7.75 to THE WOLVERINE: A Review for Fans of the Filmdom and the Comiclands.

Let's be honest. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was pretty terrible. Yes, the interaction between Wolverine and Not-Sabertooth was really intriguing and, yes, there's probably nobody alive that can do Logan like Jackman does. The movie as a whole though? Right rubbish. How could so many liberties be taken so haphazardly with the history of one of Marvel's most iconic characters? Between the awkward performance given by Will I. Am  and sewing shut "the Merc with a Mouth's" lips (seriously, why?!), something was lost, and unforgivingly so. At the time I thought it was a real shame, as the chemistry between Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber was incredible and so much could've been done there. Also, Gambit. There was Gambit! How do you ruin that?!


But, of course, this isn't a review of X-Men Origins. This is a review of The Wolverine. I just felt it necessary to show that I, as a fan of the character and of Marvel in general, felt very strongly at the time that Origins very well could've marked the end of the Jackman Wolverine era. I'm incredibly glad to say that The Wolverine has quelled those fears.

I enjoyed The Wolverine. Quite a lot. Yes, there were some liberties taken. Yes, there were some minor plot-holes, but I didn't find myself minding that enough to really matter. The liberties taken made sense and really added to an interesting story that explores the toll immortality has taken on everyone's favorite mutton-chopped Canadian. Hugh Jackman, as most everyone probably expected, delivered. If there's one thing that's been consistently good throughout every single X-Men movie with him in it... it's him. The characters were interesting, the plot dealt with interesting considerations and issues. The movie starts with Logan witnessing the bombing of Nagasaki, and if that's not a ballsy thing to depict in a comic book movie, I don't know what is. And, you know what? I think it worked for the most part.

Honestly, this movie's biggest failing was the fact that it didn't delve in deep enough. The heart of it all was shapely but it wasn't textured as well as it could have been. Considering how riddled this franchise has been with awkwardness, this is high praise. If more time was taken to flesh out some characters which should have been more major players and reveal a little more of Logan's psychological drama in more chilling ways as he grapples with what's happening to him over the course of the film and his identity and yaddayadda... I honestly feel this could've wowed audiences just as much as the first Iron Man, or Nolan's Batman trilogy, in terms of what a comic book movie could be. Unfortunately, rushing through some of those key-but-now-minor characters and not letting the heavy material really play out as what it seems to want to be makes it more of a summer fun action movie than the monolith of comic book movie achievement it aspires towards. I don't mean to sound too down on it though, as I quite enjoyed it, and believe me when I say that there were people cheering and applauding at various points of the movie, and I found myself joining them more often than not.





All in all, I think I'll give The Wolverine 7.75 out of 10, but I feel that it has the heart of a 8.75 lurking within it that was never completely realized.




Movie lovers won't regret going to see this if they like action and mutants and all that summer movie fun stuff. Wolverine lovers, you'll be happy to see your favorite X-Man up on the screen making huge strides in the name of the X-Men franchise. Hopefully someday we can see Jackman and his X-Men integrated artfully into a new wave of these current blockbusting Marvel movies. This film, if nothing else (though I believe it to be more), is proof of that.


Until next time, Bubs and Bubettes,

Master Drey



PS Oh, and stick around for the mid-credits stinger. Gave me chillllssssss.