated actor - does a great job as Wolverine's brother Victor/Sabretooth. It's their love/hate relationship that is the main subject in this story and that really keeps it interesting. In the first minutes of the movie this is well established. The opening credits are really beautiful.

Second: the story. I really love the story. It has romance, betrayal, vengeance, action, a touch of immortality... All the good elements are there in the right doses.

Yes, I really love this movie. I hope to see more of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the future, because there are a lot more adventures he can and should have. Maybe director Gavin Hood can repair some of the damage that Brett Ratner did with a X-Men 3. Because an X-Men 4 - with hopefully Josh Halloway as Gambit - would be a great spectacle indeed.

There's only one big thing that really puzzled me. So the Liev Schreiber character is actually the same Sabretooth we see in X-Men 1? Because the two characters really don't seem the same in the two movies. Everything they have "experienced together in the past" (in the prequel) seems forgotten in X-Men 1 (when they only fight each other).

Anyway, go see this!

8,5 / 10

The superhero genre reached a higher echelon in 2008 with "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight," and considering the success of 2/3 of the X-Men franchise so far, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" can certainly be held to those standards, especially a movie whose title alone suggests getting right down to its hero's adamantium core.

But "Wolverine" plays more like a spin-off, defining "origins" as the back story and not the psychological workings of the character. It's weak on themes, but loaded on more new mutants with new powers, explosions and plenty of subplots. Basically, it fails where "X-Men 3" did, trying to do too much at once, rushing the plot along and sacrificing the deeper reason audiences are drawn to Hugh Jackman's character other than he's cool and has a crude, sarcastic sense of humor. However, it succeeds much of the same way X3 did and beyond: more explosive action and creative use of an immense visual effects budget. Although director Gavin Hood doesn't bring more insight into the film with his work, he certainly has as good of an eye for the stylish as anyone.

The first sign that you know this movie isn't going to be top tier for superhero flicks is the number of mutants/villains. For a story about one, singular X-man, there are way too many other characters to follow: Col. Stryker is their ringleader, but Sabretooth (Schriber), Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Reynolds), Bolt (Monaghan), Gambit (Kitsch), Wraith (will.i.am), Agent Zero, the Blob and young Cyclops (not to mention a slough of extras) make the film dizzying. Especially at the beginning, we need to see more Wolverine -- it's his movie.

To the film's credit, its quick movement makes it easy to watch and entertaining and there's some surprisingly good comedic timing on Jackman's part for an action movie. Seriously though, it must have been a blast (no pun intended) on the set during action sequences because they actually destroyed everything they possibly could: CGI, real and both. This film is the beginning of what will surely be mind-blowing visual effects at the movies this summer. Hood gives new visual strength to the franchise and provides a much more epic feel to this film -- it's clearly about this grand journey for Wolverine, even if it's more spectacle than introspective.

Surprisingly, the ending was the most satisfying part of the film. All the subplots converge, it makes sense and the loose ends that fans of the first three films will notice get tied up fittingly at the end. For the whole first hour of the film you're juggling Wolverine and Sabretooth's rivalry, Stryker's team of guys with powers, Wolverine's romance with Kayla out in the wilderness, what's happening to the team of guys with powers ... why the heck kid Cyclops is in the movie ... it's not overwhelming, it's just not as enjoyable when you can't focus on one thing or character as much as you'd like. Still, the ending justifies the strange means, at least in terms of the epic battle that ensues.

"Wolverine" is not a travesty for the genre, but it certainly doesn't meet the expectations for a thorough superhero movie experience. You get amped up action and style over meaning and that makes it entertainment more than catharsis. Expect to be entertained and little else and "Wolverine" will satisfy your itch for the summer movie season.

~Steven C

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It has a very good storyline, the non-stop forward-moving pace works well and gives it a tone that works better then other, longer movies. It's very well directed and the acting (small, medium, and large roles) is PERFECT. I would have loved to have seen more of Gambit and Wilson even though that might have screwed with the pace that I just mentioned. The very best movie of 2009 regardless of genera. This is so gritty, real, and heartfelt that it even craps on the last film (Last Stand) and I actually enjoyed that film. Overall this movie was the best that I've seen this year.

There is not one wasted line, visual, camera angle or development in this entire movie. Everything serves to advance the plot. It was tight and lean and superbly done. I truly think that this is the best prequel movie of all-time. How could you not like it? From the new mutants to all of the special effects to the crisp pace… I loved it. I loved the ending. You can obviously see the attempt to tie this film to events from the trilogy but it all works neatly and tightly. Wolverine is the first movie this year that I want to see again. It's one heck of an entertaining movie.

10/10 superb!!! I can't wait for the DVD... I hope there's also a director's cut but I can't imagine what they could've possibly left out of this fabulous film.