X-Men Origins: Wolverine

The summer blockbuster season has officially begun. I am no comic book connoisseur, but I really enjoyed X-Men Origins: Wolverine. OK, OK, maybe having a shirtless Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds didn't hurt. This action-packed film is undeniably violent, and some critics declared it to be nothing but violence and noise. However, beyond the fight scenes, there's a sweet love story between Wolverine and Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins), and also a story of a brotherhood between Wolverine and Sabretooth/Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber).

The film begins with a young Logan (Wolverine/Jackman) sick in bed with his half-brother, Victor, looking on. His father is killed by Victor’s drunken father. Enraged, Logan’s claws (or whatever they are) come out as he kills the man who killed his father. As the man is dying, he discovers that he was in fact his own father. Then Logan and Victor, who is also a mutant, run away together.

After serving in every war since the Civil War, William Stryker has enlisted the brothers and other mutants to help him fight for the United States. Ryan Reynolds plays Wade Wilson/Deadpool quite well, and some other famous faces like Dominic Monaghan (Lost) and Will.i.am (of the Black Eyed Peas) also play mutants. Eventually Logan gets fed up with killing innocents and leaves. He’s leading a peaceful life in Canada as a lumberjack with Kayla when she is “killed” by Sabretooth.

Stryker seeks out Logan to help him find Sabretooth, who has been killing mutants. He tells him that he has to first destroy him to make him indestructible then he will be able to defeat his brother. This is where Logan becomes Wolverine and gets a new metal skeleton. Eventually, he finds out that is brother and Stryker were just using him. They've been hunting down mutants to create Weapon XI – a lethal combination of all mutant powers.

Remy LeBeau (played by Taylor Kitsch), or Gambit, helps Wolverine find the island where Stryker has imprisoned the mutants. Logan and Victor have a sweet brotherly moment in the end when they fight the scary Mutant XI. Jackman is perfect as Wolverine, and it's quite evident that he spent some very long hours in the gym prepping for this role.