Quick, name a list of the greatest X-Men. Who did you come up with? Beast, everyone's favorite blue, furry academic? Gambit, the ragin' Cajun with a penchant for sticky fingers and making things explode? Perhaps even Dazzler for some of you more flamboyant types? Whatever your choice, there is at least one name that should be on the lists of all people who consider themselves true X-Men fans. Here's a hint: he's short, he's Canadian, and he's the best there is at what he does (but what he does
isn't very nice). I'm talking, of course, about Wolverine.
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| Pictured |
He is one of Marvel's most ubiquitous faces (right up there with the Hulk and Spider-Man), appearing in almost every form of Marvel media, X-Men or otherwise, in existence since his 1974 introduction. He has long walked the halls of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, as both student and instructor. And although he is a loner, he has turned up on an awful lot of Marvel's other flagship teams, including Alpha Flight, X-Force, and the Avengers. He's even been carrying his own solo title since 1988, which is not something any other X-Man can say (even Cable needed Deadpool). It made sense, then, that in the wake of their X-Men film trilogy Marvel would give everyone's favorite hard-drinking, murderous Canuck his own movie spin-off; after all, how
bad could it be?
In the wake of 20th Century Fox's cinematic abortion, their follow-up effort, The Wolverine, didn't have to do much to earn a stamp of approval. In fact, it seemed primed to delight.
In addition to featuring my favorite X-Man, it would be taking place in my favorite foreign country:
Japan. The exotic setting was inspired by one of the character's most unique
arcs, penned by comic book greats
Chris Claremont and
Frank Miller. Director
James Mangold had drawn previous
critical acclaim for writing and directing the Johnny Cash biopic
Walk the Line, so depicting Logan's tortured soul should have been familiar territory. It couldn't possibly go wrong! Right?
Well, yes and no. At its best, The Wolverine is a dark, serious, character-driven work that follows a broken man on a journey of healing and self-discovery. At its worst, the sense of gravitas gets lost in ridiculous action sequences, boring, motive-less villains, and over-the-top CGI. The film can't decide which it wants to be, moody character piece or wacky actioner, and ends up slipping through the gaps instead.
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| And that dance number was completely unnecessary. |
The Wolverine picks up after the events of
X-Men: the Last Stand, when Logan was forced to kill a Dark Phoenix-possessed Jean Grey. Devastated by the death of the woman he loved, Logan has renounced the name of Wolverine and retreated into the Alaskan wilderness. Having settled at the summit of a nice, lonely mountain overlooking a small town, he passes his days in wary peace with his neighbor: a grizzly bear; he passes his nights in fitful bouts of sleep punctuated by nightmare visions of his murdered love.
After a violent confrontation with a few hunters at the small town bar, Logan is introduced to Yukio, an emissary of one of his old acquaintances from WWII. Yashida, a soldier whose life Logan saved during the bombing of Nagasaki, is now dying, and he wishes to see Logan and express his gratitude before passing. He offers the world-weary wanderer one last gift: to make Logan mortal once again, by taking his healing factor and transferring it to Yashida himself. Unfortunately, Yashida dies before Logan can call his bluff, and his funeral gets crashed by an army of
yakuza. Around the same time, Logan's healing factor begins acting wonky, and he finds himself on the run with Yashida's daughter Mariko. It soon becomes apparent that more than one person is after both Logan and Mariko, and he makes it his mission to find out who and why.
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| All while removing his shirt as much as possible. |
As previously mentioned, the film shines when it focuses on the character of Logan and his journey to forgive himself for Jean's death. This is largely due to the presence of
Huge Jacked-Abs (aka Hugh Jackman), who shows off the experience that comes from playing Marvel's most popular mutant for over a decade. At this point the role fits him like a glove. He is to Wolverine what Sean Connery is to James Bond.
You really get a sense of Logan's endless grief over Jean's death, as he is repeatedly confronted with her image (played in a cameo role by
Famke Janssen). But even at his most downtrodden, he is still Wolverine at heart. There are plenty of scenes, lines and moments that capture Wolverine's trademark bad boy vibe which launched a thousand
copycat anti-heroes in the 80's. Whether he's slicing and dicing yakuza, throwing a man out of a window, or simply taking a bath, Hugh Jackman is completely believable as Wolverine.
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| In Huge Jacked-Abs We Trust |
Unfortunately, that's where the praiseworthy aspects of the movie come to an end. In between the pretty moments of somber soul-searching are scattered several clunky, emotionally empty fight scenes that contribute little to the narrative. Even the much-touted bullet train fight sequence feels like a tacked-on gimmick that adds nothing to the story overall. The villain, a mutant named Viper, also feels underdeveloped. There is never much of a reason given as to why she has it out for Logan, and
Svetlana Khodchenkova delivers her lines with an unintentionally hilarious wooden awkwardness. Another big bad is revealed in a third act plot twist so stupid it boggles the mind why they didn't stick closer to the
plot in Claremont's source material.
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| It's Wolverine. Versus ninjas. How do you mess that up?! |
I really wanted to give The Wolverine the rave review that a movie based on such an iconic character deserves, but instead I must settle for an "it could have been worse." Jackman turns in yet another inspired performance as comics' most famous fictional Canadian, but not even his adamantium claws can sharpen up this weak sauce plot and underwhelming CGI. The Wolverine has its moments, but not enough to warrant today's ticket prices.
Verdict: C-Rank
P.S. Stay after the credits for a special scene hinting at mutantkind's next film: the upcoming
X-Men Days of Future Past. It turns out Magneto's powers have returned, Professor X is somehow back from the dead and there are several adverts for Trask Industries (i.e. the people behind the iconic
Sentinels) are everywhere.
