Satisfy the animal

Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) is famous for his angry, conflicted Wolverine character in the X-men movies

Wolverine gives us our action fix but is short on drama.

Disillusioned with all the bloodshed, Jimmy tries to leave that life behind. While he tries to lead a normal life as a lumberjack in the forests of Canada, he learns that someone is hunting down all the old members of Team X. He finds out too late that it is his brother, given the name Sabretooth, who has brutally murdered the love of his life.

Jimmy, now called Wolverine, is out for revenge, and he won’t stop until he gets it.

From where I’m sitting

“X-men Origins: Wolverine” is a prequel to the popular “X-men” series, fleshing out the back story of the most popular of the X-men characters.

The best thing this movie has going for it are the two main actors, who give engaging and energetic performances as Wolverine and Sabretooth. Beyond that, though the action set pieces are always exciting, the film’s script and its directing are not much more than predictable and uninspired.

So if you’re up for a classic rough-and-tumble Hollywood action flick, then this is your fare. If you’re looking for moving characters and storylines, and are tired of the epidemic of violence in popular movies, then you’d better steer clear of this one.

Who’s in it?

Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) – Made famous by his angry, conflicted Wolverine character in the first three X-men movies, Jackman has used his considerable charisma and on-screen energy to come to be known as a hunky, leading man through his roles in “Swordfish,” “The Prestige,” and the recent “Australia.” He leaves none of these traits behind as he returns to his roots in “Wolverine.”

Liev Schreiber (Sabretooth) – Schreiber is a talented actor who’s gained many fans playing supporting roles in films such as “The Painted Veil” and “The Manchurian Candidate.” He demonstrated his remarkable versatility by writing and directing the fascinating “Everything is Illuminated” with Elijah Wood.

He brings out a more humanized, and fascinating, version of the animalistic Sabretooth than was portrayed in the first X-Men movie.

Will.i.am (John Wraith) – One of the most interesting casting decisions was Will.i.am in a supporting role as a mutant who can teleport. Known as one of the major creative forces in the hip-hop group “The Black-eyed Peas,” Will.i.am took his first steps into filmmaking by producing the “Yes we can” video in support of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Although it’s apparent his acting skills are as of yet not fully developed, his energy and personality come through wonderfully on-screen.

Taking a closer look – violence

When looking at the filmmakers behind the camera, indicators point to a run-of-the-mill action flick, with no real creative force driving the film to any unique and interesting places.

South African director Gavin Hood and screenwriter David Benioff are capable and accomplished craftsmen, but their body of work, which includes “Rendition,” a political thriller directed by Hood, and the Brad Pitt vehicle “Troy,” written by Benioff, doesn’t include much that achieved outside-the-box, creative success.

Unfortunately, run-of-the-mill for Hollywood pictures nowadays means entertaining ourselves on almost nonstop, gruesome violence. As in countless other Hollywood movies, in “Wolverine” we find entertainment not through real human drama but through watching the characters inflicting pain and death on each other.

The fact that the violence is cleansed of blood and the lasting effects it would realistically have on the sufferers, is a negative, not a positive thing. Considering that so many around the world suffer a great deal from explosions and violence, when putting violence in our entertainment, it is more moral to closely examine realistic consequences and pain resulting from violence than to sanitize it.

The filmmakers did, however, get the formula right – the worldwide box office for “Wolverine” is US$210 million and counting. The majority of critics seem bored by the clichés, earning the film a paltry 36 percent rotten rating at rottentomatoes.com.

Reported by Aaron Toronto

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