The Wolverine identity crisis

The Wolverine was released in theaters this weekend and the pre-Wolvie hype did not channel the amount of gigawatts as it did the last time Logan had his solo act. Why? The imbalance between expectations and results ratio was out of sorts, due to the massive expectations placed on Origins during Fox's first go around with a Wolverine spin off. Make no mistake, I liked Origins, but let's face it, it was an action sequence sandwich with a side of salad and no dressing.

Subjectively, it was the tits; objectively, it was the shits. However, the real reason why comes from the development of PCDKs, the syndrome recently placed in the DSM-IV. Since 2008, the amount of viewers affected with symptoms has grown exponentially; symptoms include darker, reality-based demands on campy, fantasy fiction films, Oscar worthy expectations from superfluous character actors, and the push towards a more centralized, universal theme with marginalized, deep material, to just name a few. 

If you don't know what I'm talking about by now, I'm referring to Post-Cinematic Dark Knight syndrome along with the now effervescent, colloquial phrase "the dark knight treatment".

Well, well, well what do we have here? The reboot within a spin-off film, formerly known as Wolverine: Origins, is finally here. WARNING this review is spoiler-free for the most part; I will not give any major details about the plot or conclusion of the movie. If you want to get to the point, skip to the bottom and work your way up. If you like the extra bacon, cheese, and calories then continue on. 

The film was directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma), produced by Laura Shuler Donner (the queen bee behind the X-men franchise and wife of the genius who directed Superman 2), and backed and distributed once again by 20th century Fox. 

The general premise of the movie, displayed in the theatrical trailer, is centered around the titular hero's travels to Japan and his confrontation with the previously inconceivable opportunity to end his eternal plague of life. 

Since when has life been a plague? To the mutant who physically cannot die, life is as plague-filled as an Exodus verse. Well, I'm no immortal or theologian but it sounds like we're in a hell of an existential ride. ¡Vamos!

Okay, five words and one comma: Knight and Day, with claws. If you are not familiar with the film, it is another work of art by James Mangold, with Cameron Diaz and the Hollywood prime minister of scientology himself, Tom Cruise. Basically, the Wolverine teeter-totters between establishing it's identity, loosely similar to the execution of Knight and Day.

Throughout the movie, I found myself questioning whether the Wolverine was an action movie or romantic-drama (not in the vein of the Notebook or the English Patient). Imagine the film Terminator with more sex scenes and romantic relationship development between Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese.

Hold your horses, I'm not making a direct hypothetical comparison between the two films, but the lack of romance or the excess of imminent danger created in the Terminator gave the movie it's firm identity and allowed you to focus on the bad-ass futuristic robot trying to perpetuate the dominance of his artificial intelligent kind.

The Wolverine's action sequences were extremely ambitious and Wolvie opened up a can of whoop ass on plenty of Yakuza goons, but they felt more like cutaways than embedded into the movie. The romantic scenes between Logan and his love interest were believable, but they were not genuinely honest.

Lack of chemistry? Not quite, the chemistry was there; however, the issue derives from the lack of development of romance between the characters. The surface was scraped leaving the viewer with nothing but shaved ice. We like it, but where's the flavor?

In the film Bourne Identity, the romance was a cutaway amongst the action suspense. In the Wolverine, the romance lingered, and rightfully so, but it's lack of commitment to that important aspect of the story muddled things up, in reference to its genre.

Aside from that, Logan's individual scenes where the "pity for the eternal vagabond" was supposed to be milked from the viewer, did not do a very good job at milking. I credit that to lack of investment in the scene.

Not from the recipient of the Oscar nomination for best actor last season, but the Oscar award winning director James Mangold. Did he or did he not let you wallop in your thoughts with scenes of Angelina Jolie as the caustic Lisa in the film Girl, Interrupted or Reese Witherspoon as warm, yet heavy June Carter Cash in the film Walk the Line? Well, he did which is what got those two lovely ladies the Academy hardware to prove it. 

Ultimately, I never felt Logan's pain or sensed that his life was an eternal damnation. If anything, Jean Valjean was laissez-faire about his existence and didn't develop enough French-noire-black-and-white-coffee-shop depression on screen to evoke the "awhhh poor baby Wolverine moments" from the crowd.

Compiling those three points together create an overall lack of investment, or one could say "equal balance", with the three focal points of the film (action, romance, and drama), which, in theory, should be avoided at all costs when developing a summer blockbuster. Along with the movie's "equal balance" of genre's, the film's purpose was ambiguous as well. 

Typically, movies have a general purpose. For instance, some movies have the sole purpose of generating dollar signs, some to make the audience laugh their bowels out, or some to mundanely entertain.

Leaving personal expectations at the ticket kiosk, why does the screenwriter, director, producer want me to spend money to see their movie?

Since the Wolverine is a summer blockbuster, I would like to think that it's purpose was to make money and entertain. It will make money, that's for sure. The purpose is not coherent until about 68% of the movie is finished. At that point, you can finally forget any miscellaneous misfortunes the movie might had made up until then.

Another minor issue with the movie comes from its obvious and weak attempts at concealing information, forcing the "target audience" to ask 17 questions during the movie.

These tactics cause the movie to slow down, in a sense, because instead of driving the plot forward to progress, you're riding along searching for answers to previously mentioned developments. No, there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing that; however, the movie is still slowed down by it.

In summation, the movie is a slow paced film, that really and truly never picks up steam despite the strip tease it does. This further reinforces the movies questionable purpose because once you have your answer the response warranted is that of an "oh" instead of a more surprised "ahhhh". Which makes you ask, why bother? 

Okay now to the fun part, where I tell you my blatant, subjective thoughts on the movie.

Firstly, I would like to say that I absolutely liked the movie and would definitely go see it again, during a matinee.

Secondly, the critical statements I made above contributed to utter fact that the movie is boring, yes, boring in bold letters. I know the slow and steady win the race, but damn, if there's not enough drama to keep me anchored to the script or if the director doesn't take the time to fully invest into the dramatic aspects of the source material, why should I?

Thirdly and finally, I had an immensely disproportionate, prior knowledge about the film because I have read the story arc (from the comic) that the film was loosely based on. In saying that, I think that this is a great stepping stone for a deeper development of the Wolverine story and this movie is essentially the Batman Begins, Man of Steel, and the Amazing Spiderman of the X-men franchise.

Along with that, I thought the last 30 minutes (including post credit scene) could've been shown in a short film fashion, to save time and energy, and it would have been a tad bit better than the movie as a whole. But hey, who am I?

Now that you have all those letters, you're wondering whether the Wolverine is worthwhile or if it is worth it to wait a while and see it. Well, there are three types of people who will most likely see this movie: the fanboy crowd, the "imfamiliarenoughwiththesourcematerialbecauseiwikieverthingandwatchedtheanimatedshow" crowd, or the "target audience" crowd. 

Each group will most likely have three different sets of loose expectations. The fanboys probably expect a good movie representation of the Wolverine comic and less importantly a make up for the previous standalone debacle.

The hybrid crowd probably expects slicing and dicing with high octane like action sequences and an overall bad-ass, dark knight like movie, and more importantly a make up for the previous standalone debacle.

The "target audience" probably expects a nice, good summer movie to tell their friends about and possibly learn something new about the material. Most importantly the "target audience" probably has not seen Wolverine Origins or won't let it affect their expectations. Find who you most associate with and follow me.

Fanboys, I must say, this is possibly the most accurate display of a film representation of a comic book that I've ever seen. Since you know what to expect from the source material and since the film doesn't deviate much or take as many liberties as it could from the source material, you will ultimately enjoy your movie experience with minor criticism. I know you've already seen it because of your loyalty and support, so no need to waste my time.

Hybrids, strap in because this will be a long tumultuous ride for you. While this movie from a critical standpoint makes up for Origins flaws, it's slow, drawn out, elusive plot will ultimately put your movie-boner to sleep. Especially, if you're expecting the Dark Knight.

Whether you like it or dislike it, will come down to your personality. The more forgiving, patient crowd will be understanding and have a "half full" outlook, but the wrathful, impatient crowd will be disappointed (yes disappointed) and have a "half empty" outlook and honestly might contemplate walking out of the theater and off of a ledge.

The "target audience" will probably have the most luck. This film is catered to you and you will laugh at all the "inhumorous" , cheesy jokes presented. You will "ohhh" and "ahhh" when the action sequences commence. You will walk out the movies as soon as the credits hit the screen saying "that was a good movie". And you're right, in your precious ignorance, the movie is actually good.

Finally, I don't rate with stars or grades or numbers. I base my ratings on the expectations of the film production and whether it's worth it to see it at the midnight showing, opening weekend, within a couple of weeks, whenever you have free time, illegal online stream, dollar theater, Redbox, premium cable, borrow the dvd, or Netflix.

The Wolverine was good movie, accurate film adaptation, and a indecisive snoozer yet it is definitely worth going to see in a couple of weeks. The film production wanted to make loads of money and satisfy the target audience, while staying true to the source material. All of the film's goals were met, which is why the movie is ultimately successful in my eyes.