Alright everyone, now we come to the epic 2013 film in the X-Men franchise, “The Wolverine.” I spoke with reviewreviewer1 about this a little while ago, and this is what he thought of it:
“The Wolverine” was hailed by many to be a vast improvement of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” Now I thought “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” was a very underrated and an excellent film, but I do agree this film was really great as well. It really has a multilayered mystery plot, constantly keeping us guessing as to who is on whose side. It is interesting to see more of Wolverine’s past of how even before he lost his memory; he did good things, like saving a general that was to hold him prisoner in Japan called Shingen Yashida. This is consistent with “Origins,” where we saw Logan always had a human side. Some people complained Logan was at D-Day in “Origins,” but that was a year earlier, and Logan could have been sent to a special mission in Japan because of his skills. Also, it is interesting how opposite an approach the film takes to “Origins.” Now Wolverine is a hermit and depressed without Xavier to guide him, and having been forced to kill Jean Grey in “The Last Stand,” which the film also has a nice connection with.
It is also really clever that Logan is invited to Japan to meet Yashida again, who wants his healing abilities, showing Wolverine is offered the choice to die. Also, it is interesting how long the film builds as a mystery, with two opposing groups of villains going after Logan, who tries to protect Yashida’s granddaughter Mariko, and that Viper has slipped something in Logan’s body that weakens his healing factor. Many found its effects to be arbitrary, but we often saw in the earlier films that just because powers are weakened, doesn`t mean they are removed.
Also it is interesting and creates tension that Yukio has a vision predicting Logan’s death. Many complained it was pointless, but it fits the theme of death in the film. Also, it is interesting. It is a double family scheme, where Yashida’s son, Shingen was to have Mariko killed to have control of the company his father left to her instead of him. At the same time, Viper is after her and Wolverine as well. Also, many people complained Shingen survived being stabbed with poison by Viper, but he was near a room with medical equipment that was extremely advanced, and he’s a trained warrior.
Now, I fully agree with him. Especially since there have been some Marvel characters that have been recasted, like The Incredible Hulk, Wolverine has always been portrayed by Hugh Jackman. “The Wolverine” has been described by Peter Debruge of Variety as “an entertaining and surprisingly existential digression from his usual X-Men exploits.” Even though Wolverine looks like he’s been tired out through battle, Jackman is top shape, taking the opportunity to test the character’s physical and emotional limits. Fans might have wanted better action or more effects, but director James Mangold does better. He recovers the soul of a character whose immortality left something to be wanted.
Despite that a handful of Marvel’s characters belong to Disney now; Fox still controls the rights to “The Fantastic Four,” Wolverine and his X-Men family. Not being on the same level as Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” trilogy, this movie represents Fox’s attempt to cure everyone of the hatred they had to “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” which I thought was actually good and did well at the box-office.
Since Wolverine’s back-story has been put into place, screenwriters Mark Bomback and Scott Frank are free to treat an impressive one-off, returning to the character’s failed romance with Mariko Yashida, played by Tao Okamoto, a member of a powerful Japanese gang known as the Yakuza. This is a fan-favorite story arc created by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller in 1982. Taken place sometime after “X-Men: The Last Stand,” we see Logan feeling sorry for himself somewhere in the Yukon trails. Debruge says in his review, “Having sworn off his violent ways, he identifies more with a feral grizzly than with any of the sport hunters he encounters in town, setting up concerns (whether he can overcome his animal nature) and symbols (including a poisoned-tipped arrow) that resurface later in significant ways.”
When a bear is murdered by humans, Wolverine get infuriated, only to be rescued by Yukio, played by Rila Fukushima, a red-velvet haired girl who takes Wolverine to Japan, where a man from his past wants to take his healing ability away. Since Wolverine saved Yashida, played by Haruhiko Yamanouchi, from an atomic blasting that destroyed Nagasaki, he wants Wolverine’s immortality that Wolverine has considered a curse, and negotiates with Wolverine, saying that Yashida will reunite him with Jean Grey, cameo appearance from Famke Janssen, who only appears when he’s dreaming and suggests some sort of connection to the past films.
Past the half-hour mark, the movie has its first action sequence, and when that comes, the timing is elegantly choreographed and definitely inspired by Hong Kong films, as a squad of yakuza break into Yashida’s funeral, attempting to kill Mariko. If I do remember, I believe Mariko’s ex-boyfriend, Kenuichio Harada (Will Yun Lee) and the man she is set to marry, Noburo Mori (Brain Tee) are a part of it. The next sequence is on par with any fight scene in Asian cinema, where Wolverine fights a group of yakuza on top of a train, which is one of the best action scenes in any X-Men movie, and it’s great to see Wolverine putting new fight sequences in his inventory. Even the lines that were said after the train fight were hilarious. See the movie if you want to know what I mean.
Wolverine comes out the winner obviously, but with the downside that his wounds can’t heal themselves. Yashida’s nurse, Viper, played by Svetlana Khodchenkova, has poisoned Wolverine that has hurt his abilities. In the process, Wolverine goes from not only being cool but a very interesting character, since there’s a legitimate risk that he could die and/or be beaten while trying to protect Mariko. On top of that, he bleeds.
Debruge mentioned that, “Even better than this newfound physical weakness is the emotional vulnerability “The Wolverine” allows Jackman to explore. Logan’s self-imposed isolation reveals unexpected new layers of his psychology and suggests that once these iconic characters have been established onscreen, they can be fleshed out in standalone films, just as seemingly non-plot-advancing episodes of “The Sopranos” or “Breaking Bad” deepen our understanding of those series’ complicated protagonists.”
As this happens, “The Wolverine” shows off one of the best pulp-inspired scripts ever. It still has those clichéd dialogues (the punchy one-liners imagined to fit in small talk over the characters’ heads), but there’s a real style to the way it creates Logan’s tormented condition and slowly brings the character around to recovering his brave prospective, carefully setting up and paying off ideas as it unfolds.
Obviously a script is just a blueprint, and it still puts Mangold and his team to pull it off. This is where “The Wolverine” falls withdrawn of magnitude, despite amazing production values, stylish storytelling and an exciting cross-cultural music from Marco Beltrami. Comparing it to other directors, famously Nolan, Bryan Singer and Matthew Vaughn, all who have raised the genre by bringing pieces of their own style to filmmaking, Mangold’s approach is clean and correct, but does nothing to forward the overall condition of comic book movies, owing largely to how greatly he borrows from others.
However, Debruge does rebound by saying, “Thankfully, his references are relatively upscale, ranging from an elegant “Yojimbo”-like scene in which lone ronin Wolverine is outnumbered by ninjas to a “Diamonds Are Forever” nod involving an unforeseen swimming pool, and he even convinced Jackman to channel some classic Clint Eastwood attitude in his wonderfully surly performance.” Mangold’s idea was evidently to make an Eastern Western, where the setting is in Japan and the antagonists carry samurai swords, but the hero is driven by true grit.
It’s an amazingly successful strategy, all the way to the end, where the film’s finale suddenly feels identical to other superhero works, where Wolverine takes on two villains: one CG Silver Samurai and the other a silly wearing snake-like mutant, Viper, who melts her skin halfway through. Debruge ends by saying, “Whereas the Japanese-ness of everything that came before brought a certain “Kill Bill”-like novelty to the genre, this metal-against-metal showdown seems disappointingly familiar and breaks the cardinal rule when dealing with this character: that nothing is stronger than Wolverine’s claws, except perhaps his spirit.”
In the beginning when Logan saved Yashida’s life from the bombing by hiding in the well, the other soldiers stabbed themselves, but Yashida couldn’t do it because his hand shook when he had the sword in his hand. From then on, Yashida has been a coward and afraid of death. The only reason why those soldiers stabbed themselves was because they didn’t want to be dishonored by saying the enemy killed them. For that, since he realizes the pain that Logan is going through when he killed Jean, he’s offering to take that ability away from him because Yashida is a coward of death and on the flip side, he can never die. I found that interesting since he’s not your typical villain, but is evil because he’s a coward of death and will go to any extreme so he can still live.
Plus, the armor is made completely of adamantium, which is a perfect match for Wolverine. If Iron Man went up against the Silver Samurai, he would have his suit torn completely. Especially when Wolverine’s claws got torn off by the Silver Samurai, I felt the pain and was like, “Wolverine’s claws can’t break! No one can do that!” Apparently I was wrong, as were a lot of people.
Also, how come Jean keeps showing up in Wolverine’s dreams? Did Viper had some psychic powers and was trying to get Wolverine to give the Silver Samurai the healing ability? I wish they had more clarification on that. Even with what Jean said didn’t sound like something she would say. It sounded like someone manipulating Wolverine and trying to just make him accept death. Oh and how come when Mariko wakes up and asks Wolverine “who’s Jean,” and he responds, “She’s a woman I loved. And I killed her,” she goes back to sleep? I think there would be questions arising from that.
On a final note, I think everyone could have guessed it was Yashida who was the Silver Samurai, since Yukio didn’t predict it, and she can see everyone’s death before it happens. I guess there were hints that maybe Harada or Mariko’s fiancé could have been the Silver Samurai, but they never played with your head to make it seem like it was them, even though they had some connection with the yakuza. Remember, Yashida is necrophobic, so it would be obviously him.
Spoiler alert, there is a mid-credit scene where Logan arrives in the USA airport after two years and is approached by Magneto (Ian McKellen) and Xavier (who Logan thought was dead, reprised by Patrick Stewart), talking about a grave threat arriving. This is setting up fans for “X-Men Days of Future Past,” which we will cover tomorrow.
In the end, go see this movie, especially if you didn’t like “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” This will make you happy and excited after seeing it. I rate this with a 9+.
Stay tuned tomorrow for the finale of “X-Men Week.”
Sorry I guess it didn`t post properly, but what an excellent review. I`d say even better then mine very thourough and complex. I also loved the points of it being an Eastern Western which is ironic as Westerns like A Fistfull Of Dollars and the Magnificent Seven were inspired by the Kurosawa films Yojimbo and the Seven Samurai respectively.
ReplyDeleteAlso have you seen the Kickass films?
ReplyDeleteNo I haven't seen those movies, but I plan to one day. Also, Peter Debruge was the one who described this movie as an Eastern Western movie.
DeleteI just uploaded my Days of Future Past review, so make sure you read that one. I highly recommend you watch that one since it's the best X-Men movie ever, and has one of the most satisfying endings ever that builds you up for the next one.