Reviewed by Alicia Glass

Review Rating: 8.5

The backstory of the mutant Wolverine, from his tormented relationship with his brother Victor Creed, to the murder of his beloved and his involvement in the Weapon X program with William Stryker.

Once again, the summer of ’09 comes out with yet another blockbuster! I mean yes, Wolverine is a movie based around the X-Men comic character and it would help if you were a fan, but it certainly isn’t required, as this film stands on its own just fine. Hugh Jackman (cuz after all, who else could play Wolverine?) returns as the adamantium psycho with the cheap cigars and the awesome one-liners. And backing him up is a wonderful cast of some new characters I’ve never heard of, along with some old favorites, including the long-awaited Gambit!

So we have Live Schreiber as Victor Creed, the guy who eventually turns into Sabertooth, and serves in many bloody wars alongside his brother, James. Wait, James? Well, we knew Logan wasn’t his real name anyways. And we have the teleporting Wraith, the humongous Fred Dukes, the way overpowered Bradley, the ginsu-style Wade, and the amazing pinpoint accurate Zero, all for backup when the clawed brothers decide to join Stryker on some new top secret mission. Of course it all goes to hell, and James flees his bloody past to adopt the moniker Logan and live in peace as a lumberjack in Canada with his girlfriend Kayla Silverfox. And of course that idyllic scene doesn’t last forever, with the now devastated Wolverine cradling Kayla’s bloody corpse and vowing revenge on Victor, the already rapid pace takes on the key elements of Wolverine’s story we know so well. Rather than spoil the rest of it, I’ll simply say I did rather enjoy the sadly few scenes centered on Gambit, although I missed his accent. Throwing in Cyclops as a young man was amusing, although they really really needed to not use so much makeup or CG or whatever it was on Professor Xavier. And yes, in true Marvel fashion, there is a spiffy easter egg at the very end of the movie.

Not a pleasant or kind movie, but then the story of Wolverine’s life is hard and brutal, we all cheer when he takes out the people who’ve wronged him so harshly!