The Old American West has always been a land of enchantment, mystery, romance, prosperity and growth.  It was our culture’s “manifest destiny” to take it.  A lot of the inflated romanticism about the west was transcended into film.  Much of the early movies featured singing cowboys, clean-cut ranch hands and the heroic Calvary battling the evil Indians.  However, the actual west was not like that at all. It was treacherous, untamed and filled with criminals, bounty hunters, gamblers and horse thieves.  Finally, an Italian (not an American), epitomized much of the true “American West” for the screen.  Sergio Leone’s vision of the west was much more violent, the characters were mysterious and not easily likable and turned our beloved west into a barren wasteland.  Perhaps a place even more barren and untamed than the American West is the Australian Outback (even to this day).

Much like the mid-to-late 19th century America, Australia was also experiencing vast growth and prosperity. Clothing, the architectural style of the towns and social lifestyles were very similar. Instead of the class struggle between the Calvary and Indians, Anglo-Europeans and the native Aborigines replaced it.  The Proposition, though not devoted to showcasing the entire history of this era of Australia, shows a small personal and compelling glimpse of what life was like back then.  Borrowing from the morally ambiguous topics of Leone’s west, The Proposition is easily the best representation of the Australian “west.” Of course, how can it be considered a “western” when it takes place in Australia?  Well, both the Outback and the west of the era shows the same imagery and explores the same western themes.  The Proposition isn’t the first Australian western, but I haven’t come across too many. Ned Kelly, Quigley Down Under and last year’s Australia are a few that come to mind. Written by Australian musician Nick Cave (who also provides the score), The Proposition offers a look of how brutal and violent the Outback was.

The key word is "desolate."

After the Hopkins family homestead is raped, murdered and pillaged by the Burns gang, a manhunt ensues to bring them to justice.  The gang then splits into two factions with one part going into the desolate Outback lead by sociopath Arthur Burns (Danny Huston) and the other going into hiding, lead by younger brother Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce).  Accompanying Charlie is the youngest Burns brother, Mikey (Richard Wilson). Charlie, who grew weary of Arthur’s truly evil, psychotic nature, splits from him because he wants no part of murdering innocent people, plus he doesn’t want to expose naïve Mikey to the gang’s violent behavior.  When authorities ambush Charlie’s gang, a violent gunfight ensues and most of his gang is killed, except for himself and Mikey.

Sitting at a table in a cramped-up shack, Charlie is approached by Captain Morris Stanley (Ray Winstone).  Stanley first looks out the shack’s window and says, “Australia, what fresh hell is this?”  He proclaims to Charlie that he will civilize the land from outlaws (like the Burns gang) and the native people.  Stanley, who has to punish them for the Hopkins murders, generously gives Charlie a proposition.  Stanley believes Charlie did not commit any rape or murder of the Hopkins family and younger Mikey was too mentally challenged to pull it off.  He does, however want to bring Arthur to justice, dead or alive.  He lets Charlie go in order to find Arthur in the unforgiving Outback and kill him.  If he does, he will grant Charlie and Mikey a full pardon.  If not, Mikey will hang from the gallows. Charlie has nine days to find Arthur.

Meanwhile, Stanley must deal with the constant “threat” of the native Aboriginals and shielding his innocent wife, Martha Stanley (Emma Watson), from the local town.  Stanley and his wife are originally from England and he is transferred to Australia to bring order to the land.  Stanley must also deal with alienation from the town for making a proposition to a murderous gang and excessive pressure from his superior, Eden Fletcher (David Wenham).  Fletcher greatly disapproves of Stanley’s proposition and is on the verge of relieving him of his duties.

Charlie must make the tough choice to find out what is right or wrong within himself, even if it means killing his brother.  He crosses paths with bounty hunter Jellon Lamb (John Hurt) who aims to kill Arthur for a reward.  Charlie knocks him out and continues toward Arthur’s camp.  He is soon attacked by Aborigines and is rescued by Arthur’s gang.  Arthur, nicknamed “Dog Man,” never sleeps at night and has a constant lust for blood.  When Charlie finally confronts him, he is forced into a moral dilemma.  He must make the tough choice of killing his cold-blooded murdering brother (but still family) or rejoining his regrettable lifestyle of being on the run, even at the risk of losing his younger brother.

Long lost screenshot from Guy Pearce's audition tape for 'The Passion of the Christ.'

Danny Huston as Arthur Burns is truly the scariest and sickest western villain I have ever seen.  You never know when he will lunge to kill or just lull you into a casual conversation about family. You hate him, but are also intrigued about how a human being could be so evil. Huston is magnificent in the role and truly gives the best performance of the film. You’re also not sure about Charlie himself.  Yes, he didn’t commit any rape or murder, but you’re not sure if he wants to go back to his old ways.  Guy Pearce plays Charlie as a mysterious individual and makes his moral intentions undefined.  You question his past, but feel for him because he loves his younger brother Mikey and will do anything to protect him.  Ray Winstone is also superb.  He is forceful in the nature of his job, but is also a gentleman to his wife and the Aboriginals. His and Emma Watson’s characters are truly the only good-hearted people in the film. You could say Mikey is somewhat innocent, but is still was associated with Arthur.

I haven’t seen so many mysterious characters in one western before, even above Leone’s.  This is how the true west was like and Nick Cave nails it with his fabulous script.  His score, which accompanies his writing, is triumphant, as it is asked to drive the movie and leaves a haunting impression.  He also gives respect to the native Australian population by giving them important roles and making them a major part of the story.  Aboriginal actors David Gulpili and Tommy Lewis were very good and you come out with a better appreciation of their culture.  Cave bridges the gap between those who where modernized and those who kept hold of old tradition. Lewis, who plays Two-Bob and is part of the Burns gang, dresses in then-modern clothes, uses a gun and speaks in an Aussie accent. Gulpili, who plays Jacko, and is scout for the authorities, is the exact opposite. He uses the native tongue, uses traditional weaponry like the spear and dresses in native clothing.  Cave brings in both cultures and wonderfully blends them together.

Much of the credit should also go to director John Hillcoat.  Hillcoat makes Cave’s blood-drenched script come alive with beautiful panoramic shots of the Outback and quick editing sequences during the more violent scenes.  His dark-lit shots of Danny Huston make his character seem truly evil.  Hillcoat’s direction, combined with Cave’s script, help create one of the bloodier western masterpieces.  The Proposition is truly an excellent western, a great film and one you need to seek out.

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Since last year’s The Dark Knight, superhero movies have had the bar raised in terms of quality and what depth they should bring. This was matched earlier this year with Watchmen, which explored the extreme dark side of the hero and almost left its image surreal. The characters of The Dark Knight and Watchmen were complex and layered. It’s the characters that the audience wants to understand the most, even beyond the action the heroes attract.  I think since those two films, there’s a yearning to demystify the hero.  X-Men Origins: Wolverine doesn’t reach any of these points, or at best half-assess them.

Wolverine had the potential of being one of the best in the X-Men series. It was to be a movie dedicated solely to the franchise’s most beloved character. It was good to see Hugh Jackman reprise his role as Wolverine, but his character never conveys enough emotion to care for him. Instead, you get a killing machine. The beginning of the movie is flat-out terrible. I had no idea what was happening and by the time you get close to figuring it out, the opening-credits roll. It opens in 1845 Canada with James Howlett Logan (Young Wolverine, Troye Sivan) and Victor Creed (Young Sabretooth, Michael James-Olsen), two mutant kids who run away from their home after James kills Thomas Logan, the groundskeeper who shot his father. After James brings Thomas within an inch of his life with his bone-claws, Thomas reveals to the young boy that he’s his real father. By the way, Victor is Wolverine’s half-brother.

Okay, this mess of a beginning was so confusing and ridiculous that it must have left three plot holes and the movie was only five minutes in. One, it never established why the young Wolverine was sick in bed (that’s where he starts out). Two, why in the hell did the groundskeeper kill the elderly Howlett and then decide to tell the young boy he’s his father after he’s stabbed by the boy’s bone-claws? After the young James kills his supposed father, he and Victor go on the run and decide to always have each others backs. Since Wolverine and Sabretooth have “healing factors,” as part of their mutant powers, they age very slowly and can recover from an injury in a matter of seconds. With this unique ability, they serve in most major wars, including the Civil War (the North), WWI, WWII and Vietnam. Since both Wolverine and Sabretooth are Canadian, why in the hell would they serve in the United States Military? Plus, if they did serve in four major wars, don’t you think ANYONE would recognize that these guys don’t age and are the same people? Mind you, this is in the first ten minutes of the movie, now.

During the Vietnam War, Victor kills a superior officer and James defends him. They are ordered to die by firing squad, but they naturally survive because of their mutant ability and they’re then thrown into military jail. They are approached and asked by William Stryker (Danny Huston) to join a secret government project involving other mutants, including Wade Wilson (later Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds). They agree and then perform special ops in other countries as part of the project. While doing a mission in Africa, they go after a terrorist group, which knows the whereabouts of a metal from space, called “adamantium.”  While the team is about to murder a village of woman and children to get information on the metal, James stops them and quits the team.

"My love for you is like a truck. Berserker (rage)!"

James spends the next six years as a lumberjack in Canada and goes by the name of Logan.  He lives in the woods with his mutant girlfriend, Kayla Silverfox.  While at work, he is approached once again by Stryker to come back to the team, but Logan declines.  He is forced to change his mind when Victor, now Sabretooth, kills Silverfox.  Logan allows Stryker to perform an experiment on him so he can defeat Sabretooth.  Stryker, who finds the adamantium metal in Africa, fuses Logan bones with the substance. Logan now proclaims himself Wolverine and escapes in a rage after he hears Stryker true plans to exploit him.  He must also exact revenge on Sabretooth for the death of Silverfox.

Since I had high expectations for Wolverine, I have to say I was really let down by this. A problem with most of the X-Men films is that they try to pack too many other mutant characters into the movie. Although you’d think that would be the reason for a spin-off film, to give one character the vast majority of screentime, this film falls into the same trap. They introduce characters like The Blob and Cyclops. It was too grand a scale when things should have been lower key, perhaps only having three to four mutants, not something like fifteen characters smashed into a less-than-two-hour film. I partly blame this on the studio for almost certainly pressuring the writers to include as many characters as they could. Despite not having any good reason to include him, I thought the role of Gambit was well-done. When I first heard the Gambit character was going to be in it, I was excited. Gambit, along with Wolverine, was one of my favorite X-Men. Taylor Kitsch plays Remy LaBeau/Gambit as I had hoped and I’d much rather see a spin-off with him than Deadpool with Ryan Reynolds. The Deadpool character was vastly different from the comics, but I was impressed with how he turned out. Another glaring problem with the film was determining what time period it took place in.  Judging by when they first left Vietnam and then spending the next 6 to 10 years in a government program, I assume this took place in the late 1970s or early 80s.  Yet the clothes are very contemporary, the use of modern computer software and their weapons seem state-of-the-art, even by today’s standards.

The film did have some positive moments, particularly Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed/Sabretooth. Schreiber was very menacing and sometimes unpredictable in scenes, which left the other characters and the audience on the edge of their seats, wondering what he was going to do next. Another good performance came from Danny Huston as William Stryker, who was also very dark and ominous. Jackman was good as the lead (he’s been this character four times now), but I really felt he was hindered by the writers (David Benioff and Skip Woods), because he has the talent to do more raw emotion with the tortured Wolverine character, he just didn’t get a chance. He was sadly reduced to a grunting, pissed-off killing machine.  I don’t blame this on director Gavin Hood at all, because I’m sure he wanted a different outcome on the story, as well.  Studio middling was widespread on the film.  It had the potential to go down the path set by The Dark Knight and Watchmen, because the Wolverine character is so complex and emotionally torn. Instead, you get an action-adventure movie with no substance. Wolverine tried to give the people what they want with an action-adventure film, but failed to realize this might not be what the people want any longer.

“X-Men” was one of my favorite comics growing up. I made a ritual to see X-Men: The Animated Series every Saturday morning because it was so cool to finally see characters from the comics move and talk. Wolverine was always the stand out character for me and certainly for a lot of people. He had a no-nonsense, rebel, badass mentality that a lot of people liked. His character was reminiscent of the Man With No Name (Clint Eastwood) character from the Sergio Leone Dollars trilogy. One of the most interesting aspects of Wolverine (whose real name is Logan) is his origin, which is very long and complex. The one part that stands out most is how he received his “adamantium” bones, the metal claws that come out of his hands, which are easily the most identifiable part of his character.

"The least they could've done was blindfold us."

Hugh Jackman reprises his role as Logan a.k.a. Wolverine and it will be the fourth time he plays the part. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is set about 20 years before the X-Men trilogy and it chronicles the early life of Wolverine’s beginnings as a child. Since Wolverine’s mutant power is to heal his body at an incredible rate, it also allowed him to stunt his aging process. Through this process, he was able to serve in major armed conflict, like World War II. During his time as a soldier, he served with his mutant half-brother, Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber). After the service, he falls in love with Kayla a.k.a. Silver Fox and decides to live a peaceful life with her. Logan’s life is shattered when Creed kills Silver Fox in a jealous rage. Logan, bent on revenge, joins a Canadian governmental project called Weapon X. While at the Weapon X facility, the head of the project, William Stryker (Danny Huston), offers Logan a chance to extract his vengeance by letting him experiment on him and become a member of a mutant group called Team X. Logan agrees and his bones are fused with a nearly indestructible metal, adamantium. Before the process takes place, he informs Stryker that he wants to be known as Wolverine. When Wolverine discovers Stryker’s intentions are just to exploit mutants for experiments, he escapes the facility.  While on the run from the government, he must also find Creed a.k.a Sabretooth and get retribution for the death of Silver Fox.

The movie will feature other characters as well. One hero I’m finally glad to see is Gambit (Taylor Kitsch). He was one of my personal favorite X-Men and I can’t wait to see how he turns out. Other notable characters will be Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), The Blob (Kevin Durand), John Wraith (Will.i.am) and Emma Frost (Tahyna Tozzi).

Dude...Trim. Your. Nails!

Wolverine is directed by South African Gavin Hood, who directed the Oscar-winning Tsotsi (Best Foreign Film). David Benoiff, who adapted the novel “Kite Runner” for the screen, wrote the screenplay.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is definitely one of the more anticipated movies of the year and it promises to be pretty sweet.

It opens on May 1^st.