The Hero. The Fugitive. The Warrior. The Survivor. The Legend...The Wolverine!
Alright,that's really not the tagline for the film but I just modified it to sound awesome. After belting his heart out by singing in the 2012 hit drama-musical Les Miserables,Oscar Nominee Hugh Jackman is back as our favorite clawed mutant in The Wolverine,the follow up to X-Men Origins: Wolverine.So,is Hugh's comeback as Wolverine good,better or best? Find out when we talk about it in a little while.For now,let me give you information about the film first.The Wolverine is directed by James Mangold (3:10 To Yuma/Walk The Line) and stars Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables/X-Men 2),Tao Okamoto,Rila Fukushima,Hiroyuki Sanada (The Last Samurai/Rush Hour 3),Svetlana Khodchenkova,Brian Tee (The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift),Hal Yamanouchi (The Way Back/Push),Will Yun Lee (Total Recall/Red Dawn) and Famke Janssen (X-Men: The Last Stand/Taken 2/GoldenEye).
The film's plot brings Wolverine to Japan as he is summoned by an old acquaintance,but upon arriving,he becomes embroiled in a conflict that forces him to confront his own demons.Well,okay a bit of the plot sounds a bit familiar 'cause it was used in another recent Marvel movie which was Iron Man 3.And that's sort of the reason why it started to feel familiar and reminiscent,well I'm pertaining to the "facing his own demons" part of the plot which was executed properly and it fit the film quite well.It made the film serious and dark in tone.If one of X-Men Origins: Wolverine's weakest points was the storytelling,then that's the factor that The Wolverine gains the highest or at least the improved.Writers Mark Bomback and Scott Frank were able to strengthen the story really well by providing us a deeper story about Wolverine's past as well as his present and maybe his future.But one of the best parts of the plot that I loved was "Wolverine losing his immortality" story arc.It was sort of painful and interesting to see Wolverine struggle without his healing factor.But like any hero who loses his power in the beginning,his immortality is brought back in the film mid-way.Also,we get to see something that has never happened to Wolverine onscreen before.And that is losing his precious,sharp adamantium claws.It was shocking but in another way,interesting.So all in all,in terms of story,The Wolverine is able to present it excellently thanks to writers Mark Bomback and Scott Frank.
Like what I said earlier,Hugh Jackman is back once again in The Wolverine,but the question is: is his comeback good,better,or best? Easy question.For me,I would say better and best.Better than his performance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine,but best throughout his entire role as Wolverine in all X-films.Hugh Jackman was able to connect to Wolverine better this time by expressing the pain and struggle his character's been through and for that,I would give him two thumbs up.But for the aggresion as Wolverine,Jackman did it the best in this film than in any other X-film from the past.'Cause here,we get to see Wolverine like we've never seen him before,here he really kicks a lot of ass.Awesome.Star power aside,Tao Okamoto was good as Mariko,the granddaughter of Master Yashida.While I liked Rila Fukushima's performance more 'cause she was fierce and feisty as Yukio.Hiroyuki Sanada was dastardly evil as Shingen,but he still felt generic.Svetlana Khodchenkova was sorta weak as Viper.Her character didn't develop properly and she only served as a minor character.But still,she was able to excruciate Wolverine in pain.The Wolverine's main antagonist would be The Silver Samurai or Yashida.Yashida was played by Hal Yamanouchi and I can say that he portrayed the role well.His character has an obsession with Wolverine because of his immortality and in the film,Yashida's sorta dead body is immortalized in the form of The Silver Samurai.And his aggresion towards Wolverine was great.Their battle in the end was awesome and stunning.For Famke Janssen,her minor cameo served as big factor in Wolverine's story arc,for she was kind of responsible for haunting Wolverine in his dreams.Or nightmares rather.But speaking of her performance,her's was well.I loved the way how she haunted Wolverine in the film.For the performances,I would say that Jackman,Famke and Hal Yamanouchi anchored the film as well as Rila Fukushima.For the supporting cast,they were fine but their dialogue was well written,they just need to improve their acting.Not too bad though,just needs a bit of improvement.
The Wolverine's trailer provided us a handful of stunning action shots and in the film,we get to see them all (obviously).But sad to say,those stunning action-packed shots in the trailer were all there is.But the good thing is,in the film,all those action shots looked cool.If not,cooler.The bullet train fight scene was amazing above all (IMO),I loved how they played it in silence by not accompanying it with the music.Therefore,it worked perfectly.All the music were replaced by whooshing sounds.And Wolverine was awesome in that scene.If there would have to be another,I would say it would be the awesome ambush at Yashida's funeral.In that scene is where we really see Wolverine kick ass like never before.He just releases the beast within him.Totally cool.Honorable mention for the action scenes would be The Silver Samurai fight scene.It was good to see Wolverine face his real opponent in the film.And the part where he loses his adamantium claws was kinda shocking.In terms of special effects,The Wolverine vastly improved in this department.The special effects look cool during the bullet train scene and also,Wolverine's claws never looked more awesome than before.But his real bone claws make another appearance here,but it looks improved than in the last film.Good job to the SFX designers.One of the technical things I loved in The Wolverine was Marco Beltrami's amazing score,I would have to say he did a wonderful job on the score by making it sound authentically Japanese with a bit of guitar strummings and other oriental music instruments.Thus,I would like to give two thumbs up.The cinematography for the movie was fine,particularly during the high-speed bullet train fight scene.Even though it looks obviously CGI-ed,the camera work in that particular scene was cool.But to sum it all up,the cinematography was amazing.That's all.So,for the visuals,it was definitely cool 'cause they were able to make Wolverine's sharp claws look better than usual and the SFX were vastly improved after the first film's failure in terms of such.As for the music,it was fine but it could've been better.So,yeah the visuals will wow you.That's it.But wait...If you're looking for a Stan Lee cameo,you won't get it,but do stay tuned for the end credits 'cause it'll definitely be shocking and relieving.Seriously.
For the direction,I would like to salute James Mangold for giving us the Wolverine movie we've always wanted.He provided us a Wolverine movie with nice storytelling,amazing visuals,great character development (Particularly with the clawed mutant) and yes,Wolverine kicking a lot of ass.If there would ever be another Wolvie movie,I hope he would return to do it once again.
All in all,The Wolverine is a relieving sequel after the disappointment which was X-Men Origins: Wolverine.It has everything you would want for in a Wolverine movie: great action,nice character development,fine storytelling and Wolverine going berserk! This is a must-see specially if you're an X-Men fan or a Wolverine rager.Or if you just wanna have a good time.
SNIKT! The Wolverine gets 7.5 over 10 stars.
*Like what I said,don't dare to leave your seat while the credits are rolling.You'll miss one of the best things in the film.
*See where it all began in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and follow his adventures with the X-Men in X-Men,X-2: United and X-Men: The Last Stand.Available to own on DVD & Blu-Ray distributed by Viva Video Inc.Look for X-Men: First Class as well to see Wolverine flip off.
**Catch Wolverine,the past X-Men and the future X-Men fight off a new evil force in X-Men: Days of Future Past.Coming to theaters in 3D May 2014.Stay Tuned.
For now,check out this awesome video clip of a scene from the film:
*Video courtesy of Movieclips.com,20th Century Fox & Marvel.
(C) 2013 20th Century Fox/Marvel/Dune Entertainment
No comments:
Post a Comment