The steel brawling claws are back again, and this time after upgrading to 3D, the claws just get deeper and fiercer. Hugh Jackman the Australian dude reprises the role of Wolverine sixth time, and these are they days superhero seem to fight the darkness within, and this movie is on similar lines as well. James Mangold the director is a Wolverine fanatic already, so knows in and out of what to make the best of the character. Special effects and Japan are two distinguished factors of this movie, as both are exhaustively showcased, and Hugh can finally sign this as a better movie than the Wolverine Origin. The movie shoots off from where the X Men: Last stand was left off, only taking the character of Wolverine.
Logan (Hugh Jackman) is now a hefty alcoholic who wanders the woods, and goes about hallucinating the past about his love bug Jean Grey and the Nagasaki bombings of 1945. Out in the wilderness of the woods, he gets acquainted to Yukio, a mutant who convinces him to travel over to Japan to meet a one Mr.Yashida, a dying tycoon. Yashida, it seems, wants to say more than goodbye and thank you to his old friend. He has summoned Logan to take advantage of his healing powers, whether the world-weary mutant is ready to relinquish them or not.
In the process, Wolverine gets mixed up with Yashida's son, Shingen (Hiroyuki Sanada); his fetching granddaughter, Mariko (Tao Okamoto); and an equally fetching but far more dangerous mutant named Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova). What follows is a series of insipid family politics within the Yashida clan together with high-on-action dramatic stunts that involves - henchmen fighting on top of the moving bullet train, a corrupt minister, an army of ninjas, fellow mutant enemies and weak ploy to rob the Wolverine of his super powers.
So once the cement of the story is laid, a little predictably the story evolves with goons going over for the kill, and metal slashing in a high octane train fight and then the mutants who keep boasting their super powers in the battle for immortality. The DOP by Amir is opulent enough to make you hooked to the visuals, but as again an action movie of this sort is never sort of loudness and the amount of tilts could have been fewer. Wolverine is not just a hero around Hollywood, he is quite a sensation among the native dubbed languages as well, the heroism is spot on.
Where "The Wolverine" delivers isn't in plot, but in its core dynamic, which places Logan in the familiar, if somewhat paternalistic, role of savior. That's a welcome change from "Origins," in which his primary motivation was ugly revenge. Marigold has etched the characters and the movie out rightly with a clinical difference so that the audiences do not linger to compare it with the prequel.
Performance wise, it might be too daring to say if Hugh is the only apt man for this role, but the brawl, and the power he delivers to this character springs it alive with goose bumps every time we hear his roar. And then again as Logan, his anger and clenched teeth is something that never dies down the road of X Men. The chemistry in this movie between Logan and Mariko is very thin and superficial, however yet again the stunts and visuals are one of the movie's take backs, who knows maybe a frontrunner for another Wolverine?
In the closing credits teaser, a Wolverine fan might get excited as towards the end it has some hint of Wolverine resurrection, but then again which movie does not leave without a finishing note. Everyone wants their favorite super hero to return back if not now, in a while. So Wolverine might be back or not, as always its enigmatic.
Verdict: A mix and match of story and amazing action! Stars : 3.5/5 |
