Wolverine has become the most overrated character in comics
today. I’m not saying that being an invincible mutant with the power to
heal, heightened senses, and razor sharp claws is wack… I’m saying that Marvel
comics has purposely turned this invincible mutant into a pu$$y. For those who
aren’t familiar with Wolverine/Logan/James on a deeper level let me take you on
a short trip through the character’s history.
Created as just a random Hulk villain, Wolverine became a
member of the 2nd class of X-Men where the fact that he was feral
and popped knives out of his fist instantly made him the most celebrated member
of that team. Wolverine as we know him didn’t
actually become that bad-azz until Chris Claremont and Frank Miller pushed his
boundaries beyond the comic code safety net in the early 80’s. The first
Wolverine series unchained the monster and made the character ruthless,
relentless, and somewhat shocking, but gave him a true purpose by adding in the
honor of a Samurai to the troubled beast. Fast forward to the 90’s X-Men
animated series (skipping the Australian voiced Logan of the 80’s Spider friends
incarnation). This animated Wolverine voiced by Cathal Dodd, is the most known.
The gruff voice, the fury, the torment, the straight man to Jubilee’s ditsy valley
girl, it’s this version that took Logan to the next level. It was a more
simplified version than the comics, but it was a great interpretation.
Due to the popularity of that series Wolverine suddenly became bigger than Spider-Man, but having a guy with friggn’ knives impaling people isn’t as innocent as shooting webs, so Marvel (who now saw children as a huge market for the X-Men) made strides to soften the character after the boom of the 90’s wore off. By the time we reached Bryan Singer’s X-Men films, Wolverine had been scaled back, and besides a few bad guys getting poked every now and then, Wolverine of the comics, cartoon, and Movie were all on the same page: Tough guy mutant with a heart of gold, who only kills robots or non-descript goons who don’t bleed.
Due to the popularity of that series Wolverine suddenly became bigger than Spider-Man, but having a guy with friggn’ knives impaling people isn’t as innocent as shooting webs, so Marvel (who now saw children as a huge market for the X-Men) made strides to soften the character after the boom of the 90’s wore off. By the time we reached Bryan Singer’s X-Men films, Wolverine had been scaled back, and besides a few bad guys getting poked every now and then, Wolverine of the comics, cartoon, and Movie were all on the same page: Tough guy mutant with a heart of gold, who only kills robots or non-descript goons who don’t bleed.
It’s ironic, the cartoon is long gone, the Wolverine of the
comics has been surpassed in coolness and ruthlessness by Cyclopes… yet the
Wolverine of the movie world is here trying to live up to the potential that
Claremont and Miller first laid out. To
a certain extent, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is the best version of the character
today. With that being said I found X-Men
Origins: Wolverine to be a hyperactive mess of a movie that bastadized the
brilliant Origin comic storyline,
made a joke of the Pre Weapon-X crew of Wade, Victor, and Logan, and failed to
really connect Wolverine’s life with Xavier’s dream, beyond the Stryker
storyline that was done better in X2.
This brings me to The
Wolverine. The 6th installment of the X-Men movie world Bryan Singer
fist brought to life. This isn’t a sequel to Origins, but a standalone
Wolverine tale that promised to give the fans of the character the movie they
deserve. Ninjas, actual killing, sexy Japanese chicks, and profanity.
The Wolverine: Non
Spoiler Summary
This isn’t a standalone Wolverine movie, it’s a direct
sequel to X-Men Last Stand (Remember
that piece of S%IT?) that finds Logan hiding out in the Canadian wilderness shortly
after popping his claws into Dark Phoenix and saving the world. Logan’s haunted
by dreams of Jean Grey, and has decided never to kill again… or at least kill for
mutant rights. Of course, like Michael Corleone, every time you think you’re
out they pull you back in. Wildman Logan is pulled back by Yukio, a fire engine
red head from Japan (Logan loves fire crotches apparently) who’s nasty with a
blade and has the mutant power to foresee death. Yukio, as played by former
fashion model Rila Fukushima is a scene-stealer, with the kind of strange yet
captivating good looks that we rarely see on screen, Rila brings a much-needed
sense of fun to the movie and serves sort of the Jubilee role. Once in Japan, Yukio
takes Logan-san to see Master Yashida, a man who Logan saved during the bombing
of Nagasaki during WWII (I imagine there’s a Wolverine meets Captain America story
that we miss out on before Logan saves Yashida in the POW camp). For this act
Yashida has sent for the troubled mutant and now wants to help him become
mortal… catch is, the now 80 year old Yashida is dying and wants Logan’s
healing factor for himself. Of course Logan refuses, the old man dies and the
movie turns into Wolverine having to save Yashida’s granddaughter Mariko (for fans of the 90’s cartoon you all
remember Wolverine screaming MARIIIIKOOOOOO!!! During the “Code of Conflict”
episode. If not Netflix it tonight!).
Mariko is now the heir to a billion dollar company and the
Yakuza want her dead before Yashida’s will is read. Of course, Wolverine vs
Mobsters isn’t fun, so enter the mysterious Viper who strips Logan of his
healing factor, making this a fair fight. In the end The Viper, Yashida, and
Mariko’s father all play a crucial part in a plot that leads to Wolverine
finding his… well inner Wolverine in time to face off against a super-sized
Silver Samurai. The ending is a little predictable, but there is a big moment
where you’ll remark, “WTF, did they just do what I think they did to Wolverine?”
While not Fatal Attractions rip the adamantium from his bones level epic, it actually changes the way Wolverine will now be seen on film. No
Marvel Comics movie can go off without an added scene, so I advise you stay put
and bask in the glory of a scene that sets up Bolivar Trask and Days of Future Past.
What It Gets Right
The Wolverine is much
more focused than the other X-Films in that, like Iron Man 3, it’s not about plot so much as about one man’s journey
to find himself again. Hugh Jackman is Wolverine, for all that the X-Men movies
got wrong, the one thing they got right was Jackman, and this shows us exactly
why he’s born to play this role. Loner, smart azz, protector, murderer—all of
those conflicting things mesh because Jackman
is so damn good at what he does even though what he does isn’t always scripted
very nice. Tao Okamoto (another fashion model… or does every Japanese chick
start off a model by default?) who plays Mariko is where it really comes
together story wise. Batman Begins, Man of Steel, and Thor had to work in spite of horrible love stories and bad
chemistry. Amazing Spider-Man and Iron Man exceled because of clever love
stories and good actor chemistry, and now I’ll add The Wolverine to that list. While we all roll our eyes at how
quickly people in film fall in love over a few days (I’ll still never let go
Rose), Logan and Mariko’s arc is believable and makes you care even when you
have no idea what the hell is going on in terms of “umm so why do they want to
kill her” plot.
The Action sequences
lack blood, and I’m sure there is an unrated version to be made from this; but it
doesn’t really hurt the film. Director James Mangold clearly likes intimate
fight scenes as opposed to the big explosions of the first Wolverine movies,
and it pays off. There are three well done sequences, the best being Wolverine
battling a Yakuza member on top of a bullet train. Let’s face it, Wolverine can’t really fight, he’s a guy who knows
he can’t get hurt and throws himself into danger, but once the healing factor
goes there are scenes that play off of Logan having to think before he acts
which are subtle but great if you pick up on this.
Jean Grey. What
starts out as Wolverine dreaming of a lost love, turns into some really weird
Dark Phoenix mind manipulation. Jean Grey fans will flip out as it plays out
through the movie, because we know exactly what’s going on, for the casual fan
these scenes may just come off as creepy. Easter Egg search for my comic book
fans who read Phoenix Endsong and AVX: White Hot Room.
What It Gets Wrong
In a perfect world this movie would have been done in all Japanese
with subtitles. The fact of the matter is most of the foreign actors are good,
but struggle with English, leaving several scenes that don’t connect due to the
awkwardness of the delivery and others that were clearly written around what
these actors could say. Less is more in the Logan/Mariko scenes, but when
Wolverine is playing detective, the exposition can be too much. The Viper character
is also a miss for me. Apparently, Mrs. Justin Timberlake aka Jessica Biel
signed on to play Viper but pulled out. I think they would have upgraded the
role as more of a 3 dimensional character If she stayed. Here Viper just comes
off as a Bond villain with no real motivation.
The plot isn’t anything amazing, but it didn’t need to be,
it’s just Wolverine in Japan trying not to get this girl killed. However, they add too many twists to
compensate for the simple story, and it just seems like way too much for
nothing. The master plan of the movie isn’t really a big reveal as it’s
spelled out in the first 20 minutes, but the Silver Samurai creation could have
been done much better. As it stands, the reveal is lazy. Walk into a room—there’s
a big azz robot thing that we really don’t understand unless you point to the
line in the beginning, “one foot in the past with an eye to the future” but
that line will go over most people’s head and in the end, they’ll think… “Why
the hell did these people blow billions on an adamantium suit shaped like a
Ronin Warrior character?”
My Verdict
Is this better than X-Men
Origins: Wolverine? Hell yes. On so many levels and more. Is this the
Wolverine movie his fans have been waiting for? I don’t know because I’m not a Wolverine
fan as he’s portrayed in the comics. There are ninja’s, there’s fighting, there’s
discovery… but what those
die-hard Wolvie geeks really want isn't redemption, they want Wolverine covered in blood decapitating fools
for 90 minutes. “F**K this, where’s the
blood dude, I want Crazy James Howlet to kill kill kill!” That movie will
never be made you blood thirsty nerds! Blood doesn’t make or break this movie,
story does.
While the plot is weak, the characterizations are strong. This
film comes close to giving me what I think Wolverine truly is, the feral
beast mixed with the tortured Samurai that made the Claremont/Miller book work and
it also adds the big brother mixed with hopeless Romantic Logan that made the
90’s cartoon so great. This isn’t Dark
Knight Epic or Iron Man fun, it’s
just an entertaining story of a Mutant who goes to Japan and finds himself
again, and I’m cool with that.
3½ Shurikans out of 5.
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