The Wolverine, 2013 — ★★★½
This was pending from a long time, I don’t generally keep superhero movies pending that long. Such movies do not need a specific mood or heightened attention span thanks to their straightforward you cut me open or I cut you open style. I was in the same mood to watch a quick one and check one off my list. I was surprised to see a lot of content in the movie, a lot of emotions, and a lot of drama. To get a chance to see a superhero movie, which is more than action, is really a rewarding experience and this movie is just upholds that opinion.
The Wolverine is second installment in the dedicated Wolverine movies, and its events take part after X men — The Last Stand. Chronologically the X men franchisee is somewhat messed up, but knowledge of events in X Men the last stand will be highly beneficial before watching this one.
Wolverine is into exile and is sought out by an emissary of a Japanese conglomerate tycoon, Wolverine has once saved his life long back. This person is on a deathbed and wishes to see him once before dying. Although that is a convincing enough reason, the ulterior motives are different and Wolverine finds himself in quite a great deal of danger. The film has a very important plot point for the marvel x-men universe, that I believe you should watch if you are fan of the series.
Hugh Jackman is in control as ever. With bulging muscles, terse looks he nails the character Wolverine, and by now, he lives that character like second nature. That is the benefit of having such a good actor at your disposal. The emotional spectrum of the character can only be explored when there is a worthy actor to carry that weight. Here Jackman portrays the emotional imbalance, the hurt and dazed states very well. The other cast including the Japanese leads are good in overall aspects, but the movie remains centered around Jackman only. It is obvious, but still it lacks a second ranker in terms of performance and everyone else is on the same level.
The story is interesting, the multiple characters in the film, all have some or the other vested interests, and I personally liked the interplay between them. Wolverine remains at the sole center of all the conflict.
The action is at times way over the top, the entire bullet train sequence for instance, and other times downplayed. The movie does have few far fetched plot points but it is okay. The only reason why it troubles you is because the whole recipe is very well cooked, so when there are garnishing mistakes, you notice it, but let it slide. The movie uses action to depict a story and thankfully not the other way around like many superhero movies.
Overall, I found it a little lengthy but still I will settle on 3.5 for this one.
As published at http://ift.tt/1tubGdh
