By Mike Huntley
If you were to ask me who my top favorite superheroes are in comics, I
have a long list but four who have been with me since I was a child.
Those four costumed heroes are: Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, and
Wolverine. Now if you asked me who I thought was the most badass DC and
Marvel character, my answer would be Batman and Wolverine. While Batman
is a billaionaire disguised as a vicious beast, Logan/Wolverine IS a
vicious beast in and out of costume. He doesn't need gadgets. He is the
weapon with his claws that can cut through anything and everything. But,
he also has his "I'm going to fucking kill you bub" attitude that adds
to his badassery. While I was introduced to Batman due to the
blockbuster movie starring Michael Keaton as The Dark Knight and Jack
Nicholson as The Joker, I was introduced to Wolverine and the X-Men
thanks to Saturday mornings on Fox Kids with the X-Men: The Animated Series
that came on right after Spider-Man. Marvel was my Saturday mornings
while DC was my summer cinematic fun (Batman), week day afternoons with
Batman (The Animated Series), and weekend nights with Superman (Lois
& Clark).
That all changed in the summer of 2000 when director Bryan Singer
unleashed the X-Men movie that made a star out of Hugh Jackman and
sparked a wave of superhero cinema that is still going on to this day.
After the success of X-Men, Singer returned with the even better sequel,
X2: X-Men United. Singer dropped X-Men 3, which later became titled
X-Men: The Last Stand where Brett Ratner replaced Bryan Singer in the
director's chair who wanted to fulfill his long term dream by trying to
resurrect the Superman movie franchise with Superman Returns. The X-Men
franchise found itself in a slump with poor fan reaction to The Last
Stand, which was trying to adapt the Dark Phoenix Saga storyline yet
failed badly. So, Fox decided to give the most iconic X-Men mutant his
own movie that told the origin for how Logan became Wolverine thus
releasing X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009. Again, fans cried foul
especially due to screwing up a fan favorite character named Deadpool in
the final act of the film. So then Fox tried to relaunch the franchise
again with 2011's prequel/reboot X-Men: First Class that told the origin
of Professor Charles Xavier and X-Men villain Magneto. First Class was
much better received than The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. While developing a
sequel to First Class which is now both a sequel to that film and to the
original X-Men movie trilogy titled X-Men: Days of Future Past which
will be directed by Bryan Singer, actor Hugh Jackman who has now been
playing Wolverine for 13 years wanted to make another solo Wolverine
film. But, this time it was to take place after the events of The Last
Stand and take place in Japan since Jackman was a huge fan of the Japan
Wolverine comics. Thus, gives us this summer's The Wolverine.
After X-Men: The Last Stand, Logan/Wolverine has become a
recluse. He's left what is left of his fellow X-Men behind and has
become a drifter. He's also been having nightmares about his love Jean
Grey who he had to kill in order to save the world. After getting into a
bar fight, Logan is greeted by a Japanese woman named Yukio. It turns
out that Logan saved a man from being killed by the Atomic Bomb when it
was dropped on Hiroshima and the now old man named Yashida wants to
thank him and give him a reward. That reward is to take away his mutant
power to heal and his immortality. To make him Human. Logan is hesitant,
but then Yashida dies. Before he can leave Japan, Yashida's
granddaughter Mariko is being tracked down by ninja assassins as well as a
mutant named Viper so Logan makes himself her bodyguard sorta speak.
But, there's just one problem, Viper has taken away his mutant
abilities, leaving Logan mortal. Can Logan still be The Wolverine
without his immortality or will the ninja assassins, Mariko's fiance',
Viper, and Silver Samurai finish him once and for all?
I'll cut right to it. I think Wolverine works better with
the X-Men than he does on his own. That is not a knock on the
character. I love Wolverine. He's the kinda dude you just want to go out
drinking with and then sit and watch him beat some asshole to a bloody
pulp before raising his claws to their throat and saying, "Had enough,
bub?" I love this character! I was this character for Halloween one
year. I used to have a poster printed out of this character on my
bedroom wall. I have a few action figures of Wolverine. But, Wolverine
to me works best when he can play off Professor X, Cyclops, Rogue,
Storm, and the whole team. That's not to say that The Wolverine is a bad
film because it's not. It's not a great film, but it is a good
entertaining one. Yet at the same time it kinda underwhelms me. It
didn't have me excited like I was watching X-Men and X2: X-Men United or
thrilled watching X-Men: First Class. Plus, another thing that goes
against it is that I highly enjoyed both Man of Steel and Iron Man 3 way
more. They brought the big action and excitement that I look for when
watching a superhero film. They gave me plenty to talk about. But, sadly
The Wolverine gives me little to talk about.
The biggest thing I can say is that this is probably Hugh Jackman's best performance as Wolverine. The man is a legit badass. He IS Wolverine. At the end of the day, he is the only character you will remember. He's the star of the show. Not the story. Not the villain. Not the supporting characters. It's Wolverine/Hugh Jackman that delivers and keeps this film afloat. While this film is better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I personally thought that that film was much more entertaining than this was. That had plenty of mutants to keep the show interesting. Not just some snake lady and Wolverine of course. I don't hate X-Men Origins: Wolverine at all like most of you surely do. I thought it was a fun yet pretty average superhero film. But, where this film really fell apart was in the last act. Talk about a twist that had me rolling my eyes. Say what you want about the Mandarin twist in Iron Man 3, but at least that got me and I thought it was genius. This, I just couldn't get into this one. Plus, there's so many scenes that could have been much better, but didn't go far enough. Like the ninjas in the streets scene. But, the mid-credits scene was worth sitting through this whole film, which obviously sets up for next summer's X-Men: Days of Future Past. The acting was decent with Hugh Jackman standing out over all the rest. The direction by James Mangold was okay. That train top scene really stands out.
The biggest thing I can say is that this is probably Hugh Jackman's best performance as Wolverine. The man is a legit badass. He IS Wolverine. At the end of the day, he is the only character you will remember. He's the star of the show. Not the story. Not the villain. Not the supporting characters. It's Wolverine/Hugh Jackman that delivers and keeps this film afloat. While this film is better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I personally thought that that film was much more entertaining than this was. That had plenty of mutants to keep the show interesting. Not just some snake lady and Wolverine of course. I don't hate X-Men Origins: Wolverine at all like most of you surely do. I thought it was a fun yet pretty average superhero film. But, where this film really fell apart was in the last act. Talk about a twist that had me rolling my eyes. Say what you want about the Mandarin twist in Iron Man 3, but at least that got me and I thought it was genius. This, I just couldn't get into this one. Plus, there's so many scenes that could have been much better, but didn't go far enough. Like the ninjas in the streets scene. But, the mid-credits scene was worth sitting through this whole film, which obviously sets up for next summer's X-Men: Days of Future Past. The acting was decent with Hugh Jackman standing out over all the rest. The direction by James Mangold was okay. That train top scene really stands out.
Overall, The Wolverine was a good but not great movie.
Better than The Last Stand and Origins? Absolutely. But, better than
X-Men, X2: X-Men United, or X-Men: First Class? Hell no. I think X-Men:
Days of Future Past will claw this film to pieces, bub.
GRADE
C+
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