The Wolverine

Welcome to another episode of Lights....Camera....Popcorn!

Today's review is The Wolverine.

Directed by James Mangold.

Written by Mark Bomback & Scott Frank.

Based on the Marvel Comics character created by Len Wien, Herb Trimpe, John Romita Sr. & Roy Thomas.

Review #224

MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, some sexuality and language.

Run Time: 126 min

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Cast

Hugh Jackman...Logan

Tao Okamoto...Mariko

Rila Fukushima...Yukio

Hiroyuki Sanada...Shingen

Svetlana Khodchenkova...Viper

Brian Tee...Noburo

Hal Yamanouchi...Yashida (as Haruhiko Yamanouchi)

Will Yun Lee...Harada

Ken Yamamura...Young Yashida

Famke Janssen...Jean Grey

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a flat out HORRIBLE film. Despite my fairly positive review. Common sense kicked in to the reality that the movie not only made one of Marvel's most popular cinematic characters forgettable. It killed a franchise. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was supposed to spawn a series of "Origins" films with Magneto on deck to follow everyone's favorite mutant. The critical venom spewed by fans scared 20th Century Fox from going forward with the "Origins" franchise.

Instead they decided to start over with Wolverine....Better choice.

Plot

Summoned to Japan by an old acquaintance, Wolverine becomes embroiled in a conflict that forces him to confront his own demons. 

After the first Wolverine debacle. The reboot had to be done right. The step in the right direction was to adapt possibly the most popular storyline the character ever had. They took Logan to Japan. Back in 1982 Chris Calremont and the incomparable Frank Miller gave Wolverine a character face lift by sending him to the land of the rising sun. What followed was the biggest reception the character has ever had since his first appearance against the Hulk in issues #180-181. Is The Wolverine a direct adaptation of Calremont's and Miller's run?

Yes and No.

More importantly the core and heart of the story is there which already makes it better than the first film.

That being said. The Wolverine is not without it's problems. The biggest one being the overcomplicated plot and overabundance of subplots. The intent is to give Logan more emotion and heart by throwing different narrative arcs at him. It was a good idea in theory. The result was a bloated story that could have been better served with a trim or two.

The two biggest ones that could have gone was Logan's holding on to Jean's memory. By doing this, The Wolverine is linking itself to X-Men: The Last Stand. NEVER a good idea. That film was just as forgettable as Wolverine's first film so connecting the dots here feels tacky. I realize the hero needed to be conflicted which provides the motivation for him going to Japan so making him depressed over killing his love is better than leaving him with memory loss like how Origins ended. The problem with this MacGuffin is that director James Mangold goes to it too many times. We don't need Logan to constantly wrestle with the pain and psychosis Jean's death gives him. You take half of these scenes out and the film is much tighter.

The second subplot revolved around the Viper character. She was a nice antagonist but her motivations were underdeveloped to the point of non existence. Her involvement in the film became clear towards the end but up until that point, her contributions to the film became more of a hindrance than a help. Her inclusion to the story also combined other subplots that just got out of control. Similar to Jean, you trim her scenes a bit and you get a much smoother film. This could have been a byproduct of the several rewrites the script went through.

Not to mention a MAJOR change in directors.

When this film was announced. Darren Aaronofsky was attached to direct. This sent shock waves through the geek community and put a HUGE smile on my face. Wolverine is a twisted, violent character and a director like Aaronofsky would have done WONDERS with this material. He was also coming off the success of Black Swan so at the time he was HOT! Then as always is the case with blockbusters. Studio interference drove Aaronofsky off the project. So here comes Mangold to save the property from caving in on itself. He does an admirable job but doesn't properly capture the ferocity Wolverine exhibits and is famous for.

One of the ways Mangold tries to give Logan the toughness we remembered from the earlier X-Men films was to load his movie with fights, fights and more fights. I got no problem with that but you have to make sure that the action serves a bigger purpose than just to see Wolverine claw through people. Some of the fights maintain story integrity but some of them were just filler action. The biggest sin Mangold commits to the character was stripping away Logan's trademark attitude. Logan spends a lot of the time gruff and pissed off which is accurate. The problem is his dialogue. It was entirely too stiff and angry. Part of what makes Wolverine so popular was his unique sarcasm.

Here's a good example.

In X-Men, Wolverine realizes Rogue is hiding out in the back of his truck. He pulls over and tells her to get out. This was the exchange between they had as Logan was prepared to leave this girl on the side of the road all alone.

Rogue - "Where am I supposed to go?"

Wolverine - "I don't know."

Rogue - "You don't know or you don't care?"

Wolverine - "Pick one."

That was pure Wolverine all the way. He's doesn't give a flying #$%& about your agenda. That was the attitude that made him so much fun to watch. That was practically non existent here. Instead Wolverine's snappy comebacks were replaced with profanity. A welcome addition to his verbal arsenal but his patented wit was sorely lacking here and it took away from Jackman's performance.

Speaking of Jackman.

If you thought he was fit for the first film. You haven't seen anything yet. This guy was RIPPED! The man loves playing this character and proved it by dedicating his body to the craft. He's also not getting any younger and since Wolverine's mutation slows his aging, the "real" Wolverine needs to compensate for that by renewing his membership to Planet Fitness. It definitely paid off here because aside from the gratuitous shirtless shots. The dude kicked major ass in this film.

 There was no doubt in anyone's mind watching this film that Hugh Jackman is The Wolverine! 

Jackman displays a ton of athleticism and prowess during the fights. As I mentioned before, this film is full of action set pieces and fights. They were well choreographed but piss poorly edited. Mangold wanted to capture the intensity and ferocity of Wolverine's moves. You don't do that in the edit room. Fight scenes are performance driven more than any other part of an action scene. You need to express the emotion and scale of the combat. Jumping and cutting from angle to angle does not give you a true translation of what's supposed to happen. The bullet train fight was a standout sequence.

If the rest of the action followed suit we would be talking about a no pun intended kick ass film.

The film's final battle with The Silver Samurai was a very impressive sequence as well. The climax was not as impressive. Mangold and company tried their best to hide the gotcha moment but if you're breathing in the theater, you know who is in the suit. This is where we get the final villain monologue that all poorly constructed comic book films are known for. This would have been a deal breaker for me with other films. For some reason it's not as reprehensible. This adaptation went through a series of rewrites and polishes. In fact one of the writers doesn't appear in the credits. Christopher McQuarrie came on board at the zero hour and did a touch up to the script. I'm sorry to say it but it shows. I'm not sure why I'm giving The Wolverine a pass for it's faults. Maybe because it simply does do it's job of obliterating the existence of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. 

That's good enough for me....for now.

On the 5 star scale. The Wolverine gets 2.5 stars with a "Go See It!" recommendation.

That's a wrap for today.

Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"