Wolverine:
20th Century Fox dropped the ball with the Wolverine film. There is no way in hell that movie should not have been this year’s “Dark Knight”. I know plenty of comic book readers and for many, many years there was anticipation for three films after the first Batman franchise of the 90s. The first was for “Spider-man” (which did bang up business but I personally was not all that jazzed after seeing and I cannot put my finger on why…). The second was for an “X-Men” movie especially when Arnold Schwarzenegger was at his height of his career and everyone wanted him to be “Colossus” and after the Lethal Weapons films some wanted Mel Gibson to be “Logan”. So a few years passed and we go two out of three which “ain’t” bad. And do to a scheduling conflict with another actor, an unknown Hugh Jackman was cast “Logan” for which I felt he was the absolute right guy for the part. Over the years I’ve had different friends feed me their storyline as to how the “Wolverine” film should go down. Those ideas were better than the story placed onto the screen as part of the Marvel legacy. The film played like a lame episode of “Smallville”, especially when they explained how Logan got that cool leather jacket from "Ma and Pa Kent" knock offs when they too find him on their farm….
I’ve always had a theory which is when there are too many Superhero cameos for a comic book film, in the film’s trailer…DUD! (X-Men, Last Stand anyone?). I felt the story had been rushed for the summer to get quick Box office cash, your basic “smash and grab” type of job. where they smashed expectations of the fans and then grabbed any money they could from eager beavers just drooling at the chance to see one of their favorites on the big screen. And somehow they managed to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes and get the asses in the seats (despite the Internet bootleg that dropped a month earlier, April Fools day to be exact is when the word went to the press) I thought the best part of the film was the opening montage as they span across his life. And that is how the film should have played out with his character having flashbacks of his life that each would tell a story without it linking back to Sabretooth. We know that’s like an arch enemy of his but did we have to tackle that back story so soon? Do you remember how “Batman Begins” started with a character no one expected Ra’s Al Ghul then the next story went into the mind of “The Joker”. The first story is when Logan would gather the Intel as we see what happened to him with almost like a “Forrest Gump” type of feel where we see two adventures that would tie into the Weapon X” experiment and Sabretooth leading into the future installments But like Fox also did with “Daredevil”, they crammed as much as they could and we’ve even got “Elektra” in the first movie and the we KILL her off in the very same picture only to resurrect her in her own movie, a year later. Which is I guess a “text book studio” move because the same was done to the “Dead Pool” character as well when I look back at it. Anyhow, I could go on and on but I felt the film was a let down and I can only wonder if they can redeem the franchise for its sequel… And where the hell was Bryan Singer during all of this???
Star Trek:
I’m not a J J Abrams fan but I have to give it to him this “Star Trek” was pretty good. The origins of the characters were nicely put together. I was impressed with the casting of Anton Yelchin as “Chekov”. I wasn’t sure how to take him upon reading of his casting but he pulled it off (the same for the character of “Reese” in the Terminator: Salvation but that’s later). The casting of Zachary Quinto (Spock) was perfect and if there were a character that had to be like the original, it would be his.
I’d seen some press about how some of the actors never watched an episode. Shenanigans… I thought Chris Pine acted as overly confident and cocky as Shatner did when he portrayed “Kirk” every time he geared up to sit in the Captain’s chair, as did Karl Urban as a much younger “Bones”. I’m glad that the Uhura character was fleshed out and is not just another pretty face with long lashes. And creating a relationship with Spock should mean that there will be more for her character in the future. The little nods to the series were just enough for you to get the inside jokes without it going over non fans of the series. It’s funny, the one thing I’ve noticed about “Trek” is that the villains are either holding some grudge or they’re looking for total domination… The characters make you realize what the United States embodies… A combination of various cultures being able to come together as a team and problem solve thus fixing situations around them. Could this be the way our world is moving?
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