‘Wolverine’ a mindless compilation of exposition and action. And yet, somewhat entertaining.

‘X-Men’ has always an entertaining, if inconsistent series. By inconsistent I mean keeping action and backstory balanced in the first two and mindless, relentless, well-orchestrated action running rampant in the third. The newest one, ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’, opts to show the backstory and, well, origins of the primary character, Wolverine. Essentially, it’s all there in the title.

The film starts in the Northwest Territories of Canada in 1842 (although the Northwest Territories weren’t claimed in 1842) with a young boy named James confronting an intruder in a cabin. When he intends to punch him in the stomach three spikes randomly pop out of his knuckles and stab the man, killing him. When the man reveals he is his father, James and his similarly-mutated brother Victor go on the run.

Since oddly they stop aging at around 40, James and Victor fight side by side in the Civil War, in both World Wars, and Vietnam. In Vietnam they are recruited by a General Stryker to join a special team of “mutants” (people with extraordinary powers). When James refuses to kill civilians, he resigns. Six years later, James (henceforth called Logan), is living in Canada with his girlfriend. When she is murdered by his brother, alongside other mutants, Logan (henceforth called Wolverine) swears revenge.

Judging from the trailers and TV commercials alone, I thought to myself, “How can they cram so many characters into one little movie?” Well, that’s the thing. One of the problems with Wolverine, and with the whole X-Men series in general, is that it juggles waaayyy too many characters into less than two hours, unsuccessfully so.

The action and special effects are obviously the main draw, and they deliver. They seem a bit forced and artificial at times, but the special effects are much better than the somewhat cartoonish ones of the last film. Particular highlights are the opening credits and the final sequence atop a nuclear plant.

The film wears the influence of The Dark Knight on its sleeve. Naturally, it’s very dark and gritty, and pushes PG-13 a little bit. Beware scenes where Hugh Jackman is injected with several syringes simeltaenously and one half-a-second but still present full-frontal shot of Hugh Jackman.

Oddly, the performances are the strongest part of the film. Hugh Jackman worked out relentlessly for this film, and it shows several times. He rivals Mike Tyson and dare I say, 50 Cent for the title of Biggest. Biceps. Ever. It helps that he’s a fantastic actor as well, he convincingly portrays an enraged, bottled-up man and were his performance not great, the film would fall flat. However, Liev Schrieber steals the show as Logan’s mutant brother, Victor/Sabertooth. He’s clearly having a blast, and he’s probably the most flat-out evil X-Men villain yet.

In very short terms (I have a bedtime, you see). Hugh Jackman = Great. Liev Schrieber = Fantastic. Action = Great, if arbitrary. Result = A good start for summer popcorn flicks. B+

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