REXX T. WUNDERDAWG’S VIDEO BLOG

Mr. Wunderdawg has a B.A. (Bachelor of Action) from Chuck Norris University in Burbank and is a lifelong popcorn eater.

Hugh Jackman takes a pause for the claws in X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (107 mins. 14A).

They’re calling this a prequel which means all the stuff in the story happened before Logan aka Wolverine met Professor X and the crew.

Among other things we get to see how he got that indestructible metal skeleton. (Looks painful!).

This is Hugh’s first solo outing as the Marvel-ous mutant and the awesome Aussie doesn’t need the rest of the X-Folks to grab your attention by the short hairs and rake in the box office cash. (Over $363 mil worldwide! I checked box officemojo.com.)

And if you thought Wolvy needed anger management lessons wait ‘til you meet his beastly older brother Victor aka Sabretooth, played by Liev Schreiber, getting in touch with his inner animal and racking up quite a body count in the process.

Of course it wouldn’t be a modern day action pic without some kinda secret U.S. government conspiracy. That’s where Major William Stryker comes in, played by Danny Huston at his smoothly sinister best. Yeah, Sabretooth is scary alright but Stryker is the dude you’re gonna hate the most. And he doesn’t even have super powers. (Maybe he’s compensating.)

The movie whips up some pretty good action, too. Like a pulse-poundin’ motorcycle-helicopter chase through the woods. You’re not gonna believe how it ends. Sure, it’s utterly, uh, what was that word I looked up again, oh yeah, preposterous, but, hey, it’s an action movie and as Professor Schwartzhisface told us at Chuck U., when it comes to this kind of stuff the normal rules of logic and gravity don’t apply.

Still (and don’t tell anyone I said this) the movie can be deceptively clever.

Like in the scene where Wolvy gets panicky while flying in a rickety old plane. For some reason, I thought that was funny. A superhero who is afraid of flying.

But my favourite line comes during the part where Wolvy is hiding out as a lumberjack in the BC woods with his girlfriend, Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins, a stone beauty with eyes that hypnotize.) Somehow Stryker finds him and asks him to help the government track down Sabretooth who is on a bit of a rampage. When Wolvy refuses the Major tries to appeal to his patriotism.

STRYKER: Your country needs you.

WOLVERINE: I’m Canadian