The Wolverine
July. 25,2013 PG-13Wolverine faces his ultimate nemesis - and tests of his physical, emotional, and mortal limits - in a life-changing voyage to modern-day Japan.
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Reviews
Simply Perfect
Good start, but then it gets ruined
Crappy film
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
At some point in this movie it becomes clear that it's just a concatenation of set pieces. It's not even the Wolverine character we've seen so far. He's kinda boring, never as much of a smart-ass as in the X-Men or even the Origin movie. Also The Wolverine is missing a real baddie. The mutants (Viper, actually a snake woman, here more of a Poison Ivy character) are not that present. The Japan setting never really shines. The film misses a lot of opportunities for great cinematography. There are little moment though! Hugh Jackman standing on top of a building while it's raining. Suddenly it feels like Blade Runner. That's cool but totally out of place here. Also the guest appearances by Famke Janssen as Jean Grey are stupid. Not that it doesn't fit in this story but you NEED to watch X-Men: The Last Stand before this "Stand-Alone" to understand why she's here. While X-Men: Origins - Wolverine was just stupid, this is a disappointment.
Perhaps "Wolverine 3" would be a better title considering all the times we have seen Jackman in this role. The film opens with a flashback dream within a flashback dream as Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) continues playing Jeremiah Johnson. He is persuaded to go to Japan by Yukio (Rila Fukushima) to pay his last respects. While in Japan, Wolverine encounters Viper woman (Svetlana Khodchenkova) his "Kryptonite," and gets involved in a plot that gave me flashbacks to fine films like "Toxic Avenger II" and "Nazis at the Center of the Earth."The plot had more complexity than what I expected or wanted to see. The action scenes were shot by shaking the camera at odd angles so we could feel the intensity. Instead I thought "Why the low budget effect?" The film started out with some comedy and dark comedy, but that aspect quickly died when they went to Japan.Considering the fine Avenger/Mutant films that have come out, this one was a let down. Film seems to have been designed to introduce Yukio.Worth a rental. Most likely I will buy it since I own all the other ones, but I will wait for the big price drop.Parental Guide: 1 F-bomb. Implied morning after sex. Jackman rear nudity.
Though the final confrontation does get a little silly (no doubt caused by studio interference), this small-scale story features some of the best action in the series, by using less wire-work and keeping it mostly practical, as well as a more realistic tone. Jackman also turns in what was perhaps his best work as the character up until this point. The story is appropriately tragic and was, at the time of its release, arguably the closest the character came to being 'comic accurate' on the big-screen, sans yellow suit (aside from its deleted scene, of course.) You can really see what they were going for here and when it works, it really works. The 'Unleashed Extended Edition' on Blu-Ray adds a lot to the experience, with additional blood and violence bringing the violence closer to the original intent. It does feel like a lite version of 'Logan (2017)', but in no way reaches the quality of that, while still being tethered to the studio's idea of what a commercially viable 'X-men' film 'should' be. It's an entertaining and interesting film, all the way until it's rather clunky and disappointing finale, but it still remains leagues better than the eponymous hero's first solo outing and is, I think, a little underrated. 8/10
The movie was going good and would've gotten 8 stars from me if its third act was consistent with rest of the movie.Performances were fine.The camera-work and score was really good and the action was fun.There were some average acting at times though.It was an enjoyable affair overall and definitely worth seeing.