Chopsticks straight up in bowl = death: THE WOLVERINE

by Le Anne Lindsay, Editor

I always look forward to a new Xmen movie – just love mutants and their plight of being misunderstood and feared in this world not yet ready to accept those with special abilities. Of course, there are a good number of villainous mutants, so the racial profiling isn’t completely unwarranted.

The thing about me and Xmen movies, well movies in general (which is why I don’t consider myself a film buff) once I see them in the theater, I very rarely get the opportunity or make a point to watch them again on DVD, steaming, VOD etc… This always puts me at a disadvantage when it comes to a franchise film, cause I can’t remember what the hell happened the last time we experienced these characters and stories.

Thankfully, all you really have to know to watch Hugh Jackman once again take on the role of Marvel Entertainment’s ultimate anti-social hero – The Wolverine – is the basics. He’s indestructible because of the Adamantium alloy that covers his insides from head to toe; and that he had it bad for the telepathic and telekinetic mutant Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), who is presently dead until she rises again as The Phoenix.

The Wolverine is not only set in Japan, I think the movie could be classified as “chambara“, a genre which means “sword fighting” movies. Fans of samurai warrior flicks will love that The Wolverine is often subtitled, has a beautiful Asian cast, and plenty of sword to claw fight sequences.

I don’t want to give a lot away about the plot, but if you want to know more here’s my around the web picks for “The Wolverine”:

This is a good run down on the cast of characters and their Comic Book origins – Who’s Who in ‘The Wolverine’ – Rick
Marshall (Fandango)

This is the Wolverine movie fans have dreamed about for decades. Jackman
has once again proven that he understands Wolverine and is one of the
most perfect fits for a character since Christopher Reeve as Superman.
When you watch Jackman on the screen, you believe it. There’s never a
doubt in your mind that he IS Wolverine. READ MORE – Spencer Perry (Superherohype.com)

Here’s a great video review of the movie which sums up everything quite nicely in less than 3 minutes – WATCH – Scott Collura (IGN.com) It’s also a great place to read fanboy comments!

Bleeding Cool Interview with Rila Fukushima who plays Yukio, Wolverine’s body guard and soothsayer of death –

Q:“So, the first question has to be… ‘At what point did you realize that you were the coolest character in the movie?’…”

RF:“Well…I was interested in the Yukio character because comics fans
expect that she’s a badass. She’s an assassin, she’s very strong…and
particularly a strong woman. But James tried to explore a little bit
deeper, I think the Yukio of the film has a lot of heart. That’s what I
really liked about her. She’s strong, but more importantly she’s a
decent person. ” READ MORE – Michael Moran

And most importantly a word from The Wolverine director James Mangold (Girl Interrupted, Walk The Line & Knight and Day) –

Q: You open ‘The Wolverine’ with the atomic bomb dropping on Nagasaki. Why?

JM: I couldn’t see making a contemporary film set in Japan without acknowledging the tsunami. I thought that dealing with another catastrophe that had happened to the country might be a way to address it. It makes you think about the resilience of the Japanese people. They’ve endured three out of four of the world’s largest nuclear catastrophes. Also, one of my favorite things about the first ‘X-Men’ was Magneto’s story, the concentration camp and the Nazi sequences. It’s really interesting how the X-Men universe can play very real and interconnect with our own history. READ MORE – Anna Smith (TimeOut London)

Other T & T Superhero Posts:

Tinsel & Tine: Simply Marvel-ous: The 4 Comic Book Movies You …

Tinsel & Tine: Burnin Hot! – IRON MAN 3

Tinsel & Tine: Robust: MAN OF STEEL

LAMB Score: 3.5 out of 5

Philly Film Blog