WOLVERINE (James Mangold, 2013)

[tabuno]

It’s hard not to like the substance and stylish action in this action-thriller movie set primarily in Japan. There is plenty of emotive connections, even with the beginning scene which in itself has potent appeal even though the plot seems a bit manipulative as well as the climatic ending which in some ways in a humanitarian letdown for the sake of a clever ending twist. Nevertheless, the periodical surreal dream scenes add much to Wolverine’s psychological character and the other male-female relational developments are well done. Some of the motivations of the characters are undeveloped, especially the double-cross and this character’s demise seemed overly too simple. The action scenes for the most part are decent, though there’s one which seems almost overly Japanese suffering dramatized with Wolverine slogging away down a street under fire. The Japanese layered cultural backdrop was well done on par with Lost in Translation (2003).

Nevertheless, this movie unlike Elecktra (2005) with Jennifer Garner attached much more burn and flash action focus for its sizzle whereas Jennifer Garner had a script that was nicely balanced in the Asian ways of fighting and mental discipline as well as incorporating an even more empathic and emotive underpinnings for its storyline. Even The Green Lantern (2011) offered Ryan Reynolds a consistently more solid humanistic focus with its solid storyline or Spiderman 2 (2004) and Spiderman 3 (2007) that offered even stronger superhero relational and ethical dilemmas.