The Wolverine (James Mangold)

[Thirdmango]

IMDB

[Sxottlan]

One glaring continuity error aside, pretty darn good. :lol:

[Henry Gale]

The core story itself is solid (which considering the source isn't too surprising), even if the film constructs a lot of really awkward plot mechanics to tell it, but ultimately it's the general mood and world-building Mangold guides it all through that makes the whole thing so remarkably bland. The opening scenes that frame where Logan stands chronologically, mythologically and psychologically are probably the most interesting pieces of the whole thing, but even what follows up on those tangents over the course of its run-time don't satisfying live up or expand their promise.

Action scenes just happen. People get thrown around, fall down from high places, hit Wolvie with swords, they cut him, he heals and retaliates. Repeat. Yawn.

Saying it's better than The Last Stand and the character's Origins movie isn't really necessary, but it's also nowhere nearly as assured or distinct as either of Singer's efforts (and the credit tag here just reminded me how much more I was already looking forward to Days of Future Past), and even though a re-watch of First Class took me from thinking it was fairly good to becoming almost completely ambivalent to it, at least I had some desire to see it twice, something I can't see myself ever doing with The Wolverine.

It's C-grade stuff all the way. It's not as dumb as X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but it also doesn't have the courage to be daring enough to potentially fail as awfully either. Tonight, I shall dream of the Aronofsky version that could have been.

[Morris Schæffer]

One glaring continuity error aside, pretty darn good. :lol:

How is the fight on the bullet train? It looked like a heavily cgi'd, comical blur in the trailer, but some critics have praised it as a genuine showstopper.

[TGM]

How is the fight on the bullet train? It looked like a heavily cgi'd, comical blur in the trailer, but some critics have praised it as a genuine showstopper.

It's surprisingly the most impressive action sequence in the entire movie.

[Morris Schæffer]

It's surprisingly the most impressive action sequence in the entire movie.

Ah cool! Have you seen de Palma's Mission Impossible? I Still think that finale with the TGV is amazing and really makes you feel as if you're up there. Which sequence did you find more impressive?

[Mal]

Mangold's best film since Heavy. He's so wrong for the material but at the same time this was easily the best X-Men film I've seen to date (did not bother with Last Stand).

[Fezzik]

This was...ok.


Eons better than Origins, but that's not saying much. Decent action, some surprising humor, but in the end, its just ok.

The best part of it (for me) was the mid-credits scene.

[Henry Gale]

It is weird how a fight between people on top of the world's fastest train with some goofy gravity and rubbery CG moments still ends up being the most palpable and exciting action setpiece in a movie that otherwise takes so much pride in how grounded and gritty it is.

Or maybe the rest of the action is just so unremarkable that the Bullet Train scene wins by default.

[TGM]

Ah cool! Have you seen de Palma's Mission Impossible? I Still think that finale with the TGV is amazing and really makes you feel as if you're up there. Which sequence did you find more impressive?

Honestly? The scene in Wolverine was probably more exciting than the one in Mission Impossible, at least IMO.

It is weird how a fight between people on top of the world's fastest train with some goofy gravity and rubbery CG moments still ends up being the most palpable and exciting action setpiece in a movie that otherwise takes so much pride in how grounded and gritty it is.

Or maybe the rest of the action is just so unremarkable that the Bullet Train scene wins by default.

This is pretty much the case. The rest of the action is just so dull, generic, and quite frankly BORING that the train sequence stands out as a huge highlight as a result.

[plain]

On first glance, this is probably the second best of the entire series after X2 (which isn't quite saying much since the rest are all sizable botched entries in their own right). This is a well-trimmed and broad enough segway until X-Men: Days of Future Past, which could be okay or as ultimately shitty as X-Men: First Class. Mangold does a decent job here with the story shifting to Japan and its endangered Eastern traditions of family and honor. Narratively speaking, the film is way too light, but Jackman does his thing and most of the set-pieces land nicely: the train fight is sort of brief but marvelous. Having no true villain is also an odd choice, old man cloaked in adamantium and viper girl hardly suffice. I'm fine with most of these shortcomings though. The two hours zipped by.

[Rowland]

Knight and Day was better.

[Dukefrukem]

[Lucky]

Paula Dean :lol:

[Dukefrukem]

Paula Dean :lol:

I liked "Worse than Green Lantern"

[megladon8]

I thought this was pretty darn good - perhaps the bad taste still left in my mouth from the previous Wolverine film tempered my expectations, but this was a great little character piece of a superhero movie.

Does anyone know if Svetlana Khodchenkova was dubbed? Her voice seemed oddly detached.

[Ezee E]

Not bad. After the other big comic book movies, this seems almost stripped down. A character piece, and I can tell why Aronofsky was interested in doing this. Survivor's guilt would have been much more prominent if he were behind the camera I think, but alas, this is what we get. I'm kind of confused of the story still, and why Viper even exists for this.

But the use of the ninjas was pretty fun, and we got to see Silver Samurai, and it was actually pretty impressive with the use of his sword.

How I wish Aronofsky did this...

[Ezee E]

One other thing...

We got it, Wolverine can heal... Yeesh.

[Watashi]

[Morris Schæffer]

Why did the three soldiers want to commit harakiri in the very beginning? Did they know the destructive force of the bomb and that the game was up? Hiroshima was destroyed three days earlier so I suppose seeing a huge plane in the distance was conclusive proof it was carrying the same payload?

[Ezee E]

Why did the three soldiers want to commit harakiri in the very beginning? Did they know the destructive force of the bomb and that the game was up? Hiroshima was destroyed three days earlier so I suppose seeing a huge plane in the distance was conclusive proof it was carrying the same payload?

Many, many soldiers committed seppuku before Nagasaki.

[Watashi]

Why did the three soldiers want to commit harakiri in the very beginning? Did they know the destructive force of the bomb and that the game was up? Hiroshima was destroyed three days earlier so I suppose seeing a huge plane in the distance was conclusive proof it was carrying the same payload?

Is this a serious question?

[Dead & Messed Up]

This was diverting. Train sequence was too short. Snake lady was the boringest thing. Hugh Jackman still doing a fine job as Wolverine. Appreciated that they didn't handwave X3 and had Jean Grey pop up as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Didn't think too much of Mangold's style. Too many medium shots and shot-reverses, only pretty in that bland Hollywood proficiency way. This was a real opportunity to introduce a unique style into the X-universe. Ah well.

[Morris Schæffer]

Is this a serious question?

Yes. It's not a big deal, just something that piqued my curiosity. I guess the end was near for them regardless of whether or not they were going to be vaporized.

[Stay Puft]

Tonight, I shall dream of the Aronofsky version that could have been.

Yeah, pretty much my takeaway.

Every now and then there'd be a scene that would suggest a better, more interesting, dramatically compelling film, but it never materialized. So much potential, but next to no effort to pursue said potential. This thing is a slave to its genre and the cinematic X-Men universe. Maybe it's better than Origins (well, yes, it is) but it's not really a different movie at the end of the day, so what's the point. I'm tired of this shit.

Also, Mangold couldn't direct a decent action scene to save his life. I was just shaking my head during that yakuza attack at the funeral. And here I thought Elysium was bad.