'Wolverine': You Wanted the Animal...You Got It!

by Brett Parker

Watching X-Men Origins: Wolverine really made me yearn for the subtle and effective things Bryan Singer did with this franchise. As director of the first two X-Men movies, Singer seemed more focused on character development and the plot’s social implications than the action. The action scenes, to be sure, were truly awesome, but Singer showed a graceful affection for the material that made us care about the mutants in unexpected ways. Singer’s dramatic angles made for exceptional pop art.

Wolverine has strayed far from Singer’s patient and complex vision for the franchise and seems more concerned with being edible action pop. The film doesn’t attempt the epic emotional adventure of the earlier films but seems content with being a slam-bang popcorn ride that action junkies will eat up. There’s an uneasy feeling that the filmmakers care more about pleasing fanboys than a general crowd of smart moviegoers. If it weren’t for some fun action scenes, super-cool mutants, and Hugh Jackman’s movie star presence, this would truly be cinematic junk food.

Jackman once again steps into the popular role of Logan/Wolverine, the Marvel Comics hero who is the bad-ass warrior of the X-Men crew. Wolverine is an indestructible mutant who can’t be killed, thanks to his regenerative healing powers and his steel skeleton. His most noticeable trait is the steel claws that spring out from his knuckles and can cut through damn near anything. Like a true wolf, Wolverine has a dangerous allure strengthened by his gruff manner and hostile temper. Despite his seemingly-sinister traits, Wolverine has a great deal of good in him, sticking to his own code of right and wrong and protecting both mutants and humans from harm’s way.

The film plunges into Wolverine’s past to answer every question you may have ever had about the mutant and how he came to be. He came into existence somewhere in Canada during the 1800s and has a mutant half-brother named Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) who also has mean claws and animal-like abilities. Since both of these mutants can’t be killed, they decide to become American soldiers and end up fighting in pretty much every single American war (I wonder if they ran into Lt. Dan’s relatives along the way). Noticing their unique abilities, a Government agent named Stryker (Danny Huston) recruits them for a special mutant force in which their superpowers can be used for top secret missions. Eventually, Wolverine grows tired of killing for the government and decides to walk away and retire.

Years pass and Wolverine has taken up the life of a lumberjack in the great American wilderness while shacking up with a sweet-natured schoolteacher (Lynn Collins). Life is simple and happy for our hero, until the day Sabretooth tracks him down and murders his woman out of spite for Wolverine’s abandonment. This gets Logan fired up and thirsty for revenge. Stryker reappears and informs him that Sabretooth may be murdering other mutants and must be stopped. He offers Wolverine a chance to become the ultimate weapon by casing his skeleton in a rare form of metal and becoming unstoppable in his quest to stop Sabretooth. He agrees to go through with this and as he transforms into an indestructible warrior of rage, the plot only gets more complicated from there.

Wolverine is certainly attentive to the elaborate events that have become popular lore within the X-Men comics, yet the film has a hard time ridding the absurdist quality that rides on most comic book concepts. Most comic tales have an absurdity about them, yet great comic book films know how to scan their material for deeper human depths that make these stories feel like they truly matter. Iron Man, for example, wasn’t just an eye-popping action ride centered on a high-tech robot, but also a surprisingly funny and dramatic story of an irresponsible war profiteer who begins to discover a conscience, along with a bruised heart. Wolverine never really ascends to significant heights but seems stalled at the level of lightweight filler. This is curious considering that the director is Gavin Hood, the helmer of brooding and complex dramas such as Tsotsi and Rendition. The evidence on screen makes one wonder how much control Hood actually had over this commercial entertainment. Did the studio and the producers curb him from fully sinking his visionary hooks into this franchise or is this fluff really what Hood wanted to serve up for us? While most talented directors want comic book movies to transcend their pop cheesiness, it’s discomforting to think that a director like Hood wants to revel in it.

It’s disappointing to find Wolverine on a lightweight level, but on that level it works as disposable action fun. Even though the action sequences are heavy in CGI, there’s still some fun thrills to be had. I enjoyed a scene where Wolverine leaps from a motorcycle to slice up a helicopter in flight. There’s a nice early encounter with Cyclops (Tim Pocock) that shows why you should never mess with his sunglasses. Plus most of the action scenes are served by the fact that they contain some of the coolest mutants to ever grace the X-Men universe. Ryan Reynolds uses his trademark wit to make Deadpool a compelling character and it’s wonderful to finally see the awesome Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) find his way to the big screen. With his thick Cajun accent and his deadly manipulation of Poker cards, it’s not hard to see why this roguish charmer is a fan favorite. Kitsch does considerable justice to the character; the only disappointment fans should find with him is that he doesn’t get the amount of screen time he truly deserves.

It’s Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of Wolverine that’s the best thing in this film. Like Christopher Reeve as Superman, Jackman couldn’t embody his superhero’s image more perfectly. I’ve always been impressed by the fact that such a high-spirited Australian gentleman can play this disgruntled Wolf Man so wonderfully. I’ve always thought Jackman would be great as a new age Clint Eastwood; he’s got the squint, the height, and the gruffness down cold. His Wolverine performance this time around only strengthens that conviction. I also found surprising joy in his tough-guy dialogue, which seems to have been written by John Rambo (My favorite line: “You wanted the Animal…you got it!”)

Even though there are countless superheroes more interesting than Wolverine, he rivals Spider-Man as the most popular and legendary character in the Marvel universe. Through the character we can see the typical outsider archetype, that popular Americana kind in which an outlaw figure displays a roguish attitude yet sticks to a strict hero’s code on their own terms. Because we can all feel anger and repression at times, perhaps we find Wolverine most appealing in his ability to turn such rage into an effective way of overcoming his obstacles. By witnessing his releases of rage used for good, perhaps we too find a release for our own anger. We like heroes who know how to take matters into their own hands, even ones who do it with a vengeance.

So does Wolverine do an effective job of illuminating the character’s appeal? For the most part. Is this the best movie that could’ve been made about his origin? Not really. Most importantly, is it worth your money? Let me put it this way, there’s two types of people: those who were furious over X-Men: The Last Stand and those who weren’t. If you find yourself in the latter, you’ll probably enjoy Wolverine.