Finally saw The Wolverine

[Earth 2 Chris]

Having missed it in the theaters just due to lack of free time for movies (after many visits this summer), Cindy and Andrew and I finally got to watch The Wolverine last night. I liked it! Of course, I went pretty easy on X-Men III and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but this movie was cleary a cut above those. I really liked what they did with the character, and Jackman was great as always. Some interesting twists and resolutions in this film, and the teaser at the end was a great set-up for things to come.

Below there be SPOILERS









SPOILERS

Very surprised to see Wolverine lose his adamantium claws. Of course we have timey-whimey Days of Future Past to fix that, don't we? The Silver Samurai was different, but then I'd seen a still image of Jackman fighting some giant version of the character, so I wasn't completely shocked.

The ending was a bit messy, as I don't think they tied things together quite as effectively as they could have, but it was satisfying enough. I've learned to accept that these types of films often have a lesser ending than what they were building towards. Lady Viper could have been fleshed out more, for instance.

I was half-expecting Mariko to have some latent mutant ability, due to her grandfather's exposure to the atom bomb, and her father's line about "skipping generations". I haven't read the comic story in years, so the differences between the two are foggy to me.

Chris

[palitoy]

I just watched it last week, it was better than his last two outings for sure but I found myself...not caring.

Wolverine is a great character but I like him better in an ensemble. He's better when he has somebody to play off of. I think the same of Jack Black.

Also didn't care much for the story itself, some nice visuals and good ideas but Viper's main power seemed to be scenery chewing and I found the plot convoluted.

[The Toyroom]

I still haven't seen "Origins"....

[The Toyroom]

Or "X-Men:First Class"...

[palitoy]

Or "X-Men:First Class"...

That one surprised me, I went in with "this will suck" and it's now my second favourite. Magneto steals the show.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Oh yes, First Class is well...first class. I bypassed this one in theaters, and have regretted doing so ever since seeing it when it hit DVD. I waffle whether it or X2 are my favorites of the franchise.

As for The Wolverine, yes Lady Viper was a scenery chewer. Lady Ham may have been more appropriate.

Chris

[Gorn Captain]

The first part was ok, but I lost interest near the end.
The Samurai is in a very standard (read boring) CG fight, I would have prefered a more traditional Japanese fight instead of Logan vs Shiny Hulk. Was the Samurai ever this big in comics?
Nope, won't buy the DVD.

As a side note, X Men First Class was indeed first class!
Love that movie.

[madmarva]

First Class is my favorite X-Men film and One of the reasons why is that it isn't really adapting any comic storyline directly so the comparison isn't there.

I liked The Wolverine for what it did well, but the end of the film didn't match the tone of the first 2/3s. But what worked, really worked well.

Palitoy has a great point about Wolverine working better in an ensemble. I never cared much for any of his solo comics series beyond the first miller/Claremont mini, but he's a great counterpoint in group dynamics.

[BlackKnight]

I'm a Huge Fan of the Blu ray / DVD Combo Cover. 1 of the best covers I've seen imo.
Caught some Geek Wood on the Alternate Ending .

[mightyquinn]

Thought it was cool the way real life events were tied in with the movie like the bombing of Hiroshima. The SS was over the top and should have been scaled down a bit. Good movie for what it was.

[VintageMike]

I liked it a lot, worth watching but now quite owning, IMO.

[MIB41]

Just finished watching it tonight on blu ray. I think this was the best in the Wolverine series yet. But I'm with Brian here. I think Jackman's strengths are when he can play against the performance of another star. He certainly has the screen presence, but the entertainment value of his Wolverine character mostly caters to how he reacts from scene to scene, rather than the strength of script. His sneers and one liners are pretty much what makes him fun to watch. He's kind of like a modern day version of Josey Whales with claws. So while I'll NEVER dislike any of his films as Wolverine, I also don't walk away feeling like there is much layering to the character. That being said, it will be very difficult to replace him. Jackman has a charisma that sells what otherwise would be a pretty lifeless character.