'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' suffers from movie clichés

In spite of its challenges, director Gavin Hood's much-anticipated X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a prequel that is notable in effort and worth the wait. The deafening action is constant and will, alone, assure the film is a fan favorite.

It's also helpful that the blockbuster stars some of the hottest male actors on the planet, including Liev Schreiber as Victor Reed/Sabretooth, Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool and Taylor Kitsch as Remy LeBeau/Gambit. Naturally, witnessing star Hugh Jackman jump, nude, into a beautiful waterfall did nothing to diminish the attraction.

In an attempt to illustrate the creature's history, the film begins in the 1800s with a colorful, action-filled montage of Logan (then known as James, who, of course, later becomes Wolverine) and Victor (Sabretooth) as youngsters. During this time, Logan was forced to kill his biological father and flee. Flashbacks follow of the brothers' fighting history, unveiled in a loud, music-video fashion. Logan and Victor fight in their signature back-to-back style through some of our nation's greatest wars. Eventually, William Stryker (Danny Huston, who was born to play the bad guy) recruits Wolverine and Sabretooth to serve as members of a secret mutant strike force sponsored by the U.S. military.

After raiding an African village, Wolverine, sick of the violence and murder, abandons Sabretooth and Stryker's command for love and a peaceful life with Kayla Silverfox in a small home in the Canadian Rockies. When Kayla is brutally murdered by Sabretooth, Logan agrees to rejoin forces with Stryker to avenge her death. In return, Stryker promises to make Logan indestructible by administering Adamantium. Due to Stryker's reliability as a snake, it is easy to smell a double-cross in the mix. Wolverine escapes from Stryker and his maniacal intentions to erase the mutant's memory.

Gambit, a massively popular character in these stories, is unveiled in this X-Men installment. Die-hards will not be disappointed in actor Taylor Kitsch's portrayal of the trickster with the powerful staff.

After several battles, Gambit and Wolverine eventually unite to locate Stryker on a secret "island" and free the mutants whom Stryker has captured for experimentation. The final battle includes Weapon XI, a mutant Stryker has designed to be the ultimate weapon because it possesses all of the strengths of the captured mutants.

Incredible without being "over the top," the stunts, CGI and a host of other special effects keep Wolverine and his brother, Sabretooth, in the midst of most of the action. The brothers have several major fights against each other, and the stakes increase each time.

For all of the strong action sequences and fantastic cinematography, X-Men Origins: Wolverine suffers from several major clichés. Will.i.am was a weak choice to play the character of teleporter John Wraith; the popular hip-hop star's acting skills are stiff and his character, in consequence, was completely unconvincing. And, in a feeble attempt to infuse humor into the plot, The Blob makes his appearance in a useless, boring and ridiculous fight with Wolverine. Though The Blob is an original character, fat jokes are so passé, and it was, arguably, insensitive and un-funny to intrude this character in such a trite and lackluster way.

And then there is the African village scene - a pivotal point in the story, when Wolverine has had his fill of terrorizing and killing the innocent for the federal government. The setting is false, and the terrorizing of the villagers plays like Godzilla marching through the streets of China.

In an interesting ode to social commentary, it is fascinating that, during this current time of war and perceived government mismanagement of our tax dollars, Stryker, the mad scientist, is funded by the federal government to experiment on mutants.