CLAWS and Blahs
The Wolverine is an unrewarding one-off adventure
for the most popular X-Man
Written by andrew bonazelli
Hugh Jackman on his most profitable recurring character: “He realizes everyone he loves dies, and his whole life is full of pain. So it’s better that he just escapes.” Yes… like every vampire, uh, ever. It’s a conceit that’s simultaneously so stale and yet so classic in its familiarity, and it goes a long way toward explaining why audiences have paid out the ass for what basically amounts to five Wolverine origin stories now. Now, that may not be a wholly accurate assessment, but this character’s past is so inexorably tied to his present (à la Batman), that every new installment can’t help but come off like a drab new coat of expository paint.
In this one, Logan gets a titular The, which always adds a welcome shot of gravitas (you know, like, say, The Aquaman). Seriously, though: There’s plenty of talent on both sides of the camera here. Although Jackman is in serious danger of lifelong typecasting, he’s lost none of his intensity for the role. Plus, director James Mangold (Cop Land, Girl, Interrupted) and screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) certainly qualify as the right creative team to take Wolverine somewhere new.
Easier said than done. Despite an inspired evocative first half depicting Logan as a haunted, feral recluse, the film crams a love story, corporate intrigue, ninja fight scenes, parasites, pre-cogmutants and Superman II-style superpower loss into a CGI-overloaded mess. The stark, unforgiving Wolverine we know and love thrives best in comic form—filmmakers keep bogging him down in the kitchen sink.
In this one, Logan gets a titular The, which always adds a welcome shot of gravitas (you know, like, say, The Aquaman). Seriously, though: There’s plenty of talent on both sides of the camera here. Although Jackman is in serious danger of lifelong typecasting, he’s lost none of his intensity for the role. Plus, director James Mangold (Cop Land, Girl, Interrupted) and screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) certainly qualify as the right creative team to take Wolverine somewhere new.
Easier said than done. Despite an inspired evocative first half depicting Logan as a haunted, feral recluse, the film crams a love story, corporate intrigue, ninja fight scenes, parasites, pre-cogmutants and Superman II-style superpower loss into a CGI-overloaded mess. The stark, unforgiving Wolverine we know and love thrives best in comic form—filmmakers keep bogging him down in the kitchen sink.