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patentdragonMovie Review: The Wolverine - so, has the ball been dropped just short of the goal-line with this latest addition to the X-Men franchise? Step this way, and find out...
The Wolverine is an adaption of sorts of a much-loved limited series featuring Canada's favourite son, from... ooooh, ages back, now. It's always risky to take a "sacred text" and play around with it, but Fox's X-Men movies have taken that particular bit between their teeth almost every time they've gone in front of the camera, and the same appears to be the case with next year's X-Men: Days Of Future Past. This could be a Star Trek - First Contact, or a ...The Final Frontier...
I am happy to report that this movie is in the former category. I don't know the source material, being more a fan of the X-Men prior to this darker, and more gritty era, but that choice of era allows the movie to be just a little more "real world". Our hero, lamenting the outcome of ...The Last Stand, has cut himself off from the world, and his previous M.O. as "the best there is at what he does", but that doesn't mean that something from his past, before anything X-related, can't come back to haunt him. A noble gesture in war-time sends our hero to a quite different world than before, where dark dealings are afoot, and immortality is the prize. This is "Logan" as we've not seen him before, vulnerable in more ways than one...
Hugh Jackman throws on the world-weary, rough exterior of Wolverine once again, and it's a look that he wears well. He's given a far stronger story to work with than the disappointing X-Men Origins - Wolverine, and a more solid cast of supporting characters who aren't simply there to make juicy targets or make others juicy targets - with the exception of two-dimensional and rather unconvincing villainess Viper, who is a far more substantial, and persistent character in the comics than this "done in one" showing. This is probably the movie's main stumbling block, but she doesn't manage to stink everything up, such is her impact - this is too strong a product for that to happen.
We're "treated" to a 3D conversion again, but apart from moments during a visually-striking train-top battle, the technology fails to register to any great extent, despite the numerous opportunities to grab you during several extended fight scenes. It does seem that these conversions focus on one major sequence, rather than spreading the 3D throughout the movie - and that really doesn't justify the ticket mark-up, does it? Even so, I won't mark the movie down for the lacklustre 3D, and in fact I won't mention it in reviews again unless it works.
The movie isn't a non-stop action rollercoaster, despite how it sounds. It does space out its action effectively, allowing the other, more emotional - more human - elements of the story time to breathe, in perhaps a more up-front way than, say, Pacific Rim, but like that movie, those elements fit, and fit well, without dragging the rest of the feature down. There's more to Logan than just the metal-clawed killing machine, and this story makes sure you know it.
All in all, The Wolverine is a "Spaghetti Western" of superhero movies, moreso than iron Man 3 might've been. This is a style that fits the lead character, taking him out of his "comfort zone" without making the audience wish for their hero to strap on his armour again. No, it seems as though Fox are starting to "get it" as far as superhero movies go, especially those involving the X-Men - and not a moment too soon, when you consider the cross-generational epic coming next year (and if you wait long enough during the titles, you get a small taste of what that will entail)!
The Final Verdict... A far better Wolverine movie than we've had before (I'm looking at you, ...Origins), and way better than The Last Stand. Praise indeed, and well earned! 8/10
And that's all he wrote for tonight, suckas.
The Wolverine is an adaption of sorts of a much-loved limited series featuring Canada's favourite son, from... ooooh, ages back, now. It's always risky to take a "sacred text" and play around with it, but Fox's X-Men movies have taken that particular bit between their teeth almost every time they've gone in front of the camera, and the same appears to be the case with next year's X-Men: Days Of Future Past. This could be a Star Trek - First Contact, or a ...The Final Frontier...
I am happy to report that this movie is in the former category. I don't know the source material, being more a fan of the X-Men prior to this darker, and more gritty era, but that choice of era allows the movie to be just a little more "real world". Our hero, lamenting the outcome of ...The Last Stand, has cut himself off from the world, and his previous M.O. as "the best there is at what he does", but that doesn't mean that something from his past, before anything X-related, can't come back to haunt him. A noble gesture in war-time sends our hero to a quite different world than before, where dark dealings are afoot, and immortality is the prize. This is "Logan" as we've not seen him before, vulnerable in more ways than one...
Hugh Jackman throws on the world-weary, rough exterior of Wolverine once again, and it's a look that he wears well. He's given a far stronger story to work with than the disappointing X-Men Origins - Wolverine, and a more solid cast of supporting characters who aren't simply there to make juicy targets or make others juicy targets - with the exception of two-dimensional and rather unconvincing villainess Viper, who is a far more substantial, and persistent character in the comics than this "done in one" showing. This is probably the movie's main stumbling block, but she doesn't manage to stink everything up, such is her impact - this is too strong a product for that to happen.
We're "treated" to a 3D conversion again, but apart from moments during a visually-striking train-top battle, the technology fails to register to any great extent, despite the numerous opportunities to grab you during several extended fight scenes. It does seem that these conversions focus on one major sequence, rather than spreading the 3D throughout the movie - and that really doesn't justify the ticket mark-up, does it? Even so, I won't mark the movie down for the lacklustre 3D, and in fact I won't mention it in reviews again unless it works.
The movie isn't a non-stop action rollercoaster, despite how it sounds. It does space out its action effectively, allowing the other, more emotional - more human - elements of the story time to breathe, in perhaps a more up-front way than, say, Pacific Rim, but like that movie, those elements fit, and fit well, without dragging the rest of the feature down. There's more to Logan than just the metal-clawed killing machine, and this story makes sure you know it.
All in all, The Wolverine is a "Spaghetti Western" of superhero movies, moreso than iron Man 3 might've been. This is a style that fits the lead character, taking him out of his "comfort zone" without making the audience wish for their hero to strap on his armour again. No, it seems as though Fox are starting to "get it" as far as superhero movies go, especially those involving the X-Men - and not a moment too soon, when you consider the cross-generational epic coming next year (and if you wait long enough during the titles, you get a small taste of what that will entail)!
The Final Verdict... A far better Wolverine movie than we've had before (I'm looking at you, ...Origins), and way better than The Last Stand. Praise indeed, and well earned! 8/10
And that's all he wrote for tonight, suckas.
