The Wolverine

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)

Another comic book protagonist had to go through the inner darkness of his soul, tormented by the demons of missing memories of his own past. It starts off great. Wolverine against the devious yakuza doesn't take the traditional comic book route but rather weaves a complex mafia-political web that would put any CIA field agent-analyst to shame. And he also lacks the essential skills. The problem arises when the adamantium claws pierce the skin to slice up the evil minions by the dozens. Hugh Jackman can look all sorts of cool (and we can be assured that absolutely no one has ever fit any other comic book role better), but when you send him into serious action, it feels somehow out of place. This is somewhat because it’s an extra aspect compared to the rest of the film, just to meet the demands of it being a blockbuster. And the mental autopsy itself? Barking about how great B.S. was at it is boring, but Matthew Vaughn actually did it better. It's not a bad movie, it's just that routine comic book characters should be left to routine directors. (25/07/2013)

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)

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)

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)