In the 1800s, a young boy, James, sees his father get killed by a worker for the family. When this murder sets the boy off, bone claws extend from his hands, and he kills the worker... only to find out that the worker was secretly his real father. James' half-brother Victor urges him to flee, and they escape the authorities together. James changes his name to Logan (his real father's last name), and he and Victor stick side-by-side as time passes. Both Logan and Victor are mutants, with healing abilities that enable them to, in essence, live forever. They fight in war after war, from the Civil War forward, and they live through every battle. After they are placed in front of a firing squad and live, a general named Stryker handpicks them to be part of a special task force. Victor thrives in this environment, as his thirst for blood is hard to satisfy, but Logan has no interest in killing people so thoughtlessly, so he abandons the troop. He lives a gentle life with a beautiful young woman, Kayla.
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When Kayla ends up dead, however, Logan is told by Stryker that Victor has gone rogue and has become a force for evil. Logan attempts to fight Victor but loses badly. Stryker insists that he can help Logan by lacing his skeleton with a type of indestructible metal called adamantium. Logan agrees, but when he overhears Stryker give the order to wipe Logan's memory so that he would join their task force again, he escapes with his life. He finds a few other mutants and plans to take on Stryker. When he learns that Stryker has created a secret facility in which he is kidnapping and experimenting on mutants, it is up to Logan to go in, free the mutants, kill Stryker and Victor, and avenge the death of his beloved Kayla once and for all.
Best part of story, including ending:
As a huge fan of the X-Men, this is a terrible movie. There's no joy in the proceedings, no cleverness in its execution, and the new characters to the franchise are duds.
Best scene in story:
I've always been a big fan of the mutant hero named Gambit, who energizes playing cards into bombs and tosses them at people, so it was fun to see him in action.
Opinion about the main character:
Logan is a compelling character, and Hugh Jackman always plays the role terrifically in the series; here, however, the script saddles him with awkward dialogue, rendering his charm useless.
