Jackman is a fine actor who takes all his roles seriously, but none more so than that of Wolverine. For this film, Jackman also became one of the producers and insisted that they should exceed all expectations. He certainly threw himself into very strenuous physical preparation.
"I wanted Logan to look animalistic, veins popping out, and coiled like a spring," he says. ‘I wanted audiences to say, 'Okay, this guy is frightening; this guy could easily rip someone’s head off.'"
To create a truly compelling film, however, requires more than a strong lead; it also needs a good plot and a good director. Wolverine scores well on both counts. It’s an emotionally engaging story of Logan’s violent past, his attempt to discover solace in love and his quest for revenge after experiencing immense tragedy. All of which is put together extremely well by South African director Gavin Hood, who made his name with the brilliant, Oscar-winning Tsotsi (2005). It was seeing this film that convinced Jackman that Hood was the right man for the job, because "The character Tsotsi was at war with himself, just like Wolverine is. I got carried away by Tsotsi’s story, and by Gavin’s instinct for character and story."
Hood uses the same metaphor when he talks about the heart of Wolverine: "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 energises the film so it becomes more than just action for its own sake."
We first meet Wolverine as a young boy, James, in 1845. When the man he believes to be his father is shot, his grief and anger trigger the first appearance of his amazing retracting claws. He hurls himself at the murderer and drives the claws deep into his chest, but with his last words the man tells James that he is his real father. James flees into the night, but is quickly caught by Victor, who James now realises is his older half-brother. Victor, who is also a mutant, tells James that, "He deserved it," and that the two of them should keep on running and not look back.
The two brothers never do look back, but stay together and go on to fight side by side in the American Civil War, both World Wars and Vietnam. By now, Victor (Liev Schreiber) has developed a blood lust, which leads to both men facing a firing squad. But the brothers are near indestructible, and a short time later they are visited by Major William Stryker (Danny Huston) who asks them "Are you boys tired of running? Tired of denying your true nature?"
He offers them the chance to join a special unit and ‘really serve’ their country. The unit is composed of mutants under the command of Stryker. But before long, James (now also known as Logan) has had enough of Stryker’s methods and Victor’s bloodlust, and he leaves the unit, later settling in a remote part of Canada with Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins). Eventually his past catches up with him, and he exchanges tranquility for trauma, romance for rage – and his bone skeleton for one of adamantium in Stryker’s hideous ‘Weapon X’ experiment.
