Wolverine: a review
May. 3rd, 2009 08:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zouzounakiSo, yesterday, my sister and I went to the movies; we still had some monies left over on our gift certificate and, seriously, she has been bugging me about when Wolverine was going to be released since the trailer leaked from ComicCon last year. She is a Liev Schreiber whore, and also a lesbian; you... figure it out, I've given up! Anyway, we decided to do a night show, which we almost never do, because of convenience and also because we wanted a nice, electrified audience, which you usually don't get at a noon matinee show. Which also meant lots of people which meant a bit of anxiety for me, but once we got our tickets and grabbed our favorite seats (we got there a half an hour in advance; really it's the only way I can go to a movie without a full blown panic attack! ;-P) it was awesome.
Yes, I truly, truly liked Wolverine, much more so than any critic I've read (and sometimes I wonder, from the things they've been saying, if we were even watching the same movie) and most likely more than most of my flist. I like Hugh a lot, he's charming and handsome and though not his biggest fan, I am a die-hard X-Men fan so it was a no brainer. Especially because I am indeed an insane Gambit maniac and a fan of so many of the actors individually. Hugh was fantastic, Lynn Collins was a huge surprise, Dom Monaghan for his very small bit was amazingly touching and beautiful, Will.i.am was funky, Ryan Reynolds is, well, freakin' Ryan Reynolds. And Liev. I have to say, my sister finally converted me. I don't think I'd call it the best performance in the movie because Hugh so owns the role of Wolverine, but the strength he was able to bring, and the depth of character--that's how you do it! That's how you use that kind of material to build a real, complex character. Danny Huston was fantastic, but maybe I expected too much from him and it wasn't a complete home run, though he was still pretty spectacular!
And Taylor. You are Gambit now. which means he exists in the real world and I now want to have his really human babies instead of just little pencil and inked ones! xP
The story was mostly a mix of Origins, which I've yet to read, and some very familiar stuff from Weapon X, which isn't an insult: to be true to its sources is the greatest compliment I can give it. I especially loved how it was actually a direct prequel to particularly X-2: X-Men United, which I haven't heard that many people address.
I loved the look at Jason frozen in a cry tank, loved that there was no exposition about it, though the scene turned into talk oh Stryker's son and what had happened to his wife; just the subtle look at the boy's different colored eyes and the way Stryker's touching the glass was an excellent pay-off for me.
For all the praise I'm heaping onto it, I stand by my initial thought that including Scott was a mistake; even though the Emma and Scott interaction made the secret shipper in me squee, he was such a doof and she wasn't the real Emma Frost (just because she can turn her skin to diamond, doesn't make her Emma; as a matter of fact, that was only a second mutation that came on recently, her first being telepathy. My guess is that someone noticed "Diamond Girl" as she was called in some of the early press stuff, pointed out that that was Emma's power and decided to capitalize off of it), and that part of the movie seemed wasted. A character named Dr. Carol Frost is credited (the woman who speaks to Logan before he gets his adamantium injection?), so maybe there's some sort of backstory they've worked out there for the movies. I'm okay with movie!canon, too!
All those mutants and no heavy spot-the-character fan wank? I think I saw Banshee, Quicksilver, someone told me one of them was called Dust and that was about it. Surprise Patrick Stewart was awesome, even if he did look a bit, er, stretched and, well, digital in an attempt to make him look young.
Gambit was as out of place in the story as I pretty much expected him to be but was awesome so screw it. The one thing--one thing--that really bothered me was Remy breaking up Logan and Victor's fight, the logic behind that being... what? He still thinks Logan's one of the guys who took him, I get it, but it was a stupid plot convenience so Victor could escape and that pissed me off, especially because the rest of the plot really wasn't sloppy like that.
Which is something I loved: the pacing. I know some felt it went to fast; I think the actors handled the character development so well that I never gave it a second thought. The chemistry between Hugh and Lynn was fab--I know some thought it was too mushy but I'm a romantic at heart and it rings true to the comics as well as the actors' chemistry so, again, screw it!--and between Hugh and Liev was stunning!
So, as you could probably tell by now, I liked it. Others have questioned my taste in such matters, feel free to do the same but I'm not apologetic for it. I loved Ghost Rider and the Daredevil director's cut. And Punisher: War Zone. The comic book genre, and especially Marvel adaptations, are my life's love so when one hits all the marks like this did, I will gush. And it's a testament that Wolvie's not exactly my favorite of characters and I still thought the movie held up as a film.
So, I got the Deadpool ending! Anyone get Wolvie in Japan?! So, obviously, we got the Deadpool one. Everyone was getting up and making noise, and Stryker came on and they all stood where they were, watched and then a huge bunch of people left. The dude squeezed between my sister and a large party of other folk shuffled off to the aisle but then noticed that neither my sister and I or the others were leaving and stood there.
So, we're killing time as the credits roll by with the thousand names who coiffed Hugh or digitally replaced his ass, and my sister joked, "so, what's the Deadpool ending? He gonna be crawling around on the floor looking for his head?" I think I nearly snorted an entire kernel of popcorn through one nostril.
And then it came on and his hand reached out from under the rubble and... he was groping for his decapitated head! Dudettes, my sister totally called it! Mr. Aisle Dude must have overheard us because he actually looked at my sister and burst out laughing as hard as we were! So much win! xD
Peace, Ghani
Yes, I truly, truly liked Wolverine, much more so than any critic I've read (and sometimes I wonder, from the things they've been saying, if we were even watching the same movie) and most likely more than most of my flist. I like Hugh a lot, he's charming and handsome and though not his biggest fan, I am a die-hard X-Men fan so it was a no brainer. Especially because I am indeed an insane Gambit maniac and a fan of so many of the actors individually. Hugh was fantastic, Lynn Collins was a huge surprise, Dom Monaghan for his very small bit was amazingly touching and beautiful, Will.i.am was funky, Ryan Reynolds is, well, freakin' Ryan Reynolds. And Liev. I have to say, my sister finally converted me. I don't think I'd call it the best performance in the movie because Hugh so owns the role of Wolverine, but the strength he was able to bring, and the depth of character--that's how you do it! That's how you use that kind of material to build a real, complex character. Danny Huston was fantastic, but maybe I expected too much from him and it wasn't a complete home run, though he was still pretty spectacular!
And Taylor. You are Gambit now. which means he exists in the real world and I now want to have his really human babies instead of just little pencil and inked ones! xP
The story was mostly a mix of Origins, which I've yet to read, and some very familiar stuff from Weapon X, which isn't an insult: to be true to its sources is the greatest compliment I can give it. I especially loved how it was actually a direct prequel to particularly X-2: X-Men United, which I haven't heard that many people address.
I loved the look at Jason frozen in a cry tank, loved that there was no exposition about it, though the scene turned into talk oh Stryker's son and what had happened to his wife; just the subtle look at the boy's different colored eyes and the way Stryker's touching the glass was an excellent pay-off for me.
For all the praise I'm heaping onto it, I stand by my initial thought that including Scott was a mistake; even though the Emma and Scott interaction made the secret shipper in me squee, he was such a doof and she wasn't the real Emma Frost (just because she can turn her skin to diamond, doesn't make her Emma; as a matter of fact, that was only a second mutation that came on recently, her first being telepathy. My guess is that someone noticed "Diamond Girl" as she was called in some of the early press stuff, pointed out that that was Emma's power and decided to capitalize off of it), and that part of the movie seemed wasted. A character named Dr. Carol Frost is credited (the woman who speaks to Logan before he gets his adamantium injection?), so maybe there's some sort of backstory they've worked out there for the movies. I'm okay with movie!canon, too!
All those mutants and no heavy spot-the-character fan wank? I think I saw Banshee, Quicksilver, someone told me one of them was called Dust and that was about it. Surprise Patrick Stewart was awesome, even if he did look a bit, er, stretched and, well, digital in an attempt to make him look young.
Gambit was as out of place in the story as I pretty much expected him to be but was awesome so screw it. The one thing--one thing--that really bothered me was Remy breaking up Logan and Victor's fight, the logic behind that being... what? He still thinks Logan's one of the guys who took him, I get it, but it was a stupid plot convenience so Victor could escape and that pissed me off, especially because the rest of the plot really wasn't sloppy like that.
Which is something I loved: the pacing. I know some felt it went to fast; I think the actors handled the character development so well that I never gave it a second thought. The chemistry between Hugh and Lynn was fab--I know some thought it was too mushy but I'm a romantic at heart and it rings true to the comics as well as the actors' chemistry so, again, screw it!--and between Hugh and Liev was stunning!
So, as you could probably tell by now, I liked it. Others have questioned my taste in such matters, feel free to do the same but I'm not apologetic for it. I loved Ghost Rider and the Daredevil director's cut. And Punisher: War Zone. The comic book genre, and especially Marvel adaptations, are my life's love so when one hits all the marks like this did, I will gush. And it's a testament that Wolvie's not exactly my favorite of characters and I still thought the movie held up as a film.
So, I got the Deadpool ending! Anyone get Wolvie in Japan?! So, obviously, we got the Deadpool one. Everyone was getting up and making noise, and Stryker came on and they all stood where they were, watched and then a huge bunch of people left. The dude squeezed between my sister and a large party of other folk shuffled off to the aisle but then noticed that neither my sister and I or the others were leaving and stood there.
So, we're killing time as the credits roll by with the thousand names who coiffed Hugh or digitally replaced his ass, and my sister joked, "so, what's the Deadpool ending? He gonna be crawling around on the floor looking for his head?" I think I nearly snorted an entire kernel of popcorn through one nostril.
And then it came on and his hand reached out from under the rubble and... he was groping for his decapitated head! Dudettes, my sister totally called it! Mr. Aisle Dude must have overheard us because he actually looked at my sister and burst out laughing as hard as we were! So much win! xD
Peace, Ghani
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2009-05-04 02:44 am (UTC)no subject
on 2009-05-04 05:02 pm (UTC)I wunt to have Victor's bbs noa! I know that'd bad, dirty, wrong, but I was just this close to wanting to jump on Stryker and that's so much wronger, so... xD
ETA: Both endings can be found on YouTube, bless 'em! Some people think the chick in the Japanese one is meant to be Yuriko, but mostly only because she's a chick and Japanese and Logan's talking to her! xP
no subject
on 2009-05-04 05:49 pm (UTC)You are so right! I sort of realized it this weekend when FX was showing X2. It addressed a lot of the questions brought on by that movie.
And Taylor. You are Gambit now. which means he exists in the real world and I now want to have his really human babies instead of just little pencil and inked ones! xP
Hehehe, this is so true.
no subject
on 2009-05-04 06:02 pm (UTC)"Yup," I signed, "that's Jason. They're talking about him now!" (By the way, our theater totally sucks for deciding to do open captions on The Soloist instead of Wolverine! I know that dramas are harder to understand without the words but c'mon!)
It should be illegal how awesome Taylor is as Gambit. But it's not, hooray! :-D His accent, spotty as it may have been, still had me with the fangirl tingles all over!