Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Wolverine (2013)

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Posted by John Roddy (Member # 7348) on 07-25-2013, 02:46 PM:

The plot
Wolverine goes to Japan to meet an old friend on his death bed and the obviously suspicious characters around him.

What I saw
A battle against the Yakuza on top of a bullet train, some sword fights, and some kind of giant samurai robot thingy. I'm pretty sure stuff happened between them, but I may or may not have fallen asleep for those parts.

The result
Meh. The action parts carried it along nicely. That bullet train battle was exactly the type of action I want to see in a Wolverine movie: over-the-top and ridiculous, but that's OK because it's not taking itself very seriously, meaning it's just as funny as it is awesome ("very" for both). The first real action scene before that (the Yakuza chase through the city) was also pretty sweet, courtesy of the random archer running across the roofs and the fact that—as Hollywood has taught us—everyone in Japan is either a ninja or samurai.

Everything else? For the love of crap, why are they so determined to force Wolverine into a cheesy love story? It's boring! Didn't they learn anything from their last attempt at a solo Wolverine outing? Those parts just killed it.

Yes, there is a bonus scene in the credits. I do appreciate that they put it right before the rolling credits though instead of after them. And I did like this one because I could almost see the creators standing in front of a poster for The Last Stand and flipping it off. Now that is something I can support.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 07-26-2013, 07:01 PM:

CINEMA: 13th Avenue Warren, Wichita, KS
AUDITORIUM: 17
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital Cinema (2K, 2D)/THX
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None [Cool]

RATING: Two and one half stars (out of four)

THE PLOT: Jason Bourne...uh, wait...Wolverine...goes to Japan. Wackiness ensues.

This really does feel like a Bourne movie for awhile, and it's pretty cool. It's largely set in Japan, which is also pretty cool. And Wolverine has a Japanese anime-inspired sidechick who reminds me of Hitgirl. Also pretty cool.

Still, this is overall about as exciting as a syndicated television series shot in Vancouver on the cheap (like "Highlander: The Series"). It's good, but lacking in greatness.

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 07-26-2013, 09:39 PM:

granted there was a lot of flaws with the past Wolverine movie, I thought it was rather pointless and grating - the positive reviews have my interest piqued now. And hell, an Atmos mixed movie? ... sure, why not?

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 07-27-2013, 07:43 PM:

After the crapness that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine comes the expected crapness of the (simpler titled) The Wolverine. Surprisingly, and thankfully, The Wolverine flouts such expectations and director, James Mangold, delivers a film more in the flavour of his previous 3:10 To Yuma and Cop Land than the typical overblown superhero flick.

Here the action is shifted from America (which, frankly, we've seen enough of in superhero movies) to Japan where our clawed hero clashes with the Yakuza and (more significantly) the traditions of the ninja and samurai. The result is a refreshingly lo-tech, no-Lycra, character-driven piece which tends more towards Kurosawa than Singer and has Wolverine effectively knocking heads with Japanese Feudalism. With blade against blade, this is a wonderfully natural fit for the ronin Wolverine.

Mangold doesn't quite achieve the lofty goals he sets for himself, however. The prelude to the film which sees Wolverine avenging the honour of a slain, poisoned bear is presumably a metaphor for what happens to him later in the film but the link between the two is drawn weakly and the subsequent significance of the pairing is lost. It's also slightly disappointing that Mangold can't resist the almost obligatory overblown final smackdown, nor can he resist our hero pointlessly bedding the girl - both of which slow the progression of the narrative to a crawl.

But overall Mangold's film is a triumph amongst the noise and clatter of super flicks. It's a pity that the film's obligatory post credits coda points to a return to the norm with the next X-Men entry.

7.5 out of 10

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 08-02-2013, 09:06 AM:

I have to agree with John Roddy. I thought the two hours of this film felt like three, halfway through I thought it was painfully dull. The train sequence was exciting, but whenever the dream 'Phoenix' scenes popped up (with some truly banal eye-ball rolling dialogue) I just cringed. The setting of this Wolverine outing was interesting and a slight plus, but still, I didn't think the buildup or the villain had much memento. Technically, I thought the Atmos mix was pretty good with a lot of interesting use of the surround channels. Front and height channels though was a bit lacking.

I'd give it a C-

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 08-02-2013, 07:54 PM:

Comic book superhero movies aren't exactly my favourite type of movie, but I watched The Wolverine late last night and enjoyed the hell out if it.

I don't know what movie the rest of you folks watched, but I didn't find this one the least bit boring.

The Japanese stick and sword fighting scenes made a lot more sense in this movie than they did in Pacific Rim.

The train fighting scene was certainly right out of the James Bond/Jason Bourne clothes closet, but it was fun to watch. The best train fighting scene that I've seen lately is still the last James Bond one with the big backhoe, though.

This movie seemed a lot more violent than most of the superhero movies. Superhero movies here are usually classified PG, but this one is classified 14A and I think it's deserving of that classification.

Posted by Terry Lynn-Stevens (Member # 7349) on 03-06-2014, 12:41 AM:

Wolverine was an OK movie. It is pretty clear that the movie was made for the Asian market and the box office shows. Made $400 mil worldwide. I liked the Japanese cultural stuff. I have no idea where this Wolverine ranks among the others such as Origins and X-men. I doubt I would recommend it unless you are a fan.

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 03-07-2014, 04:48 PM:

Cartoon Network's MAD did a hysterical riff on the film - how utterly blah the movie was. [Razz]

as for the whole X-men Universe and specifically the movies that have been released, in my opinion the second movie was the best - everything after that was just mediocre (even the trailer for upcoming new film just made me roll my eyes into my head).