Yesterday, several bloggers revealed details regarding their meeting with James Mangold at the edit bay for
The Wolverine. Some footage was screened, including a good portion of the film's first act and the bullet train sequence. The description of the footage can be found
HERE, although there are mild spoilers (nothing that can't be gathered from either the trailers or the source material). Since so much has been written on various websites, I've chosen some quotes to give a decent idea of the general consensus.
Via Jim Vejvoda (
IGN):
Overall, The Wolverine had a more subdued tone than any of Logan's past screen exploits. Jackman is damn near silent throughout the entire first half of Act One, and the austere, grim vibe of the piece is reminiscent of the solemnity of the 1980s Chris Claremont/Frank Miller comic book storyline upon which the film is based. Even though we've only seen a small potion of the final film, that alone was already leagues better than either X-Men Origins: Wolverine or X-Men: The Last Stand.
Via Steve Weintraub (
Collider):
From what I saw, it looks like Mangold has nailed the character and the action, and Hugh Jackman looked like he was finally part of a Wolverine movie that will showcase the true character. Consider me sold.
Via Andrew Hegele (
JoBlo):
With that in mind, after viewing the first fifteen minutes of THE WOLVERINE as well as the train action set piece you’ll recognize from the trailers, I feel pretty comfortable saying this movie is shaping up to be the most promising installment to the universe since X-MEN 2.
Hegele also had good things to say about the film's bullet train sequence, much of which seems to take place inside the train car rather than just on top:
The train scene was the highlight of the day. Logan has to face a number of Yakuza inside a Japanese train car and by this time he’s already gained back his mortality. Wow, this Wolverine doesn’t give two shits about killing. Remember that moment of hesitation he had before unleashing his claws on the SWAT guys in X2? Not here, not when his life is actually on the line. It’s full on berserker from the get go. This was the most realistically choreographed fight I’ve seen in the series and the beginning reminded me of the trailer park fight between The Bride & Elle in KILL BILL VOL 2, remember when Elle couldn’t get her sword out because it was too cramped inside? Yeah, they play with the claustrophobic space of the train car well here too. I was surprised at how great the set piece looked when the action got on top of the train car; it looks much better than it did in the first few trailers. It’s also really engaging because the choreography of the fight demands Logan use some thought in how he’ll attack; it’s not just slash, slash, slash. At 300 MPH it becomes a game of chess with some of the goons. There is a great gag I won’t give away here, but rest assured the film delivers some excellent and fitting humor that never breaks the tension. Yeah, this is a terrific action scene.
An interview with Mangold was also conducted, and there's a ton of great and interesting material. Click
HERE to read.