I really don't know how to begin one of these so I'm just gonna get into it by saying I thought The Wolverine and Kick-ass 2 really brought the best so far from what I've seen in 2013. Don't know whether or not its relevant (it probably is) but in terms of comic books I am a marvel fan all the way, but that doesn't mean I won't give credit where I see it fit. These are all my opinions and mine alone so if anyone doesn't like what I have to say, I respectfully apologize. I'm not trying to piss anyone off, I just feel the need to write one of these considering I devote much of my time reading and commenting since I've made this account. Anyways, out of both of these movies I thought wolverine was better so ill start with that.
The Wolverine was easily the best portrayal of the character since X2 and Hugh Jackman killed it with what he brought to the table. Between his fighting, hair (only mentioned because it was very not logan-like in Origins) his attitude, and of course his physique which was stunning and showed how he cares for the role. Yeah he's taller than the real Logan, but things could've been worse. The first scene itself had me in for a surprise, sure I knew the bomb was going to blow and I knew he was going to take some damage from it, but he was burnt to a crisp and IT WAS AWESOME ! Afterwards the movie got into itself quite nicely seeing him bumming out in the Canadian woods, start some shit at a local bar and Yukio shows up, and is all "hey blah blah blah, I NEED YOU IN JAPAN TOMORROW." Not that it actually happened like that but you get the idea. And then he's in Japan and in my mind I was like, "Wow this is awesome they're taking the fight way out of his comfort zone," and that risk factor alone deserves some credit. The majority of the cast fit the profile and the tone of the movie which was surprising because I didn't have a clue as to any other names attached to the films other than Hugh's. I loved his attitude throughout the entire movie because although it's obviously a work of fiction he brought a lot of realism to the situations that he was dealing with, like when he tells Mariko not to ignore what's going on, the dirty cop he clearly didn't give a flying rats ass about and just tosses him out the window, and I loved when Yukio is telling him how she saw him die, and he's like, "I don't have time for this shit." Maybe it's just me but I loved it. And they utilized the F word perfectly which for real made my jaw drop, it shouldn't have because he did the same thing in first class, but I didn't expect either of them and I thought it was timed just right. It was so refreshing to see a big superhero character make a movie that doesn't revolve around all the power special effects and CGI can do, and I praise the director for understanding that's how things usually are nowadays, and his decision to not o that route. His fighting scenes were amazing, my favorite being the battle with Shingen, which was probably the movies best fight. The bullet train sequence was badass but I didn't enjoy it as much as I should've only because I watched the trailers so many times out of excitement, that by the time I saw it in theaters, it just wasn't my highlight. Seriously though, this movie showed how much a well written script and dialogue can do wonders for its own movie. Now the ending fighting with the samurai robot could've been better or just cut out and went with a different direction but I did moderately enjoy it too, but I understand why people had an issue with it. It wasn't as epic as the rest of the movie nor did it look very convincing but there was some aspects of it worthwhile. Mainly I want to bring up is that I thought the fact that they decided to break his claws was a great idea. Ok, maybe not great, and I know his claws aren't technically supposed to break like that or at all for that matter, but it was nice to see wolverine a little bit more vulnerable than what audiences are used to, and correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that what "The Wolverine" was all about? The best scene of the movie hands down is the ending at the airport. I knew it was going to connect with DOFP but it was epic and it made up for the last fight scene IMO. The only real issues I had with the movie was the lack of blood in the actual fights but with the unrated cut coming to blu ray hopefully that will bring justice. The other issue which I'm sure someone else but me noticed which annoyed me to a degree, was the prop claws. I know they're always props in the movies but in this movie specifically, I'm pretty sure the claws were like being held only in the cleavage of his fingers if that makes sense. Meaning in all other Xmen films the claws can be seen partially on the backhand in between his knuckles, so you can tell Hugh is just holding them more or less. It could be just me but I wouldn't mention it here if I weren't really sure of it.
So yes I think this was 2013's best movie so far and I hope Thor TDW is also great. Now I was going to include my Kick-ass review too but I wrote a lot more than I intended (hope I didn't bore all of you) so I just corrected my headline to say part 1 and I'll do that next time. Not to write a whole review on it, I will say I didn't really care for Iron Man 3 or Man of Steel. They were not terrible to me but a definite and unfortunate disappointment, because I really tried to enjoy both seeing them multiple times and just getting more aggravated with each view. Iron man 3 simply was cracking way too many jokes and I was one of those people who didn't care for the mandarin twist although I'm sure if the movie was taken more seriously like its predecessors, it wouldn't have been so bad. Plus pre-IM3 reviews said it was dark and gritty, I wasn't expecting a dark knight grittiness, but in no way was that true IMO at least. There were just too many things I didn't like so call me old fashioned and ill be on my way because its over and done with. Man of Steel was just not a superman movie to me and is what made me love The wolverine. And I love snyders past work so I walked in there thinking this would do me justice being Iron Man 3 left a bad taste, but it really didn't. Too much CGI and destruction, faora was cooler than zod, superman broke a neck, and nothing connected. It essentially made wolverine amazing because it lacked the story, plot points and character development that it desperately needed. Again lots of things there too that I could rant about this movie but like I said before its over and done with, so hopefully these mistakes aren't made in the future. I think MOS 2 will be sick and I think Ben affleck could do a great job again if the story and character aspects are taken in in better perspective.
For all those people talking smack about Bryan Singer returning to the franchise, I think it'll all be good. Of course I wanted Vaughn to return as I did want him return to Kick ass 2, but singer does great with a big cast and I'm sure it'll be as epic as we all want. I hope by then wolverine has adamantium claws so he can tear though the sentinels. With all that being said, sorry for any run-ons or repetition, I love this site, spiderman is and always will be the shit, and god bless to everyone. Peace !
Ps. I have no clue how to add pictures and videos, so I just didn't :p my bad