Thursday, November 7, 2013
The Wolverine (2013)
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rila
Fukushima, Famke Janssen, Will Yun Lee,
Svetlana
Khodchenkova, Haruhiko Yamanouchi, Brian Tee
Director: James Mangol
Synopsis: The Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) journeys to Japan to meet Yashida (Haruhiko
Yamanouchi), a soldier that he had saved during World War II. Yukio (Rila
Fukushima), an assistant of Yashida who had summoned Wolverine, accompanies
him. Wolverine is asked by Yashida to protect his granddaughter, Mariko (Tao
Okamoto), whom he has chosen to be the future CEO of the largest tech company
in Japan. The Yakuza attack Mariko and in Wolverine’s attempt to protect her,
he finds that his healing powers have mysteriously diminished. The battle is
far from over as he may be unable to protect Mariko as he keeps running into
more foes and his healing is disabled.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3.5/5 Reels
Review:
The movie
starts off with Wolverine secluding himself in the woods, acting similarly to
an animal. It leaves the viewer questioning how he will be drawn out of this
lifestyle. The plot of the story makes sense, but because of the drastic change
of scenery, the movie seems to be all over the place.
The Wolverine does a good job of connecting the previous
X-Men movies. There are scenes where Wolverine has inner battles of what
happened in the past. Although they do a good job of connecting past movies, it
would be quite confusing for those who have never seen any of the prior X-Men
movies.
Hugh Jackman does a great job being the Wolverine, but doesn’t do
anything new or unique from his previous X-Men movies. The character
development for the Wolverine is great. He is like an untamed animal, but when
meeting Mariko it seems as if she is the peace in his life. Although this isn’t
a romantic movie, there is a sense of completion that we find between these two
characters in the love that they have for each other.
The movie
has great action scenes and is very entertaining. It is an action movie and you
can expect to see the Wolverine to be the violent super hero we all love.
Although this is true, The Wolverine
does not do a good job of giving purpose to some of the characters and also,
leaves the audience confused as to why certain situations are what they are.
The movie is
126 minutes long and it does a good job of keeping things going. The movie does
leave the viewer with many unanswered questions. It has its good moments, but
overall the movie could have done a better job of telling this story.
By Ben
Clement
As a big fan of the X-men series, I went into watching The Wolverine with moderately high expectations. While I wouldn't say that I was disappointed by the film, I would definitely say that it could have been better. Hugh Jackman once again does an amazing job as Wolverine but the film could have been better. I do have to say that if anyone has yet to see this film and is planning on doing so, make sure you stay until after the credits. Best part of the movie.
ReplyDeleteWolverine has been one of my favorite characters ever since I saw the first X-men movie. This film was a classic high action and adventure. It kept the audience and myself entertained but I do not think that it added anything new to the wolverine story besides a new lover for Logan. I loved the change of scenery in that the majority of the movie was set in Japan and the inclusion of Japanese culture. But my biggest disappointment in this movie was the way that it ended. In the beginning of the film they reintroduced Jean, Logan's love interest from the X-men series, in a heaven-like setting waiting for Logan in the afterlife. Themes of death were introduced as well which built up the movie to what I thought was going to be the Wolverine's triumphant death and conquering the curse of his immortality to he could be with his true love, Jean, forever. But of course Logan ended up surviving against all odds with a new but very stagnant and boring (in my opinion) love interest so that the film industry can make more money off of the Wolverine series. Overall, the film was entertaining and I enjoyed watching it but I do not think I would watch it again.
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