Adam Truscott Says The Wolverine Ain’t Bambi After All

The One Where I Defend The Wolverine (And Last Stand), Then Run For The Hills With Logan

I can keep this mercifully brief due to us already having covered Wolverine. If you want a one-liner, I’d say go see it. And beforehand I never thought I’d be recommending it.

Well that’s a relief. I went in to a double bill fearing the worst, and came out pleasantly surprised.

In regards to Wolverine it wasn’t entirely down to Jackman, either. I think its safe to say he’s made amends for making me endure Les Mis (TWICE!) now, though. Here, as expected, he’s ripped. He owns the role. And he gets a one-liner that may top his excellent cameo in First Class. So he’s great. But what surprised me even more was the look and feel of the film. Much had been made of Logan finally getting to Japan, and I’m OK admitting a lot of that was lost on me. I don’t read comics, you see. Never have. But what is clear, is that the environment is perfect. The fact the story tries (bravely) to go full circle is even better. I just hadn’t expected the level of ambition shown.

That said, the film is formulaic. No more to a fault than Pacific Rim or Iron Man 3. But if you’re expecting anything more than Wolverine being out and about in Japan and fighting ninjas, (and samurai’s!), then I can see why you’d be left flat. That was all I wanted though, so I’m OK with being satisfied by it.

Going into the film I’d been miffed to say the least about it being 12A. I’d lost track of the films journey and not realised how influential Darren Aronofsky was being in getting that hard R. I’ve just read that they probably shot both versions, so I guess we’ll see when it hits Blu Ray. Here though, Mangold is right. “This ain’t Bambi”.

I’d decided within 10 minutes that my 6-year-old wouldn’t be seeing it (in the cinema at least). The opening blast leaves Jackman like a reject from Event Horizon. It’s a horrific image – and again, a brave one. Then we get the first of many dream sequences that has Wolverine fully stab a female, who then screams as she loses buckets of blood. They went in hard – and I think that peaked my interest. In all honesty, that then tails off. The ending does being a mesh of CGI as you’ve read – and the blood doesn’t flow as freely as you’ve been led to believe. But there’s enough there to think that they’ve finally made the Wolverine film you’ve all seemingly been waiting for.

I wasn’t even bothered by the urinating bear. And having read about it, and the tonal shift of the film, I was genuinely worried this would be another Indy VI moment. It’s not, and I actually loved the opening scenes of Logan being Rambo in the woods. Again, I’m no comic book buff so this may betray the character in some unholy way. For me it was a logical progression of where he’d end up. Especially after the critical backlash of Last Stand. Run for the hills, Logan! The one/two star reviews can’t hurt you there!

I don’t want to damage any credibility I may have left after I savaged bits of Pacific Rim. But I’ve always found the Last Stand backlash a little harsh. I’m not sure there’s a better example of it being bad to have known so much about characters going into a film. For me, it just plays out. It’s clear characters don’t get the right amount of screen time. It’s clear there’s too much going on. But as a 6-year-old, I think Ethan would say it was his favourite. And Spiderman 3 is probably his most watched Spiderman too. So maybe there’s a message in there. You know. For adults that go to see movies about comic book heroes and forget they’re not 6 anymore.

Go fuck yourself, pretty boy.