Fuji Reviews The Wolverine

  • Welcome to "The New" Wrestling Smarks Forum!

    I see that you are not currently registered on our forum. It only takes a second, and you can even login with your Facebook! If you would like to register now, pease click here: Register

    Once registered please introduce yourself in our introduction thread which can be found here: Introduction Board


Fuji Vice

Hall of Famer
Joined
May 21, 2011
Messages
25,221
Reaction score
672
Points
118
Age
45
Favorite Wrestler
stanhansen
Favorite Wrestler
brusierbrody
Favorite Wrestler
rickrude
Favorite Wrestler
randysavage
The Wolverine



While living as a hermit in Northern Canada, the mutant Logan is approached by a strange Japanese woman who beckons him to join her in Japan. Her employer, Shingen, is an old friend who wishes to say goodbye to him before his death. After arriving, Logan meets him and he quickly offers to "heal" him of his mutant power of self-healing, an offer that Logan quickly declines. Soon after, Shingen dies, and at the funeral his daughter is attacked by Yakuza, with Logan saving her. Unfortunately, after being shot, he realizes that he's no longer healing, and now begins a desperate struggle to not only protect Mariko, but, for the first time, himself as well.



2013's The Wolverine marks the sixth appearance of the character in a feature film, which gives him the most longevity in the shortest amount of time. Marvel's ever-bankable Canadian superhuman has proven to be quite the little profit powderkeg over the last 13 years, accounting in part for close to $1 billion in worldwide box office. Like his contemporary, Robert Downey Jr, actor Hugh Jackman has not only made a comic book character role his own, he has transcended it, becoming more recognizable in the guise of the character than the original character itself. Perhaps it’s that comfort factor that draws viewers back to the films featuring him, or perhaps it’s just our innate desire to empathize with an ornery, self-righteous bastard who can't help but be lovable even when killing countless hordes of bad guys. Whatever the reason, it’s clear that Wolverine has become one of the most indelible comic book characters to hit the big screen in quite some time, and this film finds him once again in the finest of forms. Taking the roots of one of his most beloved stories as its inspiration, The Wolverine is a fantastic adventure and one that holds as true as possible to the source material on which it is based. At the same time, it humanizes a character that we've come to identify as more than human over the years, and in the process puts him in a world that we don't only understand, but can relate to as well. If there's one comic book movie to see this summer, forget the disappointing and overlong Man of Steel or the cash grab Iron Man 3; make it The Wolverine and walk out satisfied. After all, its what you deserve.



“Full Metal Mayhem!â€


Directed by James Mangold (who has previously helmed such gems as Copland, Girl, Interrupted and Walk the Line) and written by Mark Bomback (Unstoppable, Live Free or Die Hard) and Scott Frank (Minority Report, Get Shorty), the film is based (loosely at times) on the much lauded Chris Claremont/Frank Miller mini-series from the early 80's. While it utilizes the core elements and themes from this story (honour, man vs. self) it also departs from them often enough to become a fully realized film and not just a direct copy of the original story. Bomback and Frank's script is full of playful nods to Claremont's work while the cinematography of Ross Emery (The Cave, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans) echoes the haunting motifs drawn by Frank Miller all those years ago. The use of Japan as the main backdrop works quite well, as Logan himself has always been something of a Ronin (Samurai with no master) but one imbued with a true sense of both honour and discipline. Mangold is perhaps the perfect director to capture this dichotomy and his work here is among the best for any comic book film I've seen since Christopher Nolan first tackled the orphan in the rodent suit. He shows a great deal of reserve with the character (outside of the excellent and predictably grandiose action scenes) and it suits the character and the film quite well. Speaking of these action scenes, the editing from Michael McCusker (Amazing Spiderman) is well-suited to this type of stuff, being just manic enough to keep us looking but with a pensive reserve that keeps the focus on the characters themselves.



“In my next film I’ll be playing CM Punk.â€


Returning to the role that he’s not only most well-known for but the one that made him famous as well, Hugh Jackman is suitably dashing as Logan. When I say dashing I mean it in the loosest sense of the word as well, he’s not James Bond or anyone of the sort! However, Jackman does have a certain dashing quality to himself and he brings it to the character in spades this time around, definitely giving his best performance in the role to date. Not only being tasked with the physical work required of the character, Jackman is also forced to explore a very human and emotional side to Wolverine, and he handles it quite well. This isn’t an Oscar-winning performance or even one that will be remembered for years to come, but in a genre of films that have lately been suffering from lackluster performances, it’s definitely strong enough to stand out amongst the crowd. Support is lent from Tao Okamoto as Mariko and Rila Fukushima as Yukio, two actresses appearing in their very first film. Amazingly enough, both do great work with the characters they're given and come across as really genuine, partially due to their never having appeared in a movie before. There's also an appearance from the extremely hot Svetlana Khodchenkova (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) as a nasty villain who may or may not be an offshoot of Madame Hydra from the comic books. Finally, Famke Janssen reprises her role as Jean Grey and while she’s only in the movie for a few moments, her sequences are pretty pivotal to Logan’s overall character development, so she’s very important in the grand scheme of things.



“Hotness, thy name is Svetlana.â€


I’ve seen others refer to this as a film-noir version of a comic book film and while I wouldn’t quite call it that, there’s definitely something different about this that allows it to distance itself from the normal fare. Unlike totally over the top blockbusters Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel, the very human touch to this film serves it well and allows it to become accessible to more than just fanboys. At the same time, this is a re-telling of a classic comic book tale, and so does just enough to appease those same individuals without alienating the rest of its audience. That’s a very fine line to walk and Mangold, along with the cast, does an excellent job of it. Are there flaws in this film? Sure. The final act is yet another example of the overly grandiose action sequence done poorly, while the beginning sequence seems really rushed and has no logical balance. However, it’s hard to fault that when you’re in the middle of Japan on top of a bullet train watching Logan and some hapless Yakuza fight it out at over 100 miles an hour. Add to that a heavy emphasis on the dramatic side and a really meaningful piece of character development (remember that we still knew very little about Logan even after five movies) and you’ve got a winner that’s sure to please a lot of people, myself included. While there were bigger and more expensive comic book movies made this year, which also ended up making more money, I consider The Wolverine the best of the bunch. It doesn’t make you feel like a five year old while watching it (unlike Iron Man 3) and it has a point (unlike Man of Steel). Plus it’s also got everything you’ve come to expect from a Wolverine movie AND a killer post-credit sequence, so who could ask for anything more?



“Now that’s one fucked up marionette.â€


So far The Wolverine has done quite well at the box office, grossing over $300 million worldwide on a budget of about $120 million. That means we’ll probably be seeing more of our lovable mutant with a healing factor and a bad attitude and honestly, I can’t say I’m complaining. Of all the mutant characters in the X-Men film universe, Wolverine has definitely proven to be the most popular and I can imagine that trend continuing for at least a little while longer, provided Jackman keeps wearing the tights sideburns. If you want some drama with your comic book fun, look no further than The Wolverine, proof that you just can’t keep a good mutant down for very long. 7.5/10.


 

Wangman Page

Cowboy Shit
Joined
Jan 5, 2012
Messages
20,131
Reaction score
3,237
Points
138
Age
47
Location
Dancing
Favorite Wrestler
hulkhogan
Favorite Wrestler
ajstyles2
Favorite Wrestler
nwo
Favorite Wrestler
boots2asses
Still have yet to see this. Great review and can't wait to watch it here I. the future. Wolverine is their biggest mutant and has crossed over a shit ton in the comics

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 

Postman Dave

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2011
Messages
10,061
Reaction score
165
Points
63
Age
35
Location
UK
gonna have to wait until the dvd release now, but glad to see more good words about it.