I’m very excited. The new Wolverine movie, The Wolverine, stomps the crap out of its predecessor, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. THIS is the Wolverine movie I wish they would have made when I was ten. When I sat in my room all night long drawing pictures of Wolverine doing cool things like smoking cigars and striking awesome poses. I felt as though this new Wolverine movie was an apology for Origins. A much deserved apology. If you saw Origins, you know what I’m talking about. If you saw it and liked it, then you were obviously not a Wolverine fan to begin with so you’ll be totally indifferent towards this movie. You also may have liked Batman and Robin, because it had Batman in it and Mr. Freeze had some really funny pun lines!!
This movie takes place after the (un)forgettable X-Men 3: The Last Stand. Famke Jansen’s Jean Grey is still dead, but shows up all hot- looking in Wolverine’s dreams. Oh yeah, Hugh Jackman plays Wolverine….. in case anyone forgot. Much like the most recent version of Superman, Wolverine starts off his new movie as a homeless man with an Aqualung beard. He has become an alcoholic living in the forest. He soon finds himself in Japan, where he is offered a chance at a normal life without his seeming immortality by a dying rich man Wolvie once saved during World War II. Wolverine’s powers of healing are weakened by Viper, played by Svetlana “Try saying this five times fast”Khodchenkova. When some Yakuza types try to kill the rich man’s granddaughter, Wolvie takes it upon himself to protect her and finds himself drawn into a plot by Viper and her employer to kill the granddaughter.
Without giving too much away, the story AND ending of this movie are as predictable as you can possibly get. When the story finally starts to move along at a more steady pace when he gets to Japan, you will probably figure out very quickly how things will play out. The highlights, however, FAR outway the lowlights. The final showdown between Wolverine and fan favorite Silver Samurai will make you want to cheer on Wolvie, or you have no heart. The character development of the main character from hopeless, homeless drunk to personal protector ronin to finally accepting his immortal, warrior spirit is one of the best developments I’ve seen in a comicbook movie. We even see him learn to accept Jean Grey’s death, which finally frees this character of his mopeyness and makes Wolverine the true ass-kicking hero we’ve been waiting for since the first X-Men movie. And seriously, consider yourself warned, if you leave before the mid-credits scene, you will regret it the way I regret leaving during the credits of the first Iron-Man movie. I’m still in counseling for that. It costs a ton. Do you want to have to live with that? No? Well then wait for the extra scene!!!!!!!
The Wolverine was directed by James Mangold, who also directed 3:10 to Yuma , Walk the Line, and Kate and Leopold. Kate and Leopold, you may remember, also starred Wolverine as a time-traveling nobleman. I’m sure it was a fine film, but it came out while I was in college, so I was not totally um… awake, while it was on.