X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Name: X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Fantasy
Released: May 1, 2009
Duration: 107 min
Rating: 40
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Ryan Reynolds

2009

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Mixed or average reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 667 Ratings

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X-Men Origins: Wolverine

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Movie Details & Credits

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: May 1, 2009 | PG-13

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Ryan Reynolds

Summary: After seeking to live a normal life, Logan sets out to avenge the death of his girlfriend by undergoing the mutant Weapon X program and becoming Wolverine.

Director: Gavin Hood

Genre(s): Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Fantasy

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 107 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Steve Persall

Wolverine is a solid start to the ever-lengthening summer movie season, when all that matters is the bang and the bucks paid for it. Read full review

Film.com Laremy Legel

You won’t be upset you saw it, you’ll have some fun, you’ll see Wolvie beat the living hell out of a helicopter. These are good things, and it’s why studios are provided huge budgets to play with in the first place. Read full review

James Berardinelli

Although the action scenes are competently executed, there's nothing here to raise the pulse. Read full review

Marc Mohan

The action scenes and plot points frequently defy logic, the apparent assumption being that it's just comic-book stuff and doesn't really need to make sense. Read full review

The Telegraph Sukhdev Sandhu

A compromise, a ghastly hybrid, a film that appears to have pirated and wrecked its own potential. Read full review

The Guardian Andrew Pulver

The furrowed-brow seriousness of X-Men is its least attractive quality, but that is the mood that dominates in this film. It's hard to see how anyone other than hardcore fans will find much to entertain them. Read full review

David Denby

The story, devised by David Benioff and Skip Woods, is largely meaningless, and the emotions are no more than functional—they set up the next fight. Read full review

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User Reviews

libno

Oct 3, 2010

How am I the SECOND PERSON to rate this movie after two years!? Anyways, it is an action flick and a very good one at that, but only for the action.

6 of 21 users found this helpful615

Kevcb

Sep 4, 2011

I liked this movie because (as the title suggested) it finally explained all the mysteries surrounding wolverine that I've wondered about. Where and when he was born, how he got his metal bones, the big gaps in his memory, the "true" story behind Three Mile Island (I thought that bit wasI liked this movie because (as the title suggested) it finally explained all the mysteries surrounding wolverine that I've wondered about. Where and when he was born, how he got his metal bones, the big gaps in his memory, the "true" story behind Three Mile Island (I thought that bit was pretty funny), etc.)
The acting, script, and directing were all pretty good too. I'm glad I finally got to see this.… Expand

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

ArkonBlade

Sep 2, 2010

a ok action flick that does pretty well on the action but not much els. felt like charicters where just tossed in there for fan service instead of just focusing on a few to flush any type of real story out of it. it was just ok and thats about it.

4 of 7 users found this helpful43

kyle20ellis

Apr 11, 2020

This review contains spoilers. I so wanted this to be brilliant, after The Last Stand being average. Well, this film is very average The film is filled with plot holes, like why the hate between wolvie and sabertooth? I understand, wolverine wanted revenge for his love, but if she turned outThis review contains spoilers. I so wanted this to be brilliant, after The Last Stand being average. Well, this film is very average The film is filled with plot holes, like why the hate between wolvie and sabertooth? I understand, wolverine wanted revenge for his love, but if she turned out to fake her death, and died from a guards bullet with wolvie and sabey fighting weapon xi side by side, it doesnt add up to their hatred in x men 1. also, why wait 6 years to enact their plan? and when wolverine hears kaylas cries, then appears to save her, whys his shirt suddenly dissapeered? Gambit wasn't really needed during the last part. All he on the island did was save wolvies live once and see the kids go off. The way Wolverine was made to forget wasn't ridiculous. In the comics, another character (with similar healing abilities) got shot in the head by an adimantium bullet also, and they too lost their memory. The film did seem to key itself into the x men saga, what with cyclops, emma frost and xavier in the film, but it seemed keyed in a little too neatly. The actors played their roles pretty well though. Hugh Jackman, Liev Schrieber, Ryan Reynolds, great acting. Mr Reynolds' portrayal of Deadpool (my fave Marvel character) was pretty good, quipping and the awesome fight scene at the beginning. But once he became Weapon XI, with his mouth sewn up, it became a bad portrayal of the character. Nethertheless, this film has garnered a spin-off Deadpool movie, so we gotta give them props on that. It does seem a little too fan pleasing, giving us all these x men characters within this film, and a few of them seemed to be there just for the hell of it (The Blob, will.i.am and Domonic Monaghauns characters) It should've been better though… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

ImUnavailable

Jul 19, 2011

Disappointing origin story for a character who was already overexposed. The story is lacking, with the only moment of interest being the scene we already knew happened. When Wolverine fights, there is no sense of urgency because he cannot die, a fact that is never explained or developed inDisappointing origin story for a character who was already overexposed. The story is lacking, with the only moment of interest being the scene we already knew happened. When Wolverine fights, there is no sense of urgency because he cannot die, a fact that is never explained or developed in any way. The action can be cheesy and the acting mediocre. There are some nice cameos from other X-men characters, such as the Blob and Gambit but this remains an unsatisfying installment in the series.… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

FilmMasterEd

Jan 6, 2016

Summer movies whimper to a start with the wheezing Wolverine, a transparent attempt to squeeze a faltering franchise for its last drop of box-office juice. It should work for at least a week, until Star Trek opens and blows it out of the water by showing how an origin story should be done.Summer movies whimper to a start with the wheezing Wolverine, a transparent attempt to squeeze a faltering franchise for its last drop of box-office juice. It should work for at least a week, until Star Trek opens and blows it out of the water by showing how an origin story should be done. Anyone looking for dangerous thrills is out of luck unless they risk federal prosecution by illegally downloading the movie on the Web.

The movie itself is all PG-13 prim and proper. Look at the drag-ass title — X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Presumably, that will separate it from the first two X-Men movies, directed by Bryan Singer, which were pretty good, and the third one, directed by Brett Ratner, which should have been subtitled, X-Men: Piece of ****

Wolverine, directed by South Africa's Gavin Hood of the Oscar-winning Tsotsi and the widely reviled, Oscar Kryptonite that was Rendition, isn't an outright disaster like X3. Hugh Jackman's Wolverine was always the best thing about these X movies. And he's center screen here, repeatedly waking up pissed off, claws extended like raging hard-ons, and howling his rage at a world that's done him wrong. Jackman is a world-class charmer and it's a shame to waste a whole movie showing him pissed off. But, hey, Marvel Comics created him that way.

The opening credit sequence gets us up speed as we meet little mutant Jimmy Logan in 1845, coping with daddy issues and a half-brother, Victor Creed, with a bug up his ass. The boys conveniently stop aging when Jimmy becomes Jackman and Victor morphs into Liev Schreiber (with fangs befitting his new ID as Sabretooth). Soon the boys are manning it up through a series of wars, from the Civil to Vietnam, though the scenes look like outtakes from Glory, Saving Private Ryan and Apocalypse Now. We learn that the evil militarist Stryker (Danny Huston) is hellbent on organizing an army of mutants called Team X. But, after a grisly campaign in Africa, Logan has had it with inflicting death and never dying. He just wants to settle down shirtless by splitting logs in Canada and banging a hottie schoolteacher (Lynn Collins). But before you can sing "I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK," Stryker has killed Logan's chances at a love story and our vengeful hero submits to an operation that gives him a skeleton of impenetrable adamantium. Presto, Wolverine as Weapon X! Am I going too fast for you?

Screenwriters David Benioff and Skip Woods, who should know better, cave to pressure to crowd the movie with incident. All kinds of characters are introduced. I could have done with more of Remy LeBeau, aka Gambit (Taylor Kitsch), a New Orleans gambler, and less of Fred Dukes, aka The Blob (Kevin Durand), a fat bastard who looks like Mickey Rourke's character in The Wrestler gone to blubber and seems to belong in another movie, aka Austin Powers in Goldmember. It's all a jumble and, worse, a damned impersonal one. The assault of digital effects (OK, Wolfie and the helicopter is a keeper) makes you feel trapped inside a video game. The climax on Three-Mile Island (you heard me) connects to the mutants we met in X1. But it's too little and too late. At the end of the movie, Wolfie has his memory erased. I'm envious.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

noob328

Dec 8, 2020

Decent potential destroyed before the first day of filming. Baffling decisions by the writers

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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