X-Men Origins: Wolverine [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray]

Director: Gavin Hood, Hugh Jackman, John Palermo

Overview

The gruff, adamantium-clawed Marvel superhero Wolverine strikes out on his own in this X-Men spin-off starring series regular Hugh Jackman. The story gets under way as the boy who will become Wolverine makes a shocking discovery about his family bloodline, and gains a brother in the process. Flash forward to find the mutant siblings battling side by side through two world wars and Vietnam -- where they are sentenced to death for killing a commanding officer -- and Logan (Hugh Jackman) and his brother, Victor Creed (aka Sabretooth, played by Liev Schreiber), have joined a top-secret government task force. When their targets begin to include innocent civilians, conscientious Logan escapes to the Canadian Rockies, where he builds a home with pretty schoolteacher Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins). Informed by his old commanding officer William Stryker (Danny Huston) that the members of his old team are being targeted for death, Logan is heartbroken when Victor finds and kills Kayla. Vowing revenge, Logan agrees to take part in a dangerous experiment that will fuse his bones with a powerful metal alloy called adamantium, which makes him virtually indestructible and gives him the strength needed to defeat his powerful brother. Subsequently betrayed by Stryker, Logan (now Wolverine) sets out to find his blood-lusting brother and stop the cycle of violence once and for all. Along the way, the temperamental hero is joined by fellow mutants John Wraith (Will.i.Am) and Remy LeBeau (aka Gambit, played by Taylor Kitsch). But before Wolverine can seek vengeance against Striker and his brother, he'll have to do battle with Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) a formidable mutant instilled with many powers.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/15/2009
UPC:	0024543602804
Original Release:	2009
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	20th Century Fox
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	1:47:00
Sales rank:	6,354

Special Features

The roots of Wolverine: A conversation with Stan Lee and Len Wein featurette; Wolverine Unleashed: The complete origins featurette; Weapon X mutant files; The Thrill of the Chase: The helicopter sequence; Ultimate X-Mode bonus view: C Connect, the director's chair, pre-visualizing Wolverine and X facts trivia track; Deleted & alternate scenes with commentary by Gavin Hood; Fox Movie Channel presents world premiere; Audio commentary by director Gavin Hood; Audio commentary by producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter; BD-Live: Live Lookup powered by IMDb

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Hugh Jackman	Logan / Wolverine
Liev Schreiber	Victor Creed / Sabretooth
Danny Huston	William Stryker
Lynn Collins	Silver Fox
Ryan Reynolds	Wade Wilson / Deadpool
Dominic Monaghan	Barnell Bohusk / Beak
Daniel Henney	David North / Agent Zero
Taylor Kitsch	Remy LeBeau / Gambit
will.i.am	John Wraith
Kevin Durand	Fred Dukes
Scott Adkins	Weapon XI
Tim Pocock	Scott Summers
Julia Blake	Heather Hudson
Max Cullen	Travis Hudson
Troye Sivan	Actor
Michael-James Olsen	Actor
Aaron Jeffery	Actor
Alice Parkinson	Actor
Philip A. Patterson	Actor
Anthony Gee	Actor
Adelaide Clemens	Actor
Kevin Duran	Fred J Dukes / le Blob
Myles Pollard	Phelan
Tom O'Sullivan	Logging Supervisor
Stephen Anderton	Marcuse
Chris Sadrinna	Van Mier
Septimus Caton	Bartender
Peter Barry	Male Nurse #2
Harry Gregson-Williams	Composer

Technical Credits

David Benioff

Skip Woods

David Benioff	Screenwriter
Skip Woods	Screenwriter
Avi Arad	Executive Producer,Producer
Stan Lee	Executive Producer
Kevin Feige	Executive Producer
Hugh Jackman	Producer
John Palermo	Producer
Lauren Shuler-Donner	Producer
Ralph Winter	Producer
Debra Zane	Casting
Christine King	Casting
Richard Donner	Executive Producer,Producer
Louis G. Friedman	Producer
Marsha L. Swinton	Producer
James Bolt	Sound Effects
Ted Caplan	Sound Effects
Derek Casari	Sound Effects
Bryan Singer	Producer

Editorial Reviews

On a scale of aluminum foil to adamantium, X-Men Origins: Wolverine rates a mid-gauge sheet metal. Sturdy as an early-summer tent pole yet fragile enough to snap once the heavy fronts roll in, Fox's notoriously leaked actioner should stand strong against the gentle breeze of Battle for Terra, though it's likely to be blown away by the blustery winds of Star Trek and Terminator Salvation a few weeks out. From a non-fanboy perspective, it has some exciting action and colorful characters; unfortunately, the special effects vary from impressive to embarrassing, and some additional trimming at the story level might have helped elevate the metallurgical rating to steel status. If the plot sounds a bit operatic, well, it is. This being an origins story, screenwriters David Benioff and Skip Woods work to strike a careful balance between plot and action, and while they largely succeed, the results aren't always satisfying. After the frenetic opening credits scene and an action-packed intro, it takes a while for the action to pick up again; when it finally does, it comes only in brief bursts that get progressively more intense leading toward the final confrontation -- an exciting, occasionally dizzying fight against a single genetically engineered mutant that possesses the power of many. It's in this scene that Nicolas de Toth and Megan Gill's editing truly shines, and Gavin Hood's talents as an action director are fully realized. As anyone who saw Tsotsi can attest, Hood does have a talent for staging coherent action scenes, and moviegoers tiring of the Bourne school of ADD action filmmaking will appreciate the fact that Hood always gives us a solid sense of spatial relations. Not only does this help to ensure that we lose ourselves in the action, but also that every blow carries actual impact rather than just devolving into an ineffective montage of flying fists and bone-crunching sound effects. It likely goes without saying that Liev Schreiber possesses more than enough talent to take over the role of Sabretooth from Tyler Mane, and while the latter made a formidable impression with his brief but memorable appearance in X-Men, the former has the dramatic chops to lend the monstrous character a much-needed human dimension. Humans and monsters merge in the character of William Stryker, a snake in human's skin instilled with reptilian verve by Danny Huston, but the real showstopper here is Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), a frightening Frankenstein-like mutant of few words. His disturbing appearance gives the final showdown a much-needed gruesome edge after a series of conspicuously bloodless action sequences. Perhaps the trick to enjoying X-Men Origins: Wolverine is to not ask too many daunting questions, and to keep in mind that, like any comic-to-screen adaptation, these aren't the "official" origins of the character, but his comic-book genesis as filtered though a Hollywood lens.