X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

The early years of James Logan, featuring his rivalry with his brother Victor Creed, his service in the special forces team Weapon X, and his experimentation into the metal-lined mutant Wolverine.

Director:

Gavin Hood

Writers:

David Benioff (screenplay), Skip Woods (screenplay)

Stars:

Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Ryan Reynolds

3 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hugh Jackman	...	Logan / Wolverine
Liev Schreiber	...	Victor Creed
Danny Huston	...	Stryker
Will.i.am	...	John Wraith
Lynn Collins	...	Kayla Silverfox
Kevin Durand	...	Fred Dukes
Dominic Monaghan	...	Chris Bradley / Bolt
Taylor Kitsch	...	Remy LeBeau
Daniel Henney	...	Agent Zero
Ryan Reynolds	...	Wade Wilson
Tim Pocock	...	Scott Summers
Julia Blake	...	Heather Hudson
Max Cullen	...	Travis Hudson
Troye Sivan	...	James
Michael-James Olsen	...	Young Victor

Storyline

Two mutant brothers, Logan and Victor, born two hundred years ago, suffer childhood trauma and have only each other to depend on. Basically, they're fighters and killers, living from war to war throughout U.S. history. In modern times, a U.S. Colonel, Stryker, recruits them and other mutants as commandos. Logan quits and becomes a logger, falling in love with a local teacher. When Logan refuses to rejoin Stryker's crew, the Colonel sends the murderous Victor. Logan now wants revenge.

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Plot Keywords:

good versus evil | self healing | commando | civil war | claw fight | 

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Taglines:

Witness the Origin.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity

Details

Official Sites:

20th Century Fox [France] 20th Century Fox [Japan]

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 May 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Wolverine

Filming Locations:

Auburn, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$150,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$85,058,003, 3 May 2009

Gross USA:

$179,883,157

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$373,062,864

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Marvel Enterprises, Dune Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min 119 min (extended cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie takes place in 1845, the 1860s, the 1910s, 1944, 1973, and 1979.

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Goofs

Agent Zero uses a Beretta M92 Inox and Taurus PT92. The PT92 wasn't introduced until the 1980s and the Beretta Inox until the 1990s.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Young Victor Creed: You're always sick.
Young James Logan: You were sick when you were my age.

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Crazy Credits

This is the first X-Film to have an opening credits sequence: Logan and Creed fight together through a montage of wars: the American Civil War, WWI, WWII, and the Vietnam War.

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Alternate Versions

German theatrical version was cut by the distributor before submission to the FSK to secure a "Not under 16" rating (the killing of the old couple is shortened, you don't see Wolverine igniting the gasoline). Ironically, the uncut version, submitted for the home video release, was rated "Not under 16" as well, thus rendering the cut theatrical version completely unnecessary.

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Connections

Referenced in Cinematic Excrement: RoboCop 3 (2016)

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Soundtracks

Gimme One More Shot
Written by Jamie Dunlap and Scott Nickoley
Performed by Robin McAuley
Courtesy of Marc Ferrari / MasterSource

User Reviews

"Wolverine" 's journey is more about the visuals than the character

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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