SUMMER MOVIES 2013 – THE WOLVERINE This is the 5th of the 5 movies that I was most excited to see this summer. And while it’s not perfect, I would probably say it’s the least disappointing of the bunch. And that’s a huge surprise because I figured IRON MAN 3 and STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS were in excellent hands and would both be great and expected that MAN OF STEEL and PACIFIC RIM would both be slam dunks. I was most concerned about THE WOLVERINE, but it really delivers. The first 2/3 of it are fantastic and the third act is where it falters some. I’m sure there will be SPOILERS AHEAD, so beware. First of all, can I just say thank you to Darren Aronofsky for dropping out of this project? I’m so grateful that I didn’t have to sit through some artsy bullshit with 30 minutes of handheld shots of the back of Jackman’s head while he’s walking around. I’ve been a fan of James Mangold’s since HEAVY and while he’s made some major missteps along the way, he’s a really talented filmmaker and here his approach was clearly to make a “real” movie about Logan/The Wolverine, much the same way Christopher Nolan approached Bruce Wayne/Batman. Mind you, I’m not comparing the two films, just the approach. It’s not overtly comic booky or fantasy, it’s grounded in the real world. And while it can’t possibly make up for X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE – one of the worst movies I have ever seen – it confidently stands next to X2: X-MEN UNITED and X-MEN: FIRST CLASS as the best of the series. While I read comics from a very early age, the comic that got me absolutely hooked was X-Men 162, which is essentially a solo Wolverine story. And in that same year or so was the Wolverine mini-series by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller and X-Men 172 & 173, which is what inspired this movie. Back then, 30 years ago, I never would have imagined that some day there would be an X-Men movie, let alone an entire series. There weren’t even X-Men toys. Eventually they made 2 appearances on SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS and there was a Wolverine figure from the SECRET WARS toy series. But a live action movie? No way. Now we live in a time where there are great X-MEN movies and awful ones. This movie is definitely not a direct adaptation of the Japan story from the comics, though the spirit and tone of it is intact. And while it ties into the events of X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, this is a standalone story that non-fans could walk into and enjoy. And I think it could be a great bridge for the general audience to the next X-MEN picture which is overloaded with major characters from the series of films. The first act is really well done, introducing the major characters and getting Wolverine to Japan. Based on the trailers, I was expecting Wolverine to choose to give up his powers and echo both SUPERMAN II and SPIDER-MAN 2, but I love that he actually doesn’t. And I love the line (which I’m paraphrasing) “You don’t want what I got.” Everything about the writing of Logan and Jackman’s performance is so perfect here. He’s a man of few words and those words are expertly written throughout the movie. It was great to see Famke Janssen back as Jean Grey even if only in Logan’s dreams. Famke is an incredibly talented actress, but also stunning to look at. I would have loved to have seen the Dark Phoenix saga done right with her. Yukio was awesome to see on screen and was beautifully translated from the comic. She’s not exactly the same character in backstory or look, but that’s Yukio. She was so badass and makes a hell of a bodyguard for Logan. I enjoyed every moment that she was on screen. Rila Fukushima is fantastic in this role. Act two was almost as good overall. I really enjoyed that this wasn’t a by the numbers event movie with non-stop action. This movie has quiet moments and it breathes, but it’s no less compelling when it’s quiet than it is when it’s action packed. Will Yun Lee’s Harada is so damn cool. I really hope Joss Whedon watches this movie and takes some notes on how to handle Hawkeye in THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. While you can’t find a better actor than Jeremy Renner, Hawkeye’s archery skills are really absurd and almost laughable in THE AVENGERS. But with Harada, you believe his skills and you are practically cheering for him as he takes out the Yakuza via bow and arrow and proves to be a surprise ally for Logan when he first appears. He was the surprise character of the movie for me. I don’t remember seeing him in the previews, but he has a significant role to play. Tao Okamoto as Mariko is remarkably beautiful and far from a damsel in distress. I’m glad she wasn’t just a fragile China doll that Logan had to protect. She can handle herself to an extent – it would be tough for anyone to fight off that many Yakuza. And I think the romance played out beautifully. It wasn’t a clichéd over the top these two people hate each other, but then suddenly fall madly in love. She’s really appealing and you want Logan to end up with her and have a real life. At first the idea that Logan lost his healing powers really bothered me. But when it’s explained that Viper was suppressing them, not that they were gone, and then when we later learn how they were being suppressed, I was okay with it. And I love Logan’s solution as to how to solve that problem and get his powers back. Actually on that note, when Logan checks out his wounds on the train, I was expecting him to do some self surgery and remove the bullets with his claws. That may not have been the smartest move since because of his healing powers, he hasn’t developed those self help skills that Rambo has of treating his wounds in the field and stitching himself up. The veterinarian scene later was fun, and I’m glad that it was Mariko who was behind it, but I feel like I’ve seen the veterinarian fixes the hero scene a hundred times. Though I suppose it’s a good thing that Mariko didn’t suddenly turn out to be a nurse. Since Mariko calls Yukio while they’re on the run, which is a foolish thing to do whenever you’re on the run, I think the ideal would have been for Yukio to show up and treat his wounds. As a warrior herself, it would make sense for her to have that skill set and could have made for a fun scene. And it would be less of a coincidence that the owner of the random hotel they chose just happens to have a veterinarian son. But I’m just nitpicking now. There were several times in the movie that I wanted to get up and yell, Hell yeah! That’s how into it and how much I was loving so much of this movie. When Logan answers Shingen’s question in a pivotal moment late in the film was one of those moments! It was reminiscent for me of seeing the first trailer to X2: X-MEN UNITED. Some of my friends may remember this. We all went to see DAREDEVIL at a theater in downtown Chicago. As a lifelong X-MEN fan, I was super excited to see the trailer for the sequel. There’s a shot where Peter Rasputin steps into a doorway and starts to turn into Colossus and I let out a squeal that I don’t know how to describe in words. My friends were so embarrassed to be associated with me that I’m surprised they didn’t get up and move to different seats. I didn’t squeal today, but I had that same feeling several times. The most disappointing part of the movie by far is that we never got to see Wolverine unleashed versus the Ninjas! That’s one of the coolest parts of the comic! How they blew that is beyond me. Did they run out of money? It’s unfathomable to me that there wasn’t a massive Ninja battle. It could have ended the same way and I would be fine with that, but we really needed to see Wolverine carve up some Ninjas. Mangold had to have an action scene on the bullet train. Now admittedly the actual bullet train sequence in the movie is better than the glimpses in the trailers or even the sequence released online recently. But I would much rather have had them scrap that and have a Ninja battle. Though I do love them taking him down with those cabled arrows. Interesting side note about the bullet train sequence… At Comic-Con I attended a panel about film composers who have worked on superhero movies. They showed clips, sometimes with no score and then with score. Marco Beltrami who scored this film was there and they showed the bullet train sequence. When it was over, Marco said that the music was not composed for that scene. He said his idea for that sequence was that you would just hear the wind rushing by and the sound effects of the fight. And he said he didn’t attend the final sound mix so he was really surprised to hear this music paired with that sequence. However, in the movie, that sequence is as he wanted, just wind rushing by and sound effects. So I wonder how that clip at Comic-Con came to be. While the Logan vs. Shingen Yashida battle is great, I definitely missed the way it was done in the comics where Shingen defeated and humiliated Logan the first time, severely injuring him, but then Logan comes back and defeats him in the final battle. Hiroyuki Sanada made for a solid Shingen Yashida, though a very different one from the comics. I can’t say that I’m thrilled about how they handled Silver Samurai. It’s a pretty odd choice in a mostly grounded movie. And Wolverine versus Silver Samurai is nowhere near as cool as the way Paul Smith handled it in the comics. Wolverine losing his adamantium claws and growing back the bone claws was a real bummer. I really don’t understand why that choice was made. I’m not a bone claws fan. I’m relatively okay with how they handled Viper, though I don’t understand why she has long blond hair. She’s the one character who really pushes the fantasy of the movie to the extreme. And I guess she’s supposed to be part reptile. Can’t say I was thrilled by her, but the performance was pretty good and she served her function in the story. While I understand that the studio would never allow this movie to be R, so they had to severely censor any bloody violence, it’s really irresponsible to have this much sword and claw play with virtually no blood whatsoever. It’s like the opposite extreme of a Tarantino flick. He uses geysers of blood and here they use barely a drop. I think Mangold could have found a bit of a balance between the two. Stay through the credits for possibly one of the best credit sequence setups for another movie that I have ever seen. I really want to go back and read the Wolverine mini-series and X-Men 172 & 173! And while I’m looking forward to X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST and desperately hoping that it’s great, I’m now just as equally excited to see another WOLVERINE solo movie featuring the adventures of The Wolverine and Yukio and I would be thrilled if Logan got to see Mariko again too. Bravo to Hugh Jackman, James Mangold, writers Mark Bomback, Scott Frank and the bizarrely uncredited Christopher McQuarrie for delivering a movie worthy of The Wolverine!
Posted on: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 01:35:36 +0000
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