(if you can’t wait to hear more, there’s a teeny tiny segment on what this is, what it does, and how I’m going to use it, about seven minutes into Episode 59 of The Voicemail).Â
*Where am I going? First to Scotland, for comedy-based shenanigans at the EDINBURGH FRINGE festival and then, after that, straight onto Finland for much musical merriment at FLOW FESTIVAL.
Right, let’s get one thing absolutely clear: the first solo Wolverine film, or to give it its full title: X-Men Origins: Wolverine, was terrible. Arguably, second only to X-Men 3 (or X-Men: The Last Stand, depending on what side of the Atlantic you’re on) as being the worst X-Men film to date and it was not going to take much to do better.
And yet, what with early dicking about on the director front (we’ll come back to this later) and one of Marvel’s most ferocious characters being restrained enough to fit under a 12A rating, I stepped into the cinema with a touch of concern. I’d read a few (but not many) reviews, and early signs were good(ish); with an open mind, I sat down for The Wolverine.
For those that haven’t been paying attention, Wolverine is one of my all time favourite comic book characters. Wolverine #90 (Google it) was the first comic book I ever owned, and ever since he’s been my mainstay and anchor to the Marvel Universe. Fans of the comic books will know that the character has deep links with Japan, both in story and mythology, and so it follows that the land of the rising sun is the back drop for Hugh Jackman’s latest outing as the adamantium-clawed X-Man.
About Mr Jackman…
The Wolverine marks the sixth time the Aussie has played Logan and he has never looked better. Since seeing the film  I’ve been revisiting the earlier X-Men films and it is, quite frankly, incredible how much bigger he is. How much more Logan he is. Swagger, confidence, ‘Bub‘, it’s there. He has never been more Wolverine and this is best take on the character to date. I’ll say it again: he is HUGE, and it works.
– Wolverine from The Wolverine could eat two Wolverines from X-Men for breakfast –
Back to the film…
Directed by James Mangold, The Wolverine picks up with our eponymous hero dealing with the fallout of the events of X-Men 3 – hiding away from the world, and himself. However, when an old friend from Japan comes calling to repay a favour, things just go from bad to worse.
I mentioned earlier about the directorial ‘issues’ that faced the film. James Mangold is a competent director – I really enjoyed his take on 3:10 to Yuma and Walk the Line is pretty darn good too – but the problem, or what I thought would be a problem, is that he’s no Darren Aronofsky.
Indulge me for a second, a couple of years ago Aronofsky was signed onto direct The Wolverine. I wrote at the time (during my 1400 word love letter to his film-making) something like:
As a character, Logan deals with many, many problems within; memory loss, heartache, blood lust, a constant battle with the feral side of his nature that he keeps locked up and away from the human race, a healing factor that, while keeping long term injury at bay, does not shield him from any pain he might endure… This is what excites me.
–
These themes, these issues if you will, in the hands of Aronofsky are all ripe for his visceral style of film-making. In the very first X-Men film, Rogue asks Logan [about his claws]: “When they come out, does it hurt?â€Â Logan’s response is almost muted through the pain he is so numbed to by now; “Every time.â€
– That one response. Those simple two words. They – to me at least – signify everything that could be great about an Aronofsky take on this flawed, yet supremely (anti-)heroic comic book character. The pain. The anguish. The day to day struggle with the ‘red mist’…
It was set to be unlike any ‘comic book film’ you had ever seen. And I was busting a gut to see it.
As history now tells us, Aronofsky did six months work on the film, then pulled. Citing not wanting to be apart from his family as his reasons, rumours were afoot that it was in fact ‘creative differences’ that led him to part ways with FOX (reluctant to put an R/18 rating against their golden goose)- and Mangold was brought in in his place.
It was hard to watch a film, knowing what might’ve been BUT – and this is a huge BUT – there are still elements of Aronofsky there. Hugh Jackman was a big champion of Darren’s work (having worked with him previously on The Fountain) and worked solidly with him to deliver a worthy vision for the second Wolverine film (and genuinely wanted to make it up to the fans post Origins), so it is with thanks to the film’s star that the quality of that original vision remains at the core.
The Wolverine is not your traditional comic book film. I wouldn’t even go so far as to say that The Wolverine is an action film. It’s a character study, really, of our hero – what makes him tick, how he works and, ultimately, how he reacts under pressure. We’ve not seen this character in this situation before and, especially so far away from home, it makes for an enjoyable watch.
There are a few missteps, of course there are, but they can be forgiven as The Wolverine really does reward as the Wolverine film we have been all waiting for. Who cares if it’s lacking in mutants? Ghostly apparitions from previous films don’t bother me either. All I can say is, by the time the credits roll, you’ll be left feeling that you’ve actually been shown the level at which all future Wolverine films should be set. It’s just a shame that a) we had to sit through Origins to get here (that aside, the book is one of the best damn things I’ve ever read – so you should get that, like now) and b) we lost out on seeing the Aronofsky take.
Ah well, there’s always next time…
In closing, out of the six X-Men universe films to date, I would put The Wolverine in at a close number two (just under First Class). By that measurement, that means you should go and see it – right away. Right?
Whatley out.
PS. The mid-credits teaser is a doozy, definitely stay for that.
PPS: If you’re new to the X-Men franchise, which my plus one was, I strongly recommend watching the video below. Hell, even if you’re not new to the franchise, it’s still worth a watch. It’s funny, and it’s a decent refresher too.
And I’m not kidding. PACIFIC RIM was incredible. Just incredible. It’s everything you could want from a GIANT ROBOTS vs MONSTERS movie and more. Much, much more.
First off, if you only take one thing away from this review make it be this:
SEE PACIFIC RIM AT THE CINEMA. SEE IT BIG. SEE IT LOUD. BUT SEE IT HOW IT IS MEANT TO BE SEEN.Â
Both the Kaiju (the monsters) and the Jaegers (the robots) are huge. Monstrous even. And they have to be seen in IMAX to fully appreciate the magnitude of it all. But the spectacle of it all isn’t the only thing worth investing your time in, oh no. The story is actually fairly awesome, as is the emotional centre that sits within, underneath all that armour. As much as the trailer(s) would have you believe otherwise, PACIFIC RIM is not 131mins of non-stop gigantic city battles. It really isn’t.
There is humanity and story underneath and that itself is brought to life by a trio of decent leading actors. First, Charlie Hunnum, as our number one guy, Raleigh Becket, holds the film together really well and is not only our way in but also our way through this brave new world that we live in; supporting him we have the bloody fantastic Idris Elba (as Jaeger veteran Stacker Pentecost) and Rinko Kikuchi (as mystic Jaeger research assistant, Mako Mori). All three are great independently, but par excellence when thrown together – and it’s fortunate that that happens often.
The supporting characters are slightly one dimensional and, in places, seemingly only around for light relief. However each has a bearing on the story in some respect (again – I mention story – there is a lot of it here, and some smarts behind the Why? too) and each is given their time to shine… just.
The Good:
ALL OF THE GIANT THINGS (I may have mentioned this already)
The lead characters are, as mentioned, all really well fleshed out.
The title sequence: when it hits, it blows you away how much prologue you’ve just been given.
The CGI is second to none; you will believe these robot,s and these monsters, exist.
On a related note: this isn’t Transformers. The fight scenes are clear, there are rarely any cutaways and basically, you get to see EVERYTHING.
The Bad:
The story might be pretty good but the script, in places, is shockingly bad. If you’ve seen any of the trailers then you know that CANCELLING THE APOCALYPSE is possibly the singular most ridiculous line you’ve heard all year (well, outside of ‘UNLEASH THE WORLD ENGINE’ anyway). While they are few and far between, there are some humdingers in there and they CLUNK when they hit.
I mentioned one-dimensional characters earlier, there are a few – given the effort that goes into making so much of this world believable (especially the monster-ravaged China Town), it’s frustrating to experience so many unbelievable characters – and the acting isn’t super either.
There’s a bit, that I can’t talk about because it’s a bit spoilery, but when it happens you will, like me, scream at the screen: ‘WHAT?! WE HAD THAT THE WHOLE TIME?!’ – you wait, you’ll see.
The good news is, the bad is so far out-weighed by the awesome you can forgive PACIFIC RIM its shortcomings. It is an astonishing film and it is, without doubt, the best giant robots vs monsters film you will have ever seen.
I’m going to close off with something I read recently over by Tyler Cowen (on a blog post about how China is reshaping Hollywood):
You will note that in Pacific Rim they do not kiss, respect and loyalty to family are major motives in the plot, and there is nothing approaching a nude scene, except when the female lead sneakingly admires the torso of the male lead.
In a summer of mega-superheroes and leading men who always get the girl, PACIFIC RIM is a respectful giant of a movie, that stands up not only against the blockbusters of its ilk, but also against the better natures of some of the more lower budget efforts floating around too.
It’s the first time in my life that I’d ran that far and it was awesome. Some of you will know that I only started running in January of this year. I don’t know where it came from, but it’s something I’m sticking with.
I’ve been through injury (twice) but a positive mental attitude, and a damn good physio, saw me through. Some of you may also know that this past week I have been horrendously under the weather. Having been knocked down by sunstroke this time last weekend, I picked up a virus soon after and have been flat out in bed and without training for five days. At one point, I very nearly had to pull out. So, yeah. There was that.
But then the day came, and I endured. Not only was it my first ever 10k today but it was also my first ‘proper’ run, as in organised like, y’know? 25,000 people ran The British 10k today, and I was just one of them. But wow wow wow wow WOW, what an amazing feeling it was! The atmosphere, the crowds, the camaraderie… all of it, just amazing. I ran the first 5k (my average running distance) in what seemed like no time at all. Truth is, I just ran it without even thinking. The energy of the people around me just kept me going.
Around 8k, as we looped over Westminster Bridge, it hit me: the heat, the stamina (or lack thereof), and just knowing that I was so close too… I knew I needed to walk for a bit. But again, the cheers lift your up and, after a rejig of my playlist, I was running again.
My total time? 70mins 38secs. Not bad for my first time, I’d say. And, with a medal around my neck and over £500 raised for CALM, I’m a very happy Whatley indeed.
As some of you may know, I started running this year and, aside from an old injury rearing its ugly head, so far it’s going pretty well. Earlier this year, when I was bragging about healthy I was being to the team at CALM, they challenged me to do something worthwhile with my new found hunger for the road and raise money for charity.
A friend of mine just dropped these two mixes just onto Soundcloud. Recorded at the Concord in Brighton back in August 2001, this an utter find. To quote:
A rare DJ set by The Avalanches, recreating their popular album Since I Left You but with many additions.
Clearly I don’t own the rights to either this mix or the original music, but it’s been over 10 years since I was given these mp3s as a treat by the sound team at one of their live performances, and thought it time to share this awesome mix and to remind you all of The Avalanches.
No, I’m not sure either. In the meantime, I’ll just leave this here:
Example: a Twitter user is paid by a brand owner or marketing practitioner specifically to use Twitter to promote a brand, product or service. The brand owner or marketing practitioner should ensure that the Twitter user discloses the payment by including #ad within their tweet. As tweets are limited to 140 characters, the use of the #ad hashtag allows maximum room for the message itself, but also makes clear to consumers that the message has been paid for.
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