Movie Review: The Wolverine
I want to know what the writers and director of this movie were thinking when they finished this one. They had a great product for the first hour to ninety minutes. Then it all fell apart. With a ridiculous and nonsensical ending, they squandered what could’ve been an awesome movie.
In 1945, Logan saved a Japanese officer, Yashida, from the atomic blast at Nagasaki. Seventy years later, Yashida is a corporate tycoon who wants to thank him. He offers to end Logan’s immortality in exchange for furthering his life. Before he can make a final decision, the old man dies and chaos ensues. Logan is joined by Yukio, a samurai in a schoolgirl outfit kind of girl. She is likable from the start. There is also Mariko, the granddaughter of the tycoon and likely heir. She’s not as likable.
In the midst of the battle is Yashida’s doctor, a mutant by the name of Viper whose powers include the ability to produce poisons along and a knowledge of biochemistry. Unfortunately, she is a ridiculous villain, whose outfits become more skimpy as the movie progresses. By the end, she is in the traditional superhero leotard.
Hugh Jackman does an awesome job as expected. The cast, aside from Viper, is excellent actually. It wasn’t the actress really, her dialogue is just god awful.
Mariko is in grave danger throughout the movie but doesn’t really seem to fully grasp it. Her character was more of a pinball flying through the story. She doesn’t want to run her grandfather’s company. At one point she tries to end her life but Logan intervenes. This is a negative Japanese stereotype the movie should’ve avoided.
For a time, Logan’s healing ability is partially suppressed by Viper. This little obstacle slows him down but not for very long. At one point its a poison, then its a little machine inside Logan’s chest. The confusion here is another problem.
At the end, the movie gets absolutely ridiculous. There is wholesale violence, with family members slaughtering their own employees, then trying to kill one another. The Yakuza are also involved but then disappear. Why they care about what happens in a big tech company, I am not sure, other than they are enemies of the old man.
Logan’s powers are restored and he tries to save Mariko who is kidnapped by her own family TWICE. Then of course we see the giant adamantium samurai. Why they build a samurai robot, I’m not sure. It doesn’t fit in terms of the characters behind it or the story in general. The robot’s means of trying to extract Logan’s powers is also ridiculous and drops this into the teenage comic book fan demographic.
X-Men stretches science, that is expected, but it still has rules. This movie decides it doesn’t like the rules and abandons science fiction for fantasy. For the X-Men franchise, that just shouldn’t be done.
So, the good guys are all well done, the villains are ridiculous. The bad ending destroys this movie for me. It gets 2 stars and I do NOT recommend it unless you don’t care about X-Men and only want to see Hugh Jackman scream in pain, ninjas, samurais, martial arts, and plenty of blood.
Also, there is a mid-credit teaser with Magneto and Professor Xavier. Xavier is alive despite being vaporized by the Phoenix. I’ve heard rumors about X-Men: Days of Future Past. I am very worried it will kill the franchise. Time travel/alternate reality is very hard to do and can get very complicated. It also is a cheap trick to bring back dead characters.
As an X-Men fan, this movie and the teaser have me worried.
Jacob
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