It’s a weird time we live in when I can describe a film as “cheap” because it “only” cost around $100 million to produce. But such is the case with this smaller-scale X-Men spin-off. As such, while there is little chance that the film will open to the heights of the $85 million of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it doesn’t have to. The first (and much-loathed) Wolverine spin-off film had quick-kill 2.11x weekend-to-final multiplier (the X-Men franchise has famously short legs), ending its domestic run with $180 million and earning a solid $393 million worldwide on a $150 million budget.
That 2009 release was the summer kick-off film, which is a huge advantage that this late-summer entry won’t have. But again, when you’re around $50 million cheaper to produce than your last entry, you don’t have to make nearly as much money to be every bit as profitable. And of course four years is along time in terms of overseas expansion. Toss in a 3D conversion and you have a recipe for something akin to Star Trek Into Darkness or G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
In other words, expect a smaller opening weekend and a smaller domestic total, with a somewhat larger overseas take that will more than make up the difference. Not that much of this matters really. 20th Century Fox already has a seventh X-Men picture coming next summer (note – stay for the first part of the credits) and Hugh Jackman will play Logan in one form or another until they drag him away. And since the rest of the cast is filled with unknowns or Japanese actors who aren’t terribly well-known outside of Japan, no one really has anything to gain from this film’s success other than Jackman and perhaps director James Mangold, who gets his pick of projects if this takes off.
So much of James Mangold’s The Wolverine is explicitly rooted in character and small-scale action that its almost disheartening when the picture goes somewhat absurdly larger-than-life in the final two reels. For most of its two-hour running time, it’s trying its hardest not to be the biggest, baddest blockbuster on the block. It’s an impressively scaled-to-life melodrama that just happens to star an iconic comic book character. It’s less concerned with being a major comic book superhero franchise entry than with just being a good movie.
The majority of the picture feels cheap, in a good way, as it contains actual story, somewhat developed characters, and extended moments where those people actually converse with each other in order to reveal plot and character. Yes, there are moments of action, but the majority of the action is real-world plausible and it’s shot and edited for geographical and chronological clarity. More the majority of its running time, The Wolverine feels like an old-school 1990′s action drama, with a dash of family melodrama and a mix of iconic samurai/cowboy imagery tossed in for good measure.
If anything, the film gets the two best action sequences out of the way in the first act, with a big-scale fight sequence and a thrilling (but brief) interlude atop a speeding bullet train. The climax is unfortunately mired in somewhat silly and convoluted plot mechanics, with action for the sake of action and the kind of overtly goofy CGI-infused spectacle that both betrays what came before and doesn’t really deliver what it’s teasing. It’s unfortunate that the filmmakers lack the courage of their convictions, but it’s not a fatal blow.
The plot, involving Logan getting involved with the family politics of a dying industrialist, is loosely based on the classic Frank Miller/Chris Claremont story arc from 1982. The film actually takes place long after X-Men: The Last Stand, with Logan literally haunted by Jean Grey in somewhat comical dream sequences (Famke Janssen spends the entire movie in bed). The first act is downright superb, with the distinctly real-world sensibility reminding us of the first (and best) part of Bryan Singer’s original X-Men thirteen years ago.
Hugh Jackman can of course play this role in his sleep, and it’s to his credit that he does not. Although if I may nitpick, the overall arc of the film, Logan realizing that he can still be a killing machine and a good person as long as his claws are pointed in the right direction, doesn’t quite work. In short, this Rambo III riff doesn’t quite make sense in an X-Men film series where we’ve never really seen Logan go “berserker” at the wrong targets.
The film looks terrific, although there are clear signs here and there that they didn’t really shoot in Japan. Mangold and cinematographer Ross Emery create a visually pleasing and authentically real-world milieu that again adds to the “this is a real movie” feeling that grounds the first 3/4 of the film. The 3D is absolutely pointless, but the print I saw was bright enough so that the 3D didn’t actually harm the experience. Also adding to the authenticity is the casting of actual Japanese actors and large portions of dialogue that are actually in Japanese, sometimes without subtitles.
I could have done without a shoe-horned romantic subplot, especially as Jackman has far more chemistry with platonic companion Rila Fukushima (as the enjoyably bad-ass Yuka) than with Tao Okamoto (the granddaughter of the would-be dying industrialist). The film won’t win any feminism awards, but the picture does pass the Bechdel test, complete with a major female villain to boot (Svetlana Khodchenkova as Viper). Okamoto is fine and she gets an arc of her own, but she is somewhat hampered by a plot that can’t decide if she is actually in distress for much of the running time (she is constantly being captured by forces that may or may not be malicious).
The first 80-90 minutes of The Wolverine are pretty terrific, but even the eye-rolling finale can’t completely mar the low-key quality of what came before. Jackman is committed per usual, there are some terrific action beats, and the whole enterprise feels like the best kind of comic book movie, in that it’s merely a character-driven action drama that happens to have a superhero in it. If only they had saved money on the special effects-filled finale and then used that savings as ammunition to allow the film to go out with the R-rating that it badly needs. The first big action sequence especially cries out for actual blood and slightly more coherent cutting that an R-rating would allow.
Nonetheless, The Wolverine is a big improvement over X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I’d say it’s about as good as X-Men: The Last Stand but bear in mind I don’t dislike that somewhat unfairly maligned third entry (it’s a rushed B-level threequel following an A-level sequel). The Wolverine‘s best attribute is that it isn’t trying to be the biggest film of the summer, nor is it trying to be the biggest X-Men adventure yet made. It is often quiet, usually rooted in character, and plays like an old-school action picture. It’s the comic book superhero equivalent of a rock-solid B-movie, and I mean that as a compliment.
