Blu-ray Movie Reviews

This pulse-pounding action thriller sinks razor-sharp adamantium claws into the mysterious origins of Logan/Wolverine: his epically violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed/Sabretooth, and the ominous Weapon X program that unleashes his primal fury. Along the way, Wolverine also encounters legendary new mutants, including Deadpool and Gambit .

What a disappointment. Fox has managed to turn one of the most popular comic icons of our time into a popcorn flick that would nearly bore a teenager. Rather than sticking to what has been making comic translations so great on film, Wolverine is a mess. Lacking any real emotional substance, the film just moves along with no real sense of anything epic and action sequences that are forgettable and chocked full of poor CGI. The back story of Wolverine has been told a few times over and rather than use some of the great material out there (think Frank Miller), Fox has slapped together a barely intelligent Saturday afternoon cartoon that succeeds at being as unoriginal and uninspiring as possible. This is the treatment Fox has been handing out for all of their films these past years causing them to become almost the go to studio for stupid movies. Well, here is another one. If only Fox Searchlight would have released this one!

Fox delivers a solid HD presentation for this Blu-ray. The image has a razor sharp look with plenty of rich contrast and color. The CG is a bit disappointing considering the tent pole status of the film, and at times the imagery does soften things up a bit. Fine film grain is preserved nicely and small object detail is outstanding.

The DTS-HD Master Audio mix is exactly what you’d expect from this sort of film; plenty of action with great use of the surround soundstage and your subwoofers. Bass extension is impressive but the sound design isn’t exactly a break through. The mix is nicely balanced throughout and I didn’t notice any signs of strain from the film’s dialogue.

The two-disc set has lots of extras for fans of the film. You get some great insight into the making of the film complete with interviews and behind the scenes footage. You also get some interactive features that give you a look at the making of the special effects. Some of the back story is fleshed out a bit and there are some deleted scenes as well. Feature commentaries and trivia tracks are also included. The second disc features a digital copy for your portable devices.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why so many of the recent comic franchises have done so well in theaters. The filmmakers approach them as serious films with great characters and stories. This is a franchise that has the potential to be a great action/drama but instead we get a pitiful attempt at a B-movie at best. This franchise deserves more and ever since Singer left, it hasn’t got it. Fans of Wolverine may want to skip this one; their favorite character has seen WAY better days.