The Wolverine
Why I Bought It
This is my collection. I know it's not the biggest in the world, but it's mine, and I love it dearly. Physical media is the only way I play when it comes to owning movies I like, and because I'm a very sick individual, I'll buy any just about any flick I even remotely liked on the off chance I want to watch it again (at the right price, at least). As such, I have a lot of movies on my shelf that a) I haven't watched since buying it or b) I've only watched it once or twice.
So, I figured I'd start this column, Why I Bought It, and go through those movies I don't watch on repeat and remind myself why I love them. A little treat for the soul, if you will.
Now, I'm not gonna go through every movie I own. I don't really see the need to write about stuff like the MCU or any of that nerd shit that you already know I love (with the exception of this first entry, because it inspired the damn thing in the first place). Same goes for movies that I don't really know why I bought but will also never give up (I'm looking at you, The Hangover Part II). I also don't want to recap anything I've written about lately either.
What is this list gonna look like then? Well, it's gonna be quite broad. A lot of these movies are all timers, just ones I haven't watched in a while for no good reason (Heat). Others will be movies I bought without ever having seen (John Carpenter's Starman) or haven't seen since childhood (Robert Zemeckis' first movie, Used Cars, starring Kurt Russell). I figure I'll mostly go in alphabetical order, which means a couple of the first movies would be 12 Monkeys and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Hoo Boy.
But for now, let's get it started with The Wolverine.
Spoilers for The Wolverine to follow.
This movie had an uphill battle. Not only was it following up the disastrous X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but it was also coming immediately after the not so blockbuster success of X-Men: First Class (it didn't bomb, but it wasn't the hit the studio was hoping for either). So Hugh went and enlisted his Kate & Leopold director James Mangold (Copland, Ford v Ferrari) to try and salvage our favorite beserker.
And salvage they did, as The Wolverine proved to be a (relatively) small scale blockbuster that kept focus on character while still providing spectacle. It's not quite as successful as Logan is overall, but we do get a glimpse of the greatness that Mangold and company could do with the character.
The film finds Logan on a self imposed exile; getting drunk, sleeping in caves in the woods (as one does) and beating up local drunkards who poison bears and leave them to suffer. It's actually a pretty suitable life for someone such as Logan, but fate has other plans, as he gets roped into some family drama in Tokyo, allowing Logan to go full samurai.
This was the first time I watched The Wolverine since Logan came out, and as I mentioned earlier it's doesn't come close to that films greatness. Logan feels singular and definitive, whereas The Wolverine is still having to placate franchise norms. Things like an unbelievable love interest, cameos and a half baked action finale that underwhelms more than anything.
But director Mangold and writers Scott Frank and Marc Bomback play right to my sensibilities as a fan. Logan gets the shit beat out of him constantly, and even as he begins to lose his powers, he never stops. He gets punched, shot, stabbed and even tossed around the top of a bullet train going at full speed, and he just keeps getting up, McClane style. I love that shit. I love a hero who takes a beating over & over & over, and just keeps getting up ready for more, no matter badly they're injured. To me, that is what I love to see in an action hero, someone who fights enemies and ideas that are bigger than them, even if that costs them everything.
I can guarantee that was a big reason why I bought this movie and why I still love it so much. I still think The Wolverine is undervalued nowadays, especially in the wake of Logan. The unrated extended edition (which is what I watched) is easily the version to watch if you have the option. Most of the extra footage is Logan getting to say "fuck" a few more times and A LOT of extra blood, an excellent precursor of the R rated shenanigans that Logan had in store for us.
So it turns out I bought The Wolverine because I love it, and now whenever I want to watch something like Logan but not Logan because I've watched it three times that week, I know what to put on.