The Wolverine

A slow and very personal drama that loses it toward the end when it turns into the comic far too heavy-handedly. A shame that Aronofsky didn’t make it. Not that Mangold didn’t do a good job, but his signature isn’t as pronounced, tending too much toward the mainstream. But maybe the producers wanted just that. The shift to Japan, where Wolverine is a little out of his depth (but doesn’t try to adapt), is like manna for the viewer. Although we aren’t bombarded with the exotic (was it a problem to film the chase at night with the neons switched on?), but it adds to the scope of the X-Men universe. Jackman is awesome and after the thirteen years he’s been playing his role, it’s become second nature, and worked out for this movie and looks like a huge, invincible gorilla in the fight with Sanada. All the more I was disappointed with the very cursory encounter with the seven hundred ninja’s which I almost didn’t notice. The finale, if a little over the top, had its moments and overall I took utterly positive feelings away with me. Hype can be harmful. (28/07/2013)

A completely different take on the character of Wolverine than last time. At first it seems that the psychological approach might work, but appearances are deceiving. Jackman just goes to Japan for a bit of meditation, which goes a bit awry, only to have everything go back to the way it was. The action, however, is at best amateurish this time, and its intertwining with the drawn-out plot can't work without a quality villain. When it finally comes to a proper clash between Wolverine and the entire clan of ninjas (ala Neo versus the mobs of Agents Smith in Matrix: Reloaded), he takes out about two of them and then they ridiculously run on motorcycles. If I gave credit for the excellent Hugh Jackman in the previous episode, I won't do it this time after two hours of boredom. (10/11/2013)

I am glad that another Wolverine movie has made it to the cinemas and I think that the fans feel the same. The studio must be quite satisfied. With $55 million in the first weekend in the US alone, it is a pretty good result considering the $100 million budget. Depending on how much the film earns internationally, the basic budget will be recouped during the first week. That is good and it only pleases me that good movies based on comics still attract attention. I'm not saying it's great, but it's good. "Wolverine" is a good movie, sometimes a bit pathetic and other times too chambered, but as a whole, it is good. The fans, both comic book fans and X-Men movie fans, will leave satisfied. More: http://www.comics-blog.cz/2013/07/221-wolverine-2013-70.html (30/07/2013)

Wolverine doesn't fit well in Japan, and it was beautifully evident throughout the whole 130 minutes. It started with a fantastic retreat in Nagasaki, continued with a solid romance in the style of The Last Samurai, and ended with dull action scenes and a "surprising" outcome reminiscent of B-movies from the 1990s demons. Logan is a likable character with a suitably dark past, but so far no one has been able to exploit it properly. Either it's an action flick or an attempt at a mysterious adult blockbuster that is awkward to the point of being unappealing, and appropriately disparate. (23/11/2013)

No, it hurts, but it doesn't work this way either. Hood made Wolverine into a generic cliché hanger, whereas Mangold tries to turn him into a modern intelligent blockbuster that works with intimacy, emotions, realism and the mythology of the character. The result is terribly unbalanced - a dark and engaging prologue, followed by the middle part of the film, where romance and Logan's inner contemplation dominate. This part is slow, it emphasizes non-existent meanings and thereby only repeats what Singer was able to better develop in an incomparably smaller space. How many words, how many motives, how many enchanted quotes... and what does it all amount to? Hollow bamboo, Logan as a romantic hero for the third time. I would rather keep quiet about the finale. If I was comforting myself until then that Mangold was hiding the trump card for the end, I was wrong. It was as if someone remembered that this was supposed to be a comic blockbuster, after all, and it miserably ground all the illogicality and exaggeration into an apathetic climax that turned the would-be-adult delusion into a dismantled sonata. It is a grind. The action grinds. The humor grinds. The claws grind. Jackman doesn't grind, but he doesn't spice up this diet sushi enough to keep us from forgetting him quickly and without feeling guilty, as if he is useless. Unlike other Marvel films, the concept here is completely lacking, and both spin-offs are tonally shift away from the main series and do not create anything coherent. As a result, you will spend two hours in the movie theatre snorting during the scene after the credits, saying to yourself: "Was this necessary? Give us what we want!" (24/07/2013)