Superhero Lore

Film review: Wolverine

MANILA, Philippines -  After the success of the X-Men film franchise, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that one surefire, successful way to proceed and sustain the franchise is to go the way of Star Wars and its prequels, and delve into the backstories of the characters we’ve avidly followed over the previous three X-Men films (the last of which was X-Men 3: The Last Stand). Wolverine, as portrayed by Hugh Jackman, is the first such prequel — a way to enrich the legacy of the film series, while not having to bring all the original cast members back. Gavin Hood directs the film, and thanks to the rich material the Marvel comic books readily provide, it is a successful bit of filmmaking. I brought my three boys to watch the local premiere, and for Matteo (14), it was one of his Top 10 Action/Fantasy Films of All- Time. The moment he got home, he was going to look up his X-Men Encyclopedia and dwell on the various mutants who made cameos or appeared in the film. And it’s this kind of avid interest in the comic books and films that augurs well for the success of this muscular, energized film — and this in spite of the leak that had my boys scurrying to their PCs a month ago.

Tracking the life of Logan (Wolverine) and his older brother Victor (Sabretooth, as portrayed by Liev Schreiber) from 1865 to the present day, the credits roll as we’re treated to a montage of how the two boys became warriors, and participated in all the battles and wars that occurred during this timeline. Blood lust, atrocities and a built-in tendency to violence and destruction, we’re made to understand the psyches of these two mutants and how it takes an inestimable amount of will power for Logan to turn his back on all this carnage and try to seek a life of relative normalcy. He finds a schoolteacher wife in the backwoods of some Mountain state and works as a lumberjack. But his exploits as a member of an elite death squad come back to haunt him, proving that you just can’t escape the animal or jungle in you. To make the plotline rich and complicated, we’re repeatedly treated to scenarios that show how things are just never what they seem, and one can never trust the motives and machinations of those who should be closest to you. Whether it be Striker (who had recruited the brothers for the squad) or even Victor (his own brother) and his schoolteacher wife, Logan discovers that deceit, duplicity and ulterior motives are part of his everyday landscape. And it’s this confusion and the maelstrom of emotions that it produces, that provides the core of the film’s success, making it more than just a CGI-packed, superhero action flick.

Gambit, Deadpool, Emma Frost, Wraith, Agent Zero, the Blob, and a young, raw Cyclops — along with other mutants, they make appearances in the film, and help provide the rich texture of the storyline. The origins of how Wolverine is bestowed the adamantium blades that give him his special powers is also vividly documented — albeit in a graphic and painful fashion. If this first foray into the Origins of the X-Men is to be an indicator of how the film franchise plans to live on, there’s still much in store for all Marvel and X-Men fans, and the Last Stand which the third film bannered as its title, can thankfully be an empty boast.