So as I’d mentioned in an earlier post, the blog will slowly but surely be undergoing some important changes for the better, one of which is a new segment that will be co-written with a close friend of mine who shares my passion for writing, just in regards to the world of cinema.
This ongoing series of film reviews will be known as the “Grant and Gonzalez” section, and I hope that both casual viewers and movie lovers will enjoy reading this series as much as we enjoy writing and reviewing these films for you. Our first review to kick the series off will be of “The Wolverine” so with no further ado…
(But First, a quick plot summary, courtesy of J. Gonzalez)
After the death of his love, Jean Grey, by his own clawed hand, Logan forsakes the name Wolverine (and with it his violent ways) and retreats to a solitary life in the Yukon. And yet even here, he is unable to shake the guilt of his actions as he is haunted by visions of Jean, who taunts him to come join her (whether this is the actual Jean Grey or just a delusion is left ambiguous). Interrupting his brooding is Yukio, a samurai-wielding mutant who can see a person’s future. She comes with a message: she is to bring Logan to Tokyo, Japan so that her master Yashida, the head of a huge tech corporation, can repay his life debt owed to Logan before he dies. Once in Tokyo, the old man offers to take Logan’s healing powers away so that he may finally have the peace of death.
But will he accept? Probably not, as there’s a sequel in the works.
The Positives:
Grant:
Walking into the Wolverine, and having read various reviews about how much better of a film it is than Origins, I was still understandably skeptical. After all, Wolverine Origins is a REALLY bad film, for reasons that most casual and hardcore fans are already aware of which is why I won’t waste time readdressing them.
So to be “better than” that film, it wouldn’t really have taken much. However, the extent of how far they were willing to go to improve upon the previous film is where my main interest was held.
There is a lot more evidence given this time around as to why Wolverine is an interesting enough character to warrant his own film. Instead of continuing to fill in the messy gaps of his past, we are instead given a very realistic depiction of Wolverine shortly after the events of X Men 3.
He’s disheveled, having constant nightmares of his past, and is basically just looking for a purpose to continue living his abnormally long life, a theme that is revisited relatively well throughout the film. Once he lands in Japan, and things start to pick up, he’s almost a reluctant hero, one who does the things he does, simply because he knows there’s nobody else that’s capable of doing them as well.
There are some excellent action scenes that are executed with great pacing, one of which taking place on a speeding bullet train, and it is chaotic and on the edge of your seat as you can get for a summer blockbuster contender. No more messy CGI, at least for a majority of the film, the budget is there and it shows.
Gonzalez:
Like my esteemed colleague, I too was not a fan of Wolverine’s previous outing on film (in fact, I know only one person who enjoyed X-Men Origins and that’s my dad). I’m also not keen on Brett Ratner’s “X-Men: The Last Stand”. One of the many reasons both of those movies failed for me was that they turned Logan into an uninteresting character (a love-sick puppy in “X3” and a bland rage-induced idiot in “Wolverine”).
So what was it going to take to make Wolverine an interesting character that I want to root for again (besides adding a “The” to the title, obviously). Well it turns out all he needed was to go back to the basics. Put him into a situation that makes him vulnerable, where there are interesting stakes, and where his rage, passion, and bad-assery are fully justified.
One of the best ways to make a superhero interesting is to have him wish he could quit being a superhero (it is a tough job) and then grant him his request. Usually, this happens in the sequel. It worked for “Superman II” & “Spider-Man 2” and it definitely works here. Logan bleeds and feels pain in “The Wolverine” (the PG-13 gets stretched to the limit throughout) and because Hugh Jackman has got this character down pat, the movie is all the better for it.
The movie is cast really well. Jackman is surrounded by several solid Japanese actors who are mostly unknowns in the U.S.; this helps identify us with Logan as a stranger in a strange land. Thankfully, almost all the characters are well-rounded enough to care about. In particular, Rila Fukushima as Logan’s self-appointed bodyguard Yukio impressed me the most. With her red hair, exotic looks, funky clothing, and fight skills make her look straight out of an anime. I dug her.
What impresses me the most about “The Wolverine” is how committed it is to telling a personal story for most of it’s running time. There are numerous scenes dedicated to fleshing out characters by having them talk instead of fight. These were my favorite parts of the film because we don’t see this kind of care and thought put into superhero films these days.
That’s not to say the film is an “anti-superhero” film. People go to see a movie like “The Wolverine” mainly for the action and while it takes it’s sweet time to get to the goods, they are definitely worth it. The first action scene involves Yakuzas (the Japanese mafia) breaking up a funeral and while I thought the shaky cam got a bit out of hand, overall it’s intense and gritty in the best way. This leads into the bullet train scene which compares very favorably and possibly bests the one in “Mission: Impossible”.
So for three-fourths of it’s run time, “The Wolverine” is actually one of the best superhero films in recent times.
But then, as the British like to say, everything goes to friggin’ pot.
For those who don’t want spoilers, just know that the final 20 minutes of “The Wolverine” are not like the first hour and a half. What worked so well before is abandoned for an almost formulaic and familiar climax. The film is still worth seeing but it’s frustrating that it settles for being just okay/good when it could’ve been great.
Grant:
Agreed, almost everything that the film works so hard to build up just about gets stripped away by the third act. It’s almost jarring how quickly everything does a complete 180 turn into stereotypical, action movie cliché with a horrible twist thrown in on top for good measure.
THE NEGATIVES (Spoilers Included):
Gonzalez:
For some reason, the writers decided that they couldn’t restrain themselves any longer and needed to throw in things that would obviously please not only the kids in the audience but some of the less-discerning “adults” in the room. These include Wolvie once again being bothered/seduced by a sexy vixen, a giant CGI Silver Samurai robot (apparently very different from the comics), the old “I was bad but now I want to be good” cliche, and finally the return of Yashida, who is now trying to kill Logan. But let’s call him Grandpa Samurai, since he’s actually piloting the stupid robot.
Grant:
And for me all things immediately start to go downhill as wolverine ironically makes his climb uphill.
Pg 13 or not, the idea of wolverine simply charging his way through a field full of ninja as opposed to, oh I don’t know, actually cutting his way through? It was just a sign of all the bad things that followed.
Gonzalez:
There definitely should’ve been more ninja violence, yes. Although I did like the image of Wolverine with all the arrows in his back.
What did you think of him losing his adamantium claws?
Grant:
Considering both the secret and regular ending, it doesn’t seem to serve a greater purpose. Maybe had he been entirely drained of adamantium it would’ve made more sense to me.
How about you?
Gonzalez:
He wasn’t draining the adamantium; he was draining his healing ability.
I’m of two minds. On the one hand, it’s a gutsy move and gave the movie real stakes. On the other, his metal claws are SO cool; it’ll be hard to go back to the bone claws (it might make me remember X-Men Origins, *shudders*).
Grant:
Yeah I know it was the healing factor, I’m just saying him being completely stripped of the metal somehow would’ve definitely made a bigger impact.
In the end he just doesn’t seem as cool without the indestructible blades of steel.
Gonzalez:
I want to point out that after Yashida dies, the movie ends very well for me. Logan moves on from Jean, has a healthy love affair with Mariko waiting for him whenever he wants, and gets on a jet to go be useful again with Yukio as his sidekick (although apparently she’s not going to be in X-Men: Days of Future Past, so boo on that).
Grant:
Generally speaking, it does end well. I groaned a little at the secret ending, especially given the condition of the surprise character, but I’m hoping that Days of Future Past will somehow find a way to fix the scattered mess that is the X Men timeline, despite initial signs showing that might not be the case.
(END SPOILERS)
At the end of the day we both agreed to give “The Wolverine” a solid 6 out of 10 and would recommend viewers to see the film.
Gonzalez:
And Stay Tuned for the newest installment of Grant & Gonzalez! Coming Soon.
