He's back. One of Marvel's all time favorite heroes returns in his new film, The Wolverine. Based off of the 1980s comic arc by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, Wolverine is in seclusion in the Canadian wilderness, struggling with the pain of killing the woman he loved, Jean Grey (at the end of X-Men: The Last Stand), in order to stop the Pheonix from destroying the world. When a figure from his past makes a sudden reappearance in his life, Logan is whisked off to Japan to say good-bye to the dying man. There, the man offers him a gift Wolverine never believed he could have: mortality. When the man's granddaughter, Mariko, becomes a target by Yakuza assassins, Wolverine does everything he can to protect her, growing close to her in the process. Now he must face his fears of immortality in order to save the woman he is starting to love, but can he knowing that the world continues to spin yet he stays static?
This movie, directed by James Mangold, has many positive aspects going for it. The story is well paced, not feeling rushed and very minimal scenes seemed like they took too long to be played out. Also, the multiple flashbacks were portrayed in such way that it was clear when it is the 1940s, and when it is present day making tag lines on the bottom of the screen unnecessary. It was a little daunting when they announced the film to take place in Japan, and that ninjas were going to be used as adversaries to Wolverine, almost guaranteeing recollections from multiple 80s ninja flicks where the fighting was almost satire worthy. However, the fighting in The Wolverine is not completely unbelievable (fighting on top of a bullet train withstanding) allowing the audience to appreciate the fights and not laugh at the ridiculousness of it. The focus of Wolverine and his growth is very well done thanks to the talents of Hugh Jackman, who has always performed the role excellently.
You've probably been searching for the "but", well here it is:
BUT . . .
While this film is definitely entertaining and one of the better movies of the summer, by the end it feels as if something is missing.
Perhaps it is the lack of mutants? When you go to the movie theatre to see the mutant of all mutants, it's almost expected for there to be . . . well . . . mutants. By the end of the movie, only three mutants are every shown, one being the title character. That's it. While the storyline does stick close with the comics, and the whole movie is about Wolverine, it most likely would have been beneficial to include more mutants (on a side note, it probably would have been amazing to have Deadpool-you know, a cool version unlike the one in X-Men Origins-to be in that crowd of ninjas. Can you say, "Hello, Deadpool movie"?).
Perhaps it's because the way the movie was portrayed in the trailers? In the trailers, it was consistently shown that Wolverine was given the option to lose his immortality, which we then assume he took because he could no longer heal himself. Doing this made it seem that Wolverine has been struggling with the fact that he can live forever while everyone else dies around him. That is never stated in the movie. In fact, the only thing that is shown and ever discussed is that he feels guilt over killing Jean, and the only time his immortality is ever brought up is by the man who offers him mortality.
What is sad about The Wolverine, is that during the movie you sit in your seat enraptured with the story, action, and quality graphics, yet all of that is overshadowed when the in-credits scene appears. By the time the audience leaves, they're not talking about the movie, they're talking about that one scene. That is what they leave with. The entire two hour movie loses to a five minute or less scene.
The Wolverine is a very well done piece, definitely one of the top action movies of the 2013 summer. But it is safe to say, concerning the final scene, that the creators saved the best for last.
Sincerely,
The Night Owl
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