After X-Men 3: The Last Stand didn't do much to keep the franchise going, the thought was to take a page out of several other franchise playbooks, and just start the X-Men story over.  With this particular version of the re-start, the film focuses on main character Wolverine (Logan) as he makes his way from being a boy, to a soldier, to a man on a mission.  There is a lot about the major plot-lines in this movie given away in the trailers, so if you have seen even one of them, you know that Logan is out for a form of revenge in this story.  Luckily for viewers though, it's not just about revenge, and there are several sub-plots that make the story even interesting for people who weren't fans of the X-Men franchise before this movie came along.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine takes its lead in big part from Batman Begins in that the movie is able to pretend that no other movies like it have been made.  From the inside, Wolverine seeks to not only be original, but make itself far superior to the three live-action X-Men movies.  In doing that, it is able to settle down a little bit, and focus primarily on one main character.  There is still a lot of time for the supporting roles in this film, but this movie is all about Wolverineand how he is going to develop into the character that becomes a member of the X-Men later.  Hugh Jackman is definitely up to the task of this story, and when he is not using his new-found claws to hack up something (or someone), he is actually showing the range he has as an actor.  He once again simply becomes Logan, and this one tops what he did in the other three films.

There are going to be two schools of thought from those that view the first blockbuster of the 2009 season, and that will be that they either enjoy it for the popcorn super hero action movie that it is, or take it too seriously and not suspend the disbelief needed for a story like this.  There are introductions of quite a few new characters that have "powers" of their own, and there are also a number of explosions that sometimes seem like they are there just for the intensity level that fireballs tend to create in action movies.  For myself, I was able to sit back and enjoy Wolverine for what it was, a way to re-start the X-Men franchise with the best (and most popular) of the characters in their stable, and I hope that the movie does well enough so that they come back with more X-Men movies.

The question comes up as to whether or not people who aren't X-Men fans will enjoy a film like this.  Well I have to say that everyone who enjoys the typical summer blockbuster will easily enjoy this one.  There isn't a bogging down of the story when it comes to X-Men mythology, and you really don't need to have any knowledge of the characters coming into this movie.  Actually, those audience members who don't know the characters very well, will probably end up with an even better opinion of the story than those going in with pre-judgements.  Wolverine packs a really good punch in my opinion, was well worth seeing at a 12 a.m. viewing, and one that I will watch again.  I think I can easily give it a good recommendation, but I also think that it needs to come with a warning that it is not a complete story, nor does it flow well enough to survive outside of the comic book genre.  It gets 3 1/2 stars from me because I enjoyed it, and love the genre, but I could also easily see other viewers being less than satisfied with it as a whole.

Recommended: Yes

Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Sneak Preview at My Local Theater
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.