THE WOLVERINE ("COME OON BUB!!)

July 26, 2013

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, Will Yun Lee.

Director: James Mangold.

After the underwhelming “X mens Origins – Wolverine”, The Wolverine gained much leeway when it was announced that Darren Aronofsky is to helm the project. Due to reasons unknown James Mangold took over which dealt the first blow to the film, then the impressive trailer gained what was lost above. But sadly most of the action was covered in the trailer itself leaving nothing much for the main feature except for some introspection on the part of the Wolverine.

The film opens with Wolverine saving Yashida from the Atomic bombing in Nagasaki and then moving onto the present day where Logan has forgotten being the Wolverine. He is more of a caveman having sleepless nights over the guilt of killing Jean and that is when the dying Yashida calls for Logan to bid good bye.

After the promising start the film moves into introspective mode focussing on Logan which was very much a good move on the part of the writing team and the director. But where they slipped is in providing a plot strong enough for the audience to get involved.

The plot seems simple enough and you see the twists coming too early itself for them to have any sort of an impact, this includes the Silver Samurai. “Knight and Day” did not do as well as expected not because it was less in action but because of the lack of feel; sadly The Wolverine falls prey to the same mistake.

The writing team has included a lot of a villains for the Wolverine in a bid to make the duels juicier but perhaps they forgot the fact that it’s character development that is the key to a film’s success rather than the number of villains.

What made X men more interesting was the presence of a super strong character in the form of Magneto and the consequent face offs between Wolverine and equally strong opponents, both of which are absent here!
The fights have been executed very well in a very credible manner but that is all that you can talk about the film apart from the terrific Hugh Jackman. Mangold should be appreciated for his effort to bring out the acting abilities of Hugh, in which he has fabulously succeeded.

With such a wonderful character in the form of Wolverine, one of the best and most loved superheroes of all time, one would expect much more from the film. Such a terrific performance by Hugh is wasted by the lacklustre script.

I am giving a 2.5 for the film and 0.25 for Hugh Jackman. Watch it if you must, for the fights and Hugh Jackman. If you do, make sure you wait till the credits roll out to watch the nicely shot scene that sets up the eagerly awaited “X Men- Days of the future past”.

IMDB Rating

Rating Scale (Out of 5)

Less than 2                   -           Unwatchable.

2    to 2.25                   -           Below average.

2.5 to 2.75                   -           Average.
       
3    to 3.25                   -           Good.

3.5 to 3.75                   -           Really Good.

4    to 4.25                   -           Great.

4.5 and above               -          Extraordinary.