We've heard a lot of fanboy 'pissing and moaning' over FOX Studios. I've been one. They've shown glimpses, briefly, of positivity but when the likes of Wolverine:Origins, with its very quaint spin on Deadpool, and X-3 pop up again, the majority's left with a bitter taste in their mouth. Fox has a tendency to skew canon, break lore and really divert from the source material drastically. So many X-Films, and we're yet to see Sinister, Cable or Apocalpyse...while Avengers took one film for Thanos to pop up. Sets things into perspective. Latching onto Wolverine, who's berserker and rated-R in the comics mostly, and watering him down hasn't been the best stroke, bar Hugh Jackman's decent performances. Just like Fassbender and McAvoy in 'First Class', 'The Wolverine' suffers from a shoddy script that only scrapes through due to Jackman's performance.
James Mangold's hit and miss for me but I felt he had the chops to accomplish something given the nature of this script and the Japanese plot. As a Miller fan, this film seemed to lose that essence, however. At points, it's more style than substance as Logan undergoes his physical and mental trauma, albeit things that Jackman bears well as crosses. He really invests himself in the role but sad to say, that immersion isn't felt by the majority of the cast. They're wooden...formulaic...and lack charisma.
There's potential but so much disjoint that creeps into the cast that you can't help but recognize this lack of cohesiveness. Rila Fukushima as Yukio and Hiroyuki Sanada as Shingen Yashida have bright points and do well on exposition at times but it's derailed when Will Yun Lee as the Silver Samurai and Tao Okamoto as Mariko suffer the audience on screen. Jackman struggles to tote them all amid wanton violence and some nifty action scenes. You can't expect him to do this well every film...it's unfair. Svetlana Khodchenkova as Viper and her company's role is one of the biggest disappointments in CBMs to date.
Throwing the plot of Logan's mortality and his powers under duress wasn't bad a plan but the script execution really faltered. Seeing Jackman's moral compass as Logan was a rare breath of fresh air, in a franchise that's beating a dead horse. This film seemed like a big filler/trailer to 'Days of Future Past'. Sorry but it's more style than substance and even with that little tease at the end, it's nothing that really stands out as the Thanos cameo did or the Man of Steel hints at Lex Luthor.
Fox's ready for a shared universe? Well, this doesn't inspire optimism. Maybe a Remender-based X-Force could jumpstart and maybe DOFP will reinvigorate but unless Age Of Apocalypse comes out (and with AGE OF ULTRON out, they'll need a new tagline), Fox will be licking the boots of Marvel and WB. In summary, there's a very mediocre script with a cast that, while individually show spots of brilliance, leaves too much room for error...and throwing that on Jackman's ever-capable shoulders, is too much to burden. If that fight with the Silver Samurai is supposed to sate me as a climax, then Fox is in bigger trouble than we thought.
Rating = 2/5