Review:
The Wolverine
takes a more personal look at the character – well, at least for the first two
acts – bringing something a bit different and welcomed to the superhero genre.
The film is about a reclusive, emotionally drained Logan in the wake of the
events of
X-Men: The Last Stand
(no, he is not in hiding due to the sheer terribleness of that film, but rather
due to his role in the death of Jean Grey – the woman he loved). He no longer
wants to hurt anyone, but still feels a sense of justice that gets him into
trouble. Meanwhile, Yashida, a Japanese businessman that Logan saved from the
bombing of Nagasaki during WWII, is on his deathbed, wishing to repay all his
debts. He sends Yukio (a mutant with the power to foresee a person’s death) to
find Logan and bring him to Japan. She does, and he reluctantly agrees to come.
Yashida offers Logan a way to finally shed his immortality and lead a normal
life. Yashida has become the most powerful man in Japan and has figured out a
way to transfer Logan’s abilities to himself through his corporation’s research
(and the help of a mutant named Viper). Logan refuses and his longtime friend
passes away, leaving everything to his granddaughter Mariko, circumventing his
ambitious son Shingen (who feels betrayed). Mariko is now a target, both from
her father and outside forces. Yashida was in a power struggle with the Triads.
His fight has now become her fight. She is innocent and thus Logan feels
compelled to protect her. However, the longer he stays in Japan, the more he
comes to realize that not everything is as it seems.
The X-Men franchise (along with
Spider-Man and
Batman
Begins) launched the current boon of superhero films that now dominate ever
summer movie season (after
Batman & Robin
all but killed the genre in the late 1990s). And yet, the series has never
quite found its way with the initial trilogy succumbing to awful casting (save
for
Ian McKellen
and
Patrick Stewart),
bad writing/storytelling, and in the end very poor directing. Wolverine is
assumed to be the franchise’s biggest character, and was thus spun-off into his
own
X-Men Origins story (only
for that to be another step backwards for the series). While the films
continued to be successful at the box office, fan and critical acclaim had
become all but nonexistent.
X-Men:
First Class saw the series rebooted (in a sense) with strong casting, good
writing, and sure direction, bringing the franchise back from the dead. With
The Wolverine, director
James Mangold has
all this history to contend with as he makes what is ultimately a one-off, self-contained
story.
What works well with Mangold’s
film is that primarily the story focuses on Logan’s emotional journey,
interwoven with some exciting action set pieces (for example: the bullet train
scene is fantastic). Mangold digs deeper into the character than audiences are
typically accustomed to in a summer blockbuster/superhero movie (aside from the
good ones). For once, Wolverine is not just a cool character on screen that
does action stuff with big claws, but rather a fully fleshed out character that
the audience can relate to, understand what motivates him, and get behind in
more than just a superficial manner. The action, in this sense, very much plays
a secondary role – almost to the point of distraction – in the film, as Logan’s
journey and his relationship with Mariko is far more dramatically engaging.
But, as seemingly it must as a
summer blockbuster, the film dissolves into a somewhat more generic action film
in the third act (because that is what the audience wants, or so think studio
executives). The first two acts are very strong, focusing wholly on character,
while the third act is just an extended action sequence with much of the built-up
emotional energy dissipating as the film relies on genre troupes and disregards
its characters to the sidelines. To some extent, it feels like the big action ending
was a compromise for the rest of the film being more character driven, made by
Mangold in the face of studio pressure (whether or not this is the case is
unknown, this is merely my guess).
Ultimately, the inclusion of the
Silver Samurai serves no dramatic purpose and thus hurts the narrative arch of
the film. Its inclusion is made to raise the stakes, action wise, giving Logan
a more intimidating enemy to defeat. This would be fine in a different film,
but it goes against the tone and narrative style established in the first two
acts. The Wolverine is not a film about Logan fighting an exterior monster, but
his own interior demons. By switching up the tone and narrative trajectory in
the third act, most of the characters and the complex relationships being built
throughout the first two acts kind of fall by the wayside making room for big
action moments. In the end, it all feels a bit underwhelming and incomplete,
which holds this back from being what could have been one of the better
superhero films (and one of the best of the summer). It just does not have
those necessary impactful moments that the third act of a film should deliver,
because it is essentially a different film as soon as Logan gets on the
motorcycle and heads up the mountain to Yashida’s hometown.
With all that said, however, The
Wolverine is still a very entertaining blockbuster, filled with exciting
moments (I thought the bombing of Nagasaki was particularly impressive and
effective from both a visual and emotional standpoint – showing the power and
cruelty of man in a series that has predominately focused on man’s fear of the
power that mutants hold) and stronger than expected performances and
characters. It is probably the strongest of all the original-cast X-Men films.
Setting the film is Japan also is
one of the film’s stronger aspects. Visually, it allows the X-Men franchise to
explore a world, style, and set of values that the audience has not yet seen cinematically
with these characters. Mangold embraces the setting wonderfully, as the film
has a number of very beautiful locations. It also enables the audience to
further connect with Logan, as he is alone in a foreign place that he does not
understand and does not fit (as this world is new and different for the
audience as well, in many cases).
The film features multiple female
characters as well, which on its own in something refreshing for a summer
blockbuster. But even more surprising, these female characters are not just
there in subservient roles, each of them adds something to the narrative (and, for
me at least, Mariko and Yukio are probably the film’s best characters).
The Wolverine does and is what moviegoers
have come to expect from summer blockbusters. It is very entertaining. It does
have some strong action set pieces. It tells its story economically. It even
takes a character, in his fifth full outing, and digs deeper into him
dramatically, giving the audience something fresh. By this regard, it is a
successful film (and one that I liked a lot). But, at the end of the day, it
stumbles when it could have been great. It takes the easy road of spectacle instead
of staying the course for the more fulfilling and poignant emotional payoff,
which leaves the film feeling a bit disappointing (once the sheer awesomeness
and excitement of the fantastic post-credit scene setting up
Days of Future Past wears off).
Technical,
aesthetic & acting achievements: James Mangold is a veteran Hollywood
director. With The Wolverine, he turns in another solid entertaining film,
which is really all one can ask from such a director. It would have been nice
to have seen a third act in which the characters were still center stage
instead of the spectacle, however, as Mangold’s strongest aspect as a director
is garnering great performances (see
Walk the Line) and creating
dynamic dramatic moments between them (and really, that describes the best
parts of The Wolverine).
Marco Beltrami turns in a fairly
generic action-movie score, but it does have some good moments especially when
it takes on a more authentic-sounding tone. It does its job though, reinforcing
the dramatic moments and propping up the big action scenes.
Ross Emery’s cinematography is
very good in the film. Much of the film is dark and rainy, and Emery use of
minimal light in these moments works well in capturing the dramatic tone. And
by contrast, the film is very beautiful in other moments, this juxtaposition reflecting
Logan’s own inner struggle for peace. However, the greatest achievement of the
film is
Francois Audouy’s
production design. Yashida’s house, the entire Nagasaki sequence, the hilarious
‘sex hotel’ – each of these sets stands out as something memorable in the film.
The Wolverine also has a strong
set of performances across the board. Mangold inherited
Famke Janssen and
Hugh Jackman as Jean Grey and
Logan respectively from the X-Men series, and sadly they are miscast in those
roles. Here, however, he gets good work out of both of them, as he again
focuses more on the characters allowing each to have more of a dramatic and
emotional part to bring to life. Janssen is good playing Logan’s spirit guide
of sorts through his journey, as he tries to forgive himself for her death.
Jackman has never been better as Logan (and is closer than he has ever been to
matching the character in the comics – the reluctant blunt-force weapon). He is
able to engage the audience on an emotional level, bringing them fully into the
narrative.
Brian Tee and
Svetlana Khodchenkova offer some
good moments in their small supporting roles.
Ken Yamamura and
Hal Yamanouchi play Yashida
(young and old respectively), and bring emotional weight and an urgency to him
that works very well.
Hiroyuki
Sanada is (as always) brilliant as Shingen, an overbearing father and
scorned son. If only he had more to do in the film.
Rila Fukushima and
Tao Okamoto each make their
cinematic debut, playing Yukio and Mariko, and to some degree stealing the
film. Rukushima is a lot of fun as a tough street punk type who is also loyal
to her core, while Okamoto steals the audience’s heart, as she epitomizes
innocence and hope. But what is great about these two women and their
performances is that they also bring wonderful strength to their roles, budding
from their inner resolve. It is refreshing to see this in a summer blockbuster.
Summary
& score: As a one-off, self-contained character driven superhero
film The Wolverine works extremely well, but in its third act it just reverts
back into a generic summer blockbuster spectacle movie (which is really too
bad) undoing a lot of, but not all, the good. 7/10
