I knew next to nothing about "Wolverine" before I sat down to watch it, but it didn't take me long to guess that it had been made for television in the 1990s. The movie is shot in a flat way, with grain and dull colors throughout. While the movie took the expense to actually shoot in Italy, the way the Italian background is shot makes it often look like it was shot in California. As for the rest of the movie, there's nothing really of interest on display. The movie has practically no action for the first 50 minutes, and the little action there is in the remaining 40 or so minutes is not the least bit exciting. And while Antonio Sabato Jr. may not be as bad an actor as some other B movie stars (such as Lorenzo Lamas), he gives an absolutely passionless performance. Even if you watch the movie for free on TV, you'll feel cheated far before the end.

Before I say too much I think it's important to point out that this was a made for TV action movie, so right away that takes away any serious bloodbath potential, as well as any serious language or nudity possibilities. So working under those parameters, not to mention a tight budget, I guess the creative team did OK with this one. There are a couple of sweet moments where the Wolverine shows how quickly and effortlessly he can crush a persons hope of survival. That's about it. A couple of sweet kills sprinkled in a large vat of mediocrity. What's a hard-hitting action thrill ride without any of the vices discussed above and without a budget for special effects? It's a movie like Wolverine, with long periods of tough guys talking and making decisions and out-toughing each other, and a cliché ridden boring mess. Some other reviewer already mentioned it, but the ending is really bad. Not even like "oh, that's not the way I would have ended it" or "I don't understand the point the director is trying to make here", but just awful. It's a cliffhanger for all the wrong reasons, and made me want to go Wolverine on the production teamRating: 12/40

... for a made for TV movie, which by the way, is why the "fade to black" business the previous viewer commented on. That's what happens when HBO uses a TV movie and there are no commercials shown!! Actually, for being born Italian, Sabato, Jr. (his family moved to the U.S. when he was very young) is a convincing American and incredibly easy on the eyes which is worth an extra star alone!

Certainly spoilers ahead...You know you've got a stinker on your hands when a member of some US intel service (I think he was CIA) doesn't know what a Navy SEAL is...(no I am not kidding).I caught this while waiting for another show to come on on HBO recently and have to say that it wasn't necessarily the acting, which I didn't notice to be really horrible, but the production as a whole. Every scene transition was a fade to black and not all smooth. Scenes which should have some tension or emotion were played very seriously and accompanied with horrid soap opera music. This alone added a certain cheapness that caused me to cringe.The story, the action, definitely unrealistic at times, but this had to have some budget to at least in part be filmed in Italy. Most of this can be blamed on the director and producers because the acting and story or realism flaws looked simple enough to clean up. Of course then it looked like they were trying to capitalize on the star Antonio Sabato's physique. Rolling through the little waves on a Zodiac, poised for some SEAL-like invasion, he just couldn't afford to miss a chance to show off his chest or miss any of those Italian sun rays. Situations like this ooze cheap, poor production, and actually this little story might have actually supported itself.One other thing of note, the plot summary given by HBO was that this SEAL was supposed to be a professor...and I just don't see it. Coupled with the fact that Sabato IS like only 31, he looks twenty-two and I didn't picture him as some PhD holding gung-ho guy who had time to go off and do a few years of military training when he wasn't off busting his ass in grad school. Sure, he could have just had a master's and been teaching underwater welding at the local Community College (when he wasn't off getting a tan...), but you be the judge. It all adds up to fluff, where there might have been potential.