The Wolverine

4.5 stars I'd say. This review is long overdue for me. I enjoyed this movie very much, but more than that, I thought it was a great film. Bryan Singer's X-Men films are breathtaking in their spectacle but this film is equally impressive in its meditative quality. Aside from the action sequences, which are great, and a bit of a wild climax, there is a good bit of downtime in this film during which the film explores Wolverine's struggle with his powers, the cost of those powers, and the meaning of immortality. I don't think the films delves into it as intellectually as it might have, but, by filming it the way he has, James Mangold shows us that the film is a least as concerned with being a story about people and legacy as much as it is with being a "superhero" movie. I have always liked the association of Wolverine with Japan in the comics. It seemed very natural, and I'm glad to see that story translated on film. The theme of Wolverine as a Ronin ties in nicely with the problem Logan has of outliving everyone he may fight for (Yoshiga) or care about (Jean). Lovely storytelling. All in all, I expected this movie to receive better reviews from critics than it did. It's underrated, not just as a Marvel movie, but as a film in general (and Mangold, as usual, continues to be underrated as a director). The movie gets around to one of the seminal events in superhero storytelling--showing us the hero without his powers. The question is, implicitly, is he still a hero? And it allows for an examination of the character's humanity. This was done in Superman II when Superman gives up his powers to be with Lois Lane; it's done in Spider-man 2, wherein we see Peter save a child from a burning building without the benefit of his powers; we saw it in Iron Man 3 when Tony Stark has to improvise an attack without the benefit of his suit; we saw it in The Dark Knight Rises when Bruce Wayne goes broke, and has to see what he's really made of as a man in escaping from the pit. And generally, showing us a superhero without his powers has basically the same effect as planting a fundamental weakness in the hero--eg. Kryptonite for Superman and Water for Bruce Willis's character in Unbreakable. The device works well in The Wolverine as Logan is repeatedly haunted by thoughts of Jean Grey forcing him to wonder if being mortal is really such a bad thing. As I said, I think this film is underrated, and I would in fact place it in the top five superhero films to come out of the genre since the release of X-Men in 2000. In no particular order, I think the top five of the last 15 years are Batman Begins, Spider-man 2, Unbreakable, The Wolverine, and X-Men: Days of Future Past. However, there are a number of others of surprisingly high quality that they could appear on such a list--Captain America: The Winter Soldier, X2: X-Men United, and X-Men: First Class, to name just a few. I continue to be amazed by the quality of Marvel films, since it seems like studio executives will inevitably screw up a good thing by trying to get too involved, thinking they know best (e.g., Superman III, and, recently, Amazing Spider-Man 2). Finally, this review would not be complete without giving props to Hugh Jackman for giving the role and the character such respect, and not playing the character with a big wink of the eye (like Roger Moore did with his James Bond films), just because it's a fantasy story. Overall, an excellent addition to the Marvel film canon.

After X-Men: The Last Stand, I kind of fell out of love with the X-movies. Then X-men: First Class got me excited again, but I had completely lost interest with the modern storyline. X2 is the best of the originals, but it still has it's hokey moments and general kid-friendliness. Xmen 1 is decent, but not my favorite. I never really loved an X-men movie until first class. So when they announced The Wolverine, I didn't get too excited. But then I heard that they wanted to do it in Japan, Mangold was a good director, but I still didn't really feel the motivation. And then I read that Mangold said he had an extended and R-rated version of his movie. That had me curious. The trailer for the movie didn't sell me at all, but I'm a cinephile, so I figured I'll wait and see the unrated version, although I assumed it would be indistinguishably different. Having just watched The Wolverine, I can say this is the best X-men film yet. Better than X2 and better than First Class (both of which I really dug) The movie feels adult. I can't stress enough how much I mean that as a compliment. There is no goofiness, no terrible one liners, winks at the audience about other X-men or Marvel references. This is an honest to it's story and focused on it. Wolverine's claws maim people and he smokes and swears. And with the unrated edition, one might think this would be video game levels of violence. Amazingly not the case. It's unhinged but reserved at the same time. Restraint was shown and yet nothing feels held back. Not since Nolan's Bat films have I really felt a superhero movie that was mature. This didn't feel like a superhero movie, it felt like an action film abotu a guy with claws. And it's so much better for it. With The Avengers, Batman vs Superman, and X-men Days of Future Past, we aren't afforded opportunities to tell focused superhero stories anymore. Here we got actual character development, and a story that was smaller but all the better for it. Last time I appreciated a smaller film like this was Thor. Bottom line, this is the best X-men film, but you wouldn't know it. It stands on it's own as a very mature film. I hope future superhero films take a page out of Mangold's book. And now I'm not at all disappointed there will be another one. (But there are other X-men needing films)

For anyone who enjoyed the Wolverine but hasn't seen the Extended edition cut of this film or the "UNLEASHED EXTENDED EDITION" as they call it, or anyone who hasnt seen the theatrical relese altogether please do yourself a favour and grab a copy of this, you won't be disappointed. There isn't hours of extra footage like say The Lord of the Rings extended editions however in my opinion I feel like this version adds so much more weight to the film and helps to flesh of some scenes and characters. If you were one of those people *SPOILER ALERT* who wasn't happy because Wolverine doesn't really fight any of the ninjas like in the comics, you will hopefully be happy with this cut, I won't spoil it too much for you. There are a few other scenes like this one as well that make you wonder why in God's holy name did they cut this from the movie. There is also an alternative ending to this film that would have been far more entertaining and a really nice nod to the comics if they had used it instead of the rather boring one they ended up sticking with. I thoroughly enjoyed this cut of the movie, give it a try and I'm 99% confident you will feel the same

Goes with collection

商品を迅速に送っていただきました。ブルーレイがあったら最高だったんだが・・・

STUNNING! Having been a fan of Marvel, Dark Horse, 2000AD etc for many years and collecting the films also, I was thinking this would be a bit of a disappointment as I heard people saying it was rather average especially compared to the other X-MEN type films. How more could they be wrong. The first 20 mins captivated me, and I knew I was watching a masterpiece of a movie. The acting, script, flow of story is just superb and also has a surprisingly refreshing feel. You genuinely feel attached to all of the characters and the direction of the film is just beautiful, with virtually many scenes having an almost Ridley-Scott buttery perfection to it. The action pieces are excellent and are never OTT, by far the most faithful to the comics and most 'believable', one of the highlights being the fight atop of the bullet train. The pacing is really what makes this film, it is neither too fast nor too slow, but just absolutely perfect, with each scene unfolding with a kind of serene rhythm, giving you plenty of time to take in the characters and stunning cinematography and attention to detail. Visually the effects are gorgeous, the bear in the woods being one of the highlights for being so realistic. Hugh Jackman and the other supporting Japanese character actors are just superb, rock-solid and exactly what I wanted to see and hear. The story was nothing outstanding, but it is beautifully realised from the script and certainly keeps you interested. You feel it is building up to something and the ending doesn't disappoint. I was genuinely surprised in a few places! This really is a terribly underrated film, much more enjoyable than the previous Wolverine film and that was a good effort. I place this alongside Oblivion for the most criminally underrated films of the last few years. Excellent Blu-Ray quality, highly recommended!

L'edizione bluray 3d contiene 3 dischi: uno versione cinematografica+extra, uno per la versione estesa ed uno per la versione 3d. La versione estesa dura 2 ore e 8 minuti senza titoli di coda, video a 16:9 con barre nere sopra e sotto, audio italiano DTS 5.1. Nel disco della versione cinematografica sono presenti dei documentari extra e il mini finale alternativo (nulla di che).