Taglines: Witness the Origin.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the first chapter in the X-Men saga, unites Wolverine with several other legends of the X-Men universe, in an epic revolution that pits the mutants against powerful forces determined to eliminate them.
Hugh Jackman reprises the role that made him a superstar, as the fierce fighting machine who possesses amazing healing powers, adamantium claws, and a primal fury known as berserker rage. X-Men Origins: Wolverine stays true to the tone of the X-Men motion picture franchise, continuing the films’ balance between spectacle and reality, while heightening the emotions and relationships. The film also introduces a team of mutants, including several whose appearances in the movie series have been long anticipated. Movie audiences will meet Team X, a covert military cadre comprised entirely of mutants.
Its members are: Wolverine; his brother Victor Creed, aka Sabretooth, a feral being of unimaginable power; Wade Wilson, later to be known as Deadpool, a high-tech mercenary skilled at swordplay; Agent Zero, an expert tracker and lethal marksman; Wraith, a teleporter; Fred J. Dukes, also known as The Blob, a morbidly obese and super-strong behemoth; and Bradley, who can manipulate electricity. Leading them is William Stryker, a figure introduced in “X2” but whose origins and motives are now fully explored, for it is Stryker’s complex relationship with Wolverine that defines much of Logan’s past… and future.
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE also explores Logan’s tragic romance with Kayla Silverfox. Kayla’s fate triggers Logan’s involvement with the ominous Weapon X program, a top secret, billion-dollar military experiment, in which Wolverine and other mutants are key players. They include Gambit, a young Scott Summers (later to be known as Cyclops); a beautiful young mutant named Emma Frost; and the aforementioned Deadpool, against whom Wolverine faces his ultimate challenge.
About the Production
While the three previous X-Men films were set in the not-too-distant future, the main story of X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE – as the saga’s first chapter – is set prior to the events of those pictures, in the not-too-distant past, sometime in the 1970s. But the epic sweep of the new film also encompasses flashbacks that span 150 years. It has a scale and ambition new to even this high-reaching series. “We wanted to exceed expectations in every way,” sums up star and producer Hugh Jackman. “We couldn’t just make a very good movie; it had to be much more than that.”
To that end, X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE provides a great roller coaster ride of adventure and action, while tapping into complex themes and rich and powerful emotional conflicts that have been hallmarks of the X-Men films. “Yes, the film needs to be visually stunning, and the action has to be amazing and hard-hitting,” says director Gavin Hood, whose 2005 film “Tsotsi” won the Academy Award® for best foreign language film. “But you’ve also got to buy into the story and characters. The core idea of the film is that it’s about someone who is not comfortable with who he is, who’s at war with his own nature. That’s an interesting character to explore. The theme of being at war with one’s own nature, fuels and energizes the film so it becomes more than just action for its own sake.”
Jackman was convinced that Hood was the right man for the job after he viewed Hood’s modestly-budgeted “Tsotsi,” a penetrating drama set in Johannesburg about a hardened teenage criminal whose life is changed when he becomes emotionally attached to an infant left in the back seat of his car. “The character Tsotsi was at war with himself, just like Wolverine is,” says Jackman. “I got carried away by Tsotsi’s journey, and by Gavin’s instincts for character and story.”
Indeed, when comics legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the X-Men over 40 years ago, they shaped characters and stories with drama and conflict. The X-Men were an unusual heroic group – at times sarcastic, antisocial, and clearly flawed – yet sympathetic when battling the demons of their lives, or taking on powerful villains in their universe of special powers.
The character of Wolverine came years after many of his X-Men brethren, first appearing in comics in 1974 (as a creation of writer Len Wein and art director John Romita Sr.) before becoming an integral member of The X-Men, as well as the headliner of his own comics series. The character’s impact on pop culture has been profound; last year alone, Wolverine was ranked #1 of Wizard magazine’s “Top 200 Comic Book Characters of All Time” and was ranked #4 in Empire Magazine’s “The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters.”
The first X-Men movie, with then-Hollywood film newcomer Hugh Jackman taking the key role of Wolverine, was released in 2000 to critical and audience acclaim, the comics-to-film genre. “X2,” released in 2003, and “X-Men: The Last Stand,” out in 2006, also achieved huge success. By 2009, over 70 percent of American moviegoers had seen at least one of the X-Men movies.
For Jackman, reprising the role was an opportunity to expand and deepen the three previous films’ exploration of Wolverine. “We now get to see Logan’s journey and the battle within, as he owns up to the events of his past,” says Jackman. “Wolverine has certain qualities that are sacred, and number one is that he’s a badass. Borrowing the character’s catch phrase, Wolverine is the best there is at what he does, and what he does isn’t very nice.” Adds producer Lauren Shuler Donner, who served in that capacity on the three previous X-Men films: “Logan’s got attitude, humor and a way about him. He just doesn’t give a damn – and that’s fun for an audience to experience.”
The main story of X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE begins with Logan seeking solace from a past rife with darkness, working as a lumberjack in the remote Canadian Rockies. Finding love and contentment for the first time in his very long life, Logan leads a seemingly idyllic existence with schoolteacher Kayla Silverfox. “He couldn’t be further away from the past he’s so long been trying to escape,” says Jackman. “Kayla is a catalyst for the biggest changes Logan’s ever faced,” says Lynn Collins, who took on the role after Jackman had seen her on stage in “The Merchant of Venice,” opposite Al Pacino. “She leads him to think differently about the conflict of being human and being a mutant. Their relationship leads him to try and heal old wounds, and experience the consequences and risks of love.”
But as Logan searches for the peace that has eluded him more than a century, “the world he’s been trying to escape keeps drawing him back in,” says Jackman. “As with anything in life, unless you’ve really dealt with a problem, unless you’re really at peace with it, the problem tends to recur. And it’s clear from the beginning that Wolverine has run away from things he needs to face. And one of them is Victor, his brother.”
Victor Creed, also known as Sabretooth, possesses powers similar to Logan’s. They are both virtually indestructible and have a feral, super-human strength. Victor’s ferocity encompasses a feline-like fighting style and leaping ability; at times, he’ll race to the attack on all four limbs.
As we learn in flashbacks, Logan (born James Howlett) and Victor did not learn they were brothers until their teens, in the aftermath of a family tragedy that leads to the emergence of Logan’s signature berserker rage and claws that power their way through his flesh as razor-sharp spikes, turning him into something more and something less than human. Logan and Victor flee their home, forming a bond that transcends even brotherhood. As indestructible warriors, they fight together through major conflicts spanning two centuries, including the American Civil War, World Wars I and II, and Vietnam. “Logan and Victor are a team,” says Jackman. “They go through a journey together.”
But Victor relishes the fight much more than Logan. “Victor is incredibly brutal and has a bloodlust unlike any character I’ve ever played,” says Liev Schreiber. “This guy is a real killer.” Victor’s savagery in battle leads the two to face a firing squad – but of course mere bullets cannot stop them. Recognizing their unique abilities, a military officer, Col. William Stryker, asks them to join a special team he is putting together – a covert, black ops unit known in comics lore as Team X.
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X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
Directed by: Gavin Hood
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, will.i.am, Dominic Monaghan, Ryan Reynolds
Screenplay by: David Benioff
Production Design by: Barry Robison
Cinematography by: Donald McAlpine
Film Editing by; Nicolas De Toth, Megan Gill
Costume Design by: Louise Mingenbach
Set Decoration by: Rebecca Cohen, Sandy Walker
Art Direction by: Michael Diner, Brian Edmonds, Ian Gracie, Karen Murphy, Mark Robins
Music by: Harry Gregson-Williams
MPAA Rating: PG-13 intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: May 1, 2009
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