Now that was my thoughts before I saw the movie.
Now that I've seen the movie... its still kind of a mediocre Wolverine film. I think its miles and miles better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine. But it is done a little bit better.
The Wolverine follows up with the man himself after the events of X-men: Last Stand. There's not much of an explanation as to how much time has past, but to me that doesn't really matter.
Logan is living a life as a hobo, living in the woods of Canada where he hangs out with bears and sees visions of Jean Grey. He obviously regrets killing her in Last Stand and he's kind of gotten to a point where he doesn't want to be a hero, he just wants to be left alone.
Well he's picked up by a Japanese precognitive mutant, Yukio (played by Rila Fukushima) who works for an old acquaintance of Logans. A Japanese man by the name of Yashida (played by Hiroyuki Sanada). Logan met Yashida in World War 2 when the US dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Logan saved him from dying and Yashida calls Logan to Tokyo because he is dying and he wants to say good bye. But when Logan gets there, Yashida says he has the means to rid Logan of his regenerative powers and allow him to die if Logan wants to. Well Wolverine thinks about it but he says no mainly because Yashida lets him know that he would take that ability for himself. Logan mainly refuses because he doesn't want Yashida to go through the same hell he's going through by not dying.
So Yashida dies but there's shady dealings going on with his business and the Yakuza and another shadow organization that seems to be lead by the doctor of Yashida, a crazy snake, viper lady (played by Svetlana Khodchenkova) and the Japanese version of Hawkeye. The granddaughter of Yashida (played by Tao Okamoto) is attacked and Wolverine takes it on himself to save her but soon realizes, somehow his regenerative powers are gone... and there's the premise. Not the entire movie.
Because truth be told... the story was actually really good and you should probably see it yourself.
I don't really know why I was so hesitant to see this movie. I guess I'm just not the biggest Wolverine fan. I love Hugh Jackman, I love superhero movies but I just think Wolverine is a little overrated in my book. I still do enjoy his character, especially in this one because you get to kind of dive into his personality and his struggles a little more in this film.
But I just don't see why they had to give him another standalone film. In this end, I don't know how much this movie is going to affect the entire X-Men universe being created by Fox Studios, but maybe it will. Or maybe it won't.
Regardless, the story is good, the characters are good, the action is good. There are just a lot of good things about this movie. Is it the best superhero movie ever made. Not at all. But its still entertaining and I guess a good bridge between X-Men: Last Stand and Days of Future Past.
This is the only spoiler I will give because it relates to a bigger purpose than this movie's story. So here it is, the post credit scene of The Wolverine.
Logan returns to the United States, he's going through the airport and he sees a commercial for Trask Industries. Then some metal starts movie and Magneto is right behind him. This makes Logan angry for a little bit but Magneto says, Calm down, I'm looking for your help. If you don't trust me, here's someone you may trust. And Professor X rolls in and they say there's a bigger threat they need to stop.
Though its not the post credit scene I wanted. I would have definitely preferred Tony Stark coming in or Nick Fury showing up at the airport being like, Logan, come with me. We need to talk about The Avengers.
But I've come to the sad conclusion that that is never going to happen and I will take what I can get.
But this post credit scene was no surprise. Days of Future Past had already been announced before The Wolverine came out and Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart were already signed to the movie. For me, it wasn't a surprise that Charles Xavier was alive or Magneto had his powers. It was cool to see it, however it wasn't incredibly shocking.
The good thing is, it sets up pretty well for Days of Future Past, which I am very, very excited about.
But back to the film. I just don't know. I liked it but I can't say it was a very memorable movie. Half way through the movie gets kind of slow. The action was good but at no point did I feel any sense of urgency for Logan to win. If he loses, the world wasn't going to end, the bad guys would win but I didn't feel as though them winning was a horrible thing on a large scale. Of course I don't want the bad guys to win but beyond the lives of the characters, not much felt at stake.
It was a more personal story for Logan as a character, not a story of him saving the world. I can respect that, and its part of the movies charm and what makes it different, but I just wasn't expecting it. Its not a bad thing, it just didn't feel as though the stakes were high enough for this movie.
Hugh Jackman, is amazing. How he can continue to be this character for over a decade, that is impressive. Tao Okomoto, playing the granddaughter of Yashida, was pretty good. Nothing phenomenal but pretty good. Yukio was alright, kind of a fun sidekick for Wolverine, although she didn't do too much overall.
Dr. Green or Viper was a very unsettling villain. She knew what she was doing, she had a plan and she knew how to get it done. Beyond working for Yashida there's not much known about her.
And Kenuichio Harada, the Japanese Hawkeye was pretty cool. I looked on wikipedia and it turns out in the comics, Harada is actually the Silver Samurai. In the movie, they make a giant Silver Samurai mech that Wolverine fights. If I was a huge comic book fan I might feel kind of cheated by this, I mean look at how comic book fans handled The Mandarin in Iron Man 3.
But villains aside, The Wolverine was alright. Again, its not my favorite superhero movie and I'll probably forget a lot of it tomorrow. I think the best takeaway from it was the post credit scene.
If you're a Wolverine fan, you'll like this movie. I think anybody might enjoy this movie I just don't feel its that memorable. Incredibly better than Origins, but still, not very memorable.
So that's my thoughts on The Wolverine. What did you think? Let me know, lets chat about it.
I'll leave you with this.
So Yashida dies but there's shady dealings going on with his business and the Yakuza and another shadow organization that seems to be lead by the doctor of Yashida, a crazy snake, viper lady (played by Svetlana Khodchenkova) and the Japanese version of Hawkeye. The granddaughter of Yashida (played by Tao Okamoto) is attacked and Wolverine takes it on himself to save her but soon realizes, somehow his regenerative powers are gone... and there's the premise. Not the entire movie.
Because truth be told... the story was actually really good and you should probably see it yourself.
But I just don't see why they had to give him another standalone film. In this end, I don't know how much this movie is going to affect the entire X-Men universe being created by Fox Studios, but maybe it will. Or maybe it won't.
Regardless, the story is good, the characters are good, the action is good. There are just a lot of good things about this movie. Is it the best superhero movie ever made. Not at all. But its still entertaining and I guess a good bridge between X-Men: Last Stand and Days of Future Past.
This is the only spoiler I will give because it relates to a bigger purpose than this movie's story. So here it is, the post credit scene of The Wolverine.
Though its not the post credit scene I wanted. I would have definitely preferred Tony Stark coming in or Nick Fury showing up at the airport being like, Logan, come with me. We need to talk about The Avengers.
But I've come to the sad conclusion that that is never going to happen and I will take what I can get.
But this post credit scene was no surprise. Days of Future Past had already been announced before The Wolverine came out and Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart were already signed to the movie. For me, it wasn't a surprise that Charles Xavier was alive or Magneto had his powers. It was cool to see it, however it wasn't incredibly shocking.
The good thing is, it sets up pretty well for Days of Future Past, which I am very, very excited about.
It was a more personal story for Logan as a character, not a story of him saving the world. I can respect that, and its part of the movies charm and what makes it different, but I just wasn't expecting it. Its not a bad thing, it just didn't feel as though the stakes were high enough for this movie.
Hugh Jackman, is amazing. How he can continue to be this character for over a decade, that is impressive. Tao Okomoto, playing the granddaughter of Yashida, was pretty good. Nothing phenomenal but pretty good. Yukio was alright, kind of a fun sidekick for Wolverine, although she didn't do too much overall.
And Kenuichio Harada, the Japanese Hawkeye was pretty cool. I looked on wikipedia and it turns out in the comics, Harada is actually the Silver Samurai. In the movie, they make a giant Silver Samurai mech that Wolverine fights. If I was a huge comic book fan I might feel kind of cheated by this, I mean look at how comic book fans handled The Mandarin in Iron Man 3.
But villains aside, The Wolverine was alright. Again, its not my favorite superhero movie and I'll probably forget a lot of it tomorrow. I think the best takeaway from it was the post credit scene.
If you're a Wolverine fan, you'll like this movie. I think anybody might enjoy this movie I just don't feel its that memorable. Incredibly better than Origins, but still, not very memorable.
So that's my thoughts on The Wolverine. What did you think? Let me know, lets chat about it.
I'll leave you with this.
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