'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' (PG-13): While some diehard fans of "X-Men" comic book lore complained online about some drastic changes in the mythology of Wolverine's storyline and certain characters (most notably, Deadpool), fans of action adventure movies and in particular, Hugh Jackman, will easily sink their claws into "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," a sharp prequel to the first three "X-Men" movies.

Jackman once again owns the role that made him a superstar, in a sleek, smart, visually stunning presentation that opens the door for more movie mayhem.

Director Gavin Hood establishes a gritty, break-neck pace right from the awesome opening credits in the "Origins," which begins in the mid 1800s where a young Logan (born James Howlett -- played by Troye Sivan) discovers he has mutated during a tragedy at the family homestead. Springing bone claws out of his fists, Logan flees with his older brother, Victor (Michael James Olson), a fellow mutant with feral claws and strength. After the brothers stop aging when they reach adulthood, James, now known as Logan (Jackman) and Victor (Liev Schreiber), use their raging animal instincts in battles spanning from the Civil War through Vietnam. (The scenes are stunning -- but are far too short.)

Their latest turn as hardened soldiers attracts the attention of military scientist William Stryker (Danny Huston), who brings together Logan, Victor and a band of mutants to form Team X, a special ops unit used almost solely to kill the enemy. Soon enough, however, Logan grows tired of the bloodshed and goes into exile, which leaves his brother feeling betrayed. But after years of living in peace, Logan is drawn back into Stryker's program after Victor, now known as Sabretooth, kills his girlfriend, Kayla (Lynn Collins).

Only shown in brief flashbacks in the first two "X-Men" movies, "Wolverine" fully realizes Logan's back story in the Weapon X program, and it makes for one of the many breathtaking sequences in the movie. With Stryker's assistance, Logan vows to get revenge on Sabretooth by subjecting himself to painful injections of adamantium -- a steel-like substance that hardens to his skeletal system and makes him indestructible. But it's only after Logan is transformed into the steely-clawed Wolverine that he learns Stryker's nefarious plan to pool mutants' powers into individual mutant killing machines.

While "Wolverine" largely concentrates on the plights of Logan, Kayla and Victor, Jackman, Hood, and screenwriters David Benioff and Skip Woods introduce several popular comic book mutants into the "X-Men" movie series in meaningful ways.

There's no question filmmakers take big liberties as to the origins of characters like the sword-wielding Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), the kinetic energy-blasting Remy LeBeau/Gambit (Taylor Kitsch), the teleporting John Wraith (Will.i.am) and strongman Frederick J. Dukes/The Blob (Kevin Durand). At the same time, though, the characters' stories fit perfectly into the framework of "Wolverine's" big picture. The plot developments are fresh, exciting and in many cases, surprising.

The only shame is, while Wraith gets a decent share of screen time, we don't get to see enough of Deadpool, Gambit and The Blob -- whose immense size is only detailed in one short, but very entertaining scene. Deadpool and Gambit each have about two 10-minute chunks, but when they appear on-screen, their roles become pivotal. Reynolds is appropriately smarmy as the wisecracking Deadpool, and "Friday Night Lights" star Kitsch is cool and charismatic in his film breakthrough turn as Gambit.

DVD Features: The two-disc release includes commentary by Hood and producers Lauren Schuler Donner and Ralph Winter as well as production featurettes. Chief among them is "The Roots of Wolverine" featurette with "X-Men" creators Stan Lee and Len Wein gives an in-depth look at the character from Lee's creation of the X-Men along with artist Jack Kirby, Wein's co-creation of the character (he originally envisioned him as a nemesis for "The Incredible Hulk"); why Wein felt it was necessary to examine the origins of the character; and both writers' thoughts on why they don't believe in proprietary ownership of the character once they give up writing about them (an observation that provides an interesting argument to fans' objections over the changes made to characters in the movie).

The Blu-ray version of the release goes deep into each of the major characters in a 10-chapter "Mutant Chronicles" section, which includes observations from the respective actor as well as Hood, Donner, Jackman and various filmmakers. Among the most interesting is the chronicle of Deadpool -- a character which deviated considerably from the comics in "Wolverine" -- and Donner and Hood's explanations as to the reasons behind the changes (and a hint that this is really only the beginning of the character's screen journey).

Optional pop-up visual commentaries on the Blu-ray version include "X-Connect" (featuring the likes of Donner and Hood and the explainers connecting "Origins" with the footage from the previous "X-Men" movies); "Director's Chair" (Hood discussing the mythology and showing behind the scenes footage); "Pre-Visualizing Wolverine" and "XFacts" (pop-up text about the production, including bits like how Jackman bought lottery tickets for everybody on the set every Friday!). The visual commentary, of course, requires hours of multiple viewings: but if you find the time, it's worth it.

The DVD and Blu-ray also features several deleted and extended scenes, and unlike most movies' excess footage, the scenes probably would have worked within the context of the original film. The most notable of the deleted scenes includes a young Storm -- but the inclusion of her in the film would likely have been too coincidental, even for casual X-Men fans. Also included are a cool alternate "memory erase" sequence; and the secretly filmed scenes that showed at the end of the credits in theaters: One which sets up a possible spin-off movie for one of the characters; and another which sets up the planned "Wolverine" sequel.

The two disc set also includes a downloadable digital copy of the film for portable media devices. (Fox Home Entertainment).