redfiona99 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
redfiona99) wrote2009-05-20 06:24 pm
redfiona99) wrote2009-05-20 06:24 pm
Wolverine Review
Which is long.
I feel I should point out that I enjoyed myself immensely. And that there will be almost no criticism of the film. Mostly because it really was a comic book come to life so there was none of this logic plot nonsense, and it gets by on rule of cool. Which is fine, because that is the fuel that comic books run on. It had less to say than Watchmen did, but said it concisely and didn't let the occasional moralising get in the way of the plot.
The best thing I can say is that the film didn't disappoint me, which given how excited I was for it is a big thing. I haven't been so excited since Lord of the Rings.
Young Wolverine was adorable, but I think Young Sabretooth was even more so. And anyone who didn't think the film gave Sabretooth good reasoning, is apparently missing the subtlety of the film /end sarcasm. Dude, the reasoning you saw in the film is about as much as he ever gets. He loves/loathes Logan and beyond that, the world can burn. (Even when his son appears in the comics, that's still pretty much it, but then again, Graydon is a loathsome creep). They've also got an interesting take on nature v nurture. Also whee! Peter O'Brian.
If I hadn't recently seen Watchmen, I think I would have been more impressed with the opening, which did the same thing as Watchmen did but not quite as well. I'm still wondering if its supposed to show Logan becoming more disillusioned with war, or Creed getting more uncontrollable, or both.
There is nothing bad about the next bit. I was right about Deadpool working better for Ryan Reynolds than Hannibal King did, mostly because this Marvel-verse can cope better with a smart-mouthed git. Agent Zero, while being a wanker of unspeakable proportions was also v. cool, even if I did spend an excessive amount of time trying to figure out what his power was (post wiki-ing - all my guesses were wrong).
I'd forgotten quite how quietly adorable Hugh Jackman can make Wolverine, when he's not being grr argh.
It was interesting how plausible it was for Sabretooth to have gone rogue, even if you were reasonably sure he hadn't. And wee! baby Scottie Summers, who they give some actual character to in this one. I mean he worked out how to stop the laser beams himself.
I think the little old couple were vital for the theme of the film. Yeah, I know I'm probably alone in thinking that the writers even had an over-arching theme, but I think they did. I don't think they pulled it off very well, but it was definitely there. They are the anvilicious portion of the theme. I still want Agent Zero to be even more dead than he is for killing them though. On the subject of themes, it's quite interesting how Stryker is all about controlling people ("Mutants, I don't hate them. They must be controlled.", "He will obey my commands" etc) and that that's what his son's power ends up being. I'm really hoping the poor heterochromatic kid in ice is not Jason Stryker, although I'm not sure it would make me any happier if it happened to be one of Weapons 0-9. (If anyone wants to know, Weapon 12 is my favourite, Fantomas FTW!)
Back to the film. I thought that Fred Dukes was the Blob's name but then I didn't think he had the right power. Then, of course, I discovered that I'd got his power the wrong way round. And of course, if there's going to be one man who escapes, it's going to be yer man Gambit.
Okay, I'm sorry, but I'm still in love with Gambit. Total and utter love. I think part of it was because I knew they wouldn't get it right. And they didn't. But they got it right enough, which is what matters, because, lets be honest, no-one is ever going to be Gambit. I was right to trust the casting director, because, much as with Wolverine and Deadpool, they got it as right as it was going to get. Apparently his accent wavered, I say apparently as I need to explain something - I can't tell most regional US accents apart from each other. I can tell the difference between say Vince Russo and Jeff Jarrett, but that's the kind of contrast that's needed for to be able to hear any difference, so it's not like I minded the wandering accent. They did a good job and Gambit was suitably obnoxiously charming, even when stealing bits of Han Solo's plot from Star Wars.
I had great fun playing spot the future X-men in the scene with the kiddies. Obviously there was Scott and Emma, I'm reasonably sure I saw Storm, Quicksilver, Banshee and Toad too. Also, snerk at them being the cause of the Three Mile Island incident. Weapon XI looked plausible. It was quite funny, Penzy, who I was watching the film with, turned round and asked me, when Stryker told Wolverine about Sabretooth killing Bradley and mentioned Wade being dead too, what was going on, you don't hire someone that famous just for an extended cameo. I just shrugged and at the end he was grateful that I had.
Deadpool is yet another example of exactly why I hate Stryker. He just twists things and removes all of someone's personality from them (Jason, Wade, Logan's at the end of this) and thinks he's doing the world a favour, and gah! Gah! I say. I think Brian Cox made him far more vile, but this Stryker wasn't doing a bad job either.
Oh Sabretooth, you really don't ever change, do you. "No one gets to kill you but me." I think they really nailed Sabretooth, who is utterly without any redeeming features. There was a really good comic once where he had a sidekick called Birdie and, without nice-ifying him, they made him interesting and relatable and then stuff happened and you realised that he hadn't changed and that everything is to do with how you look at it and so very good. And the film captured that, this idea that Victor Creed is the hero (or anti-hero in his clearer moments) of his own story.
Loved the scene with the brothers tag teaming Deadpool.
The adamantium bullets or rather 'I don't plan on killing him, I just don't want him to remember my extra-legal armed millitia', were a stroke of the kind of slithery, horrifying cleverness one expects of William Stryker, and while nowhere near on a par with what he did to his son, was still horrifiying, because he was just taking that which was Wolverine's away from him without his permission and for such selfish, stupid reasons. Gah! Hate Stryker, so very much.
We got the Logan in Japan ending, which amused me more than it amused my fellow watchers, mostly because I know what happens next. Oh Logan.
Onto a more general topic of whether or not the film is comic canon consistent, well, I'm not sure the comics are comic canon consistent anymore. Certainly Logan's powers and origin match up with his most recent set of origins (as per the Wolverine:Origins comic which![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shebit recommended on fileg's LJ) but I can remember a time not too long ago (so about 8-10 years ago in my comic reading prime) when there was a huge debate as to whether or not the comics had been right to give Logan bone claws when he had his adamantium removed by whoever the bad guy du jour was. Because at that time, Wolverine's power was the healing factor, not the claws, and it was a major retcon and there was the boy comic geek equivalent of them screaming that they'd turned Wolverine into a Mary Sue. So yeah, as long as it hit the right major notes (which it did) the minor details are less important.
Because he was awesome. Because well he managed to get across that Sabretooth is utterly without concience or scrupple, with very little to work with. I kind of feel sorry for Hugh Jackman because he's the 'hero' so he gets to be mostly boring while everyone gets to be all whee! Also the two big NOooooooooos he has to carry off, which work in the comics, mostly because you don't have some silly soundtrack underneath and the characters look less silly.
There was a similar problem with Kayla, and by the way, way to spoil the twist there trailer people.
I feel I should point out that I enjoyed myself immensely. And that there will be almost no criticism of the film. Mostly because it really was a comic book come to life so there was none of this logic plot nonsense, and it gets by on rule of cool. Which is fine, because that is the fuel that comic books run on. It had less to say than Watchmen did, but said it concisely and didn't let the occasional moralising get in the way of the plot.
The best thing I can say is that the film didn't disappoint me, which given how excited I was for it is a big thing. I haven't been so excited since Lord of the Rings.
Young Wolverine was adorable, but I think Young Sabretooth was even more so. And anyone who didn't think the film gave Sabretooth good reasoning, is apparently missing the subtlety of the film /end sarcasm. Dude, the reasoning you saw in the film is about as much as he ever gets. He loves/loathes Logan and beyond that, the world can burn. (Even when his son appears in the comics, that's still pretty much it, but then again, Graydon is a loathsome creep). They've also got an interesting take on nature v nurture. Also whee! Peter O'Brian.
If I hadn't recently seen Watchmen, I think I would have been more impressed with the opening, which did the same thing as Watchmen did but not quite as well. I'm still wondering if its supposed to show Logan becoming more disillusioned with war, or Creed getting more uncontrollable, or both.
There is nothing bad about the next bit. I was right about Deadpool working better for Ryan Reynolds than Hannibal King did, mostly because this Marvel-verse can cope better with a smart-mouthed git. Agent Zero, while being a wanker of unspeakable proportions was also v. cool, even if I did spend an excessive amount of time trying to figure out what his power was (post wiki-ing - all my guesses were wrong).
I'd forgotten quite how quietly adorable Hugh Jackman can make Wolverine, when he's not being grr argh.
It was interesting how plausible it was for Sabretooth to have gone rogue, even if you were reasonably sure he hadn't. And wee! baby Scottie Summers, who they give some actual character to in this one. I mean he worked out how to stop the laser beams himself.
I think the little old couple were vital for the theme of the film. Yeah, I know I'm probably alone in thinking that the writers even had an over-arching theme, but I think they did. I don't think they pulled it off very well, but it was definitely there. They are the anvilicious portion of the theme. I still want Agent Zero to be even more dead than he is for killing them though. On the subject of themes, it's quite interesting how Stryker is all about controlling people ("Mutants, I don't hate them. They must be controlled.", "He will obey my commands" etc) and that that's what his son's power ends up being. I'm really hoping the poor heterochromatic kid in ice is not Jason Stryker, although I'm not sure it would make me any happier if it happened to be one of Weapons 0-9. (If anyone wants to know, Weapon 12 is my favourite, Fantomas FTW!)
Back to the film. I thought that Fred Dukes was the Blob's name but then I didn't think he had the right power. Then, of course, I discovered that I'd got his power the wrong way round. And of course, if there's going to be one man who escapes, it's going to be yer man Gambit.
Okay, I'm sorry, but I'm still in love with Gambit. Total and utter love. I think part of it was because I knew they wouldn't get it right. And they didn't. But they got it right enough, which is what matters, because, lets be honest, no-one is ever going to be Gambit. I was right to trust the casting director, because, much as with Wolverine and Deadpool, they got it as right as it was going to get. Apparently his accent wavered, I say apparently as I need to explain something - I can't tell most regional US accents apart from each other. I can tell the difference between say Vince Russo and Jeff Jarrett, but that's the kind of contrast that's needed for to be able to hear any difference, so it's not like I minded the wandering accent. They did a good job and Gambit was suitably obnoxiously charming, even when stealing bits of Han Solo's plot from Star Wars.
I had great fun playing spot the future X-men in the scene with the kiddies. Obviously there was Scott and Emma, I'm reasonably sure I saw Storm, Quicksilver, Banshee and Toad too. Also, snerk at them being the cause of the Three Mile Island incident. Weapon XI looked plausible. It was quite funny, Penzy, who I was watching the film with, turned round and asked me, when Stryker told Wolverine about Sabretooth killing Bradley and mentioned Wade being dead too, what was going on, you don't hire someone that famous just for an extended cameo. I just shrugged and at the end he was grateful that I had.
Deadpool is yet another example of exactly why I hate Stryker. He just twists things and removes all of someone's personality from them (Jason, Wade, Logan's at the end of this) and thinks he's doing the world a favour, and gah! Gah! I say. I think Brian Cox made him far more vile, but this Stryker wasn't doing a bad job either.
Oh Sabretooth, you really don't ever change, do you. "No one gets to kill you but me." I think they really nailed Sabretooth, who is utterly without any redeeming features. There was a really good comic once where he had a sidekick called Birdie and, without nice-ifying him, they made him interesting and relatable and then stuff happened and you realised that he hadn't changed and that everything is to do with how you look at it and so very good. And the film captured that, this idea that Victor Creed is the hero (or anti-hero in his clearer moments) of his own story.
Loved the scene with the brothers tag teaming Deadpool.
The adamantium bullets or rather 'I don't plan on killing him, I just don't want him to remember my extra-legal armed millitia', were a stroke of the kind of slithery, horrifying cleverness one expects of William Stryker, and while nowhere near on a par with what he did to his son, was still horrifiying, because he was just taking that which was Wolverine's away from him without his permission and for such selfish, stupid reasons. Gah! Hate Stryker, so very much.
We got the Logan in Japan ending, which amused me more than it amused my fellow watchers, mostly because I know what happens next. Oh Logan.
Onto a more general topic of whether or not the film is comic canon consistent, well, I'm not sure the comics are comic canon consistent anymore. Certainly Logan's powers and origin match up with his most recent set of origins (as per the Wolverine:Origins comic which
shebit recommended on fileg's LJ) but I can remember a time not too long ago (so about 8-10 years ago in my comic reading prime) when there was a huge debate as to whether or not the comics had been right to give Logan bone claws when he had his adamantium removed by whoever the bad guy du jour was. Because at that time, Wolverine's power was the healing factor, not the claws, and it was a major retcon and there was the boy comic geek equivalent of them screaming that they'd turned Wolverine into a Mary Sue. So yeah, as long as it hit the right major notes (which it did) the minor details are less important.Because he was awesome. Because well he managed to get across that Sabretooth is utterly without concience or scrupple, with very little to work with. I kind of feel sorry for Hugh Jackman because he's the 'hero' so he gets to be mostly boring while everyone gets to be all whee! Also the two big NOooooooooos he has to carry off, which work in the comics, mostly because you don't have some silly soundtrack underneath and the characters look less silly.
There was a similar problem with Kayla, and by the way, way to spoil the twist there trailer people.
no subject
OOOOH YES.
I loveloveLOVED Schreiber and his Victor. OMFG. I watched the movie twice, and I definitely did that more for him than for Hugh Jackman, whom I do love, but, yeah, he's the "hero" so he was kinda... bland, really.
Every time people bitch about canon, yeah, it's like, hello. Even canon isn't canon. Not when it comes to comics.
no subject