The Wolverine

Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman is, as always, amazing. I have already said it in my reviews of previous X-Men movies and I say it again. He was born for this role. This movie definitely looked great on paper and the result is not bad either. I don’t have any major complaints concerning The Wolverine. Still, I can't help feeling (and, reading others’ reviews, I'm probably not the only one) that this installment of the X-Men saga was essentially pointless. (10/01/2014)

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)

A completely cut-and-dry flop – that’s how I’d describe this Wolverine. The authors might have forced it a little and gave us a solid atomic explosion right in the first scene, but it’s all downhill from there, which can’t even be stopped by the well-oiled machine called Svetlana Khodchenkova. In any case, it’s hard to say what exactly the problem is here. I think it’s the story itself. For a few years now, I’ve thought that X-Men lacked any sort of concept. The authors are popping out one movie after another and it’s a hard job to try to find a connection between them. For example, I think it’s pretty brainless to shoot two movies called Wolverine over the span of just 4 years. You can be a little forceful at the beginning, but you can’t blackmail us with artificial movies. On the other hand, Marvel never had a problem with recycling and so I’ve got a feeling that there’s a whole array of useless superheroes waiting for us in the future, all under the wings of talented directors. For example, it’s a shame that this movie was directed by Mangold, as I’d much rather see him do other movies. And when I see his upcoming movie – Untitled Wolverine Sequel – it makes me sick to my stomach. That’d be a third Wolverine movie over the span of ten years. However, the X-Men saga still remains to be the moneymaker of the decade, if not the century. I’m surprised it’s still doing well. (04/07/2014)

It's a shame, but The Wolverine didn't do it for me. Not that this movie was outright bad, but I enjoyed it a little less than the last Origins and a lot less than the first two installments of the saga. Hugh Jackman tries really hard, he loves Logan and knows what fans want to see and hear. But unfortunately, the futile script makes it difficult for him. The plot was inspired by the excellent comic book by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, but it basically took only the names of the characters, Japan and a few situations. It did not use the powerful yet simple story. Instead, the film is at times overwrought and at times too simple, the intimate moments between Wolverine and Mariko are probably the best, and of the action scenes I liked the one on the express train the best. The rest was pretty much short and stout in terms of imagination or Wolverine's rampage (the school ambush scene from X-Men 2, where Wolverine is at his most Wolverine-like, still leads in this regard). Apart from the opening in Nagasaki, this time there were no moments to remember, which the previous film was in fact full of. And where did the fun go? Who knows... A few good lines (about three) and nothing else. The ending was ridiculous, and clearly the best moment of the whole film came in the middle of the credits. Actually, I think Wolverine was filmed just for that scene and so Marco Beltrami could compose another good soundtrack. (25/07/2013)