JAMES HOWLETT, known to his friends as Logan, and best friend Victor Creed are mutants who fight side by side in the American Civil War, then two World Wars and in Vietnam. Shady military man William Stryker invites the buddies to join Team X: a merry band of mutants. Logan gradually becomes disillusioned by Team X’s senseless killing and he leaves the fold to pursue a normal life in the Canadian Rockies. However, the men in charge refuse to let their prize asset walk away.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a haphazard introduction to an iconic character, which doesn’t tell us a great deal about a man constantly at odds with his animal instincts. Director Gavin Hood punctuates the poorly-paced narrative with explosive action set-pieces, which are overloaded with digital special-effects. Overly-enthusiastic editing greatly reduces the impact of these pivotal sequences. Jackman snarls and sheds the odd tear during a simplistic romantic sub-plot, but genuine emotion is waylaid by the action sequences. A four-disc box set, comprising X-Men, X-Men 2, X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, is also available.
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Blood: The Last Vampire (Cert 18)
SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD Saya (Jun) is a halfling, the product of a marriage between a human father and vampire mother, doomed to suffer the same bloodlust as the creatures she despises.
Armed with her Samurai sword, Saya works for a clandestine organisation called The Council, under CIA handler Michael. Her latest mission, undercover at a US Air Force base threatens to expose her true identity. Meanwhile, all-powerful vampire matriarch Onigen prepares to lure the slayer to her doom.
Director Chris Nahon produces some well-orchestrated action sequences, choreographed by Corey Yuen, including a fast-paced skirmish in a forest laden with fallen leaves and a protracted, night-time set-piece against hordes of rampaging vampires. However, digital effects almost resemble stop-motion in their jerkiness and Chris Chow’s meandering screenplay continually interrupts the narrative flow with flashbacks to flesh out the central character’s back-story. The final showdown with Onigen doesn’t live up to the promise.
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Fawlty Towers (Remastered) (Cert 12)
TO CELEBRATE the show’s 35th anniversary, the cult BBC sitcom returns to DVD in this set of 12 remastered episodes, complete with commentaries from John Cleese for the first time.
Beleaguered hotel owner Basil Fawlty (Cleese) and his domineering wife Sybil (Prunella Scales) struggle to keep their business afloat with the help and hindrance of the staff, including Spanish waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs) and maid Polly (Connie Booth).
However, troublesome guests, including a spoon salesman (Bernard Cribbins) and a pesky rat, drive poor Basil to the brink of despair. The DVD is packaged with an eight-page colour booklet.
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