Hugh Jackman is great returning as Wolverine, the character that put him on the movie map, but “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is not  the best movie in this franchise.

I waited to write this review, because as a fairly die hard fan of X-Men, I have to say this prequel has me going back and forth on how great it is… or isn’t, mostly because some of the things I thought I knew about the characters in the X-Men universe were quite different in this movie.

After walking out of the theater when the end credit clip was finished (you should stay to the very end), I had the movie rated an 8.5… but I’ve decided that’s too high.

The action is great, the fighting sequences are solid, the story is well crafted, the special effects and editing and photography are good and most of the casting is spot-on.

For the fanboys: Ryan Reynolds was a great choice as the wisecracking Wade Wilson (Deadpool), Liev Schreiber is good as Victor Creed (Sabretooth), Danny Huston does well as the younger Col. William Stryker, Daniel Henney was good as David North (Agent Zero), Kevin Durand does well as Frederick J. Dukes (The Blob), and Will i Am does well as John Wraith.

I’m not saying Taylor Kitsch was bad as Remy LeBeau (Gambit), he just wasn’t the loner with a cajun accent and rebel attitude that I’m used to.

There’s a lot of creative licenses the filmmakers took with several storylines (and obviously timelines) that had me puzzled… and will have other fans scratching their heads.  For example the relationship between Wolverine and Sabretooth, the progression of Wade Wilson’s character, the physical difference between Sabretooth in this movie and the less intelligent, more feral one played by Tyler Mane in the original “X-Men”, etc.

It was cool to see some fun cameos by characters from the other “X-Men” movies.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

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