Showing posts with label Marvel Comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marvel Comics. Show all posts

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Movie Review: The Wolverine (2013)


The Wolverine 2013 Hugh Jackman Logan poster based on Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's 1982 limited series

This is a spoiler heavy review. Readers who wish to avoid plot details are recommended to skip the review.

The movie opens with the nuclear bomb attack on Japan in 1945. Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is a Prisoner of War (POW). Just as the bomb is about to be dropped, Logan is released by a Japanese soldier, Yashida (Ken Yamamura), who in turn is saved from the deadly blast by Logan.

Cut to the present. Logan is living in the woods and has recurring flashbacks of his one true love, the deceased Jean Grey (Famke Janssen). The only other living being, Logan has any connection with is a big, lumbering Grizzly Bear. The latter becomes the target of some hunters and Logan is forced to put him out of his misery.

Rila Fukushima as Yukio in The Wolverine 2013 movie Hugh Jackman Logan

Logan's encounter with the hunters at a local bar is interrupted by Yukio (Rila Fukushima). She works for an aging Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), who wishes to see Logan one last time. Logan reluctantly travels to Japan to honor his friend's last wish.

Logan soon finds himself in the midst of an ongoing plot to kill Yashida's granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto). This leads to the centerpiece of the movie - a chase sequence that starts at Yashida's funeral, continues on the streets and ends with Logan taking on assassins atop a speeding bullet train.

A wounded Logan discovers that he is losing his healing powers and faces the prospects of being mortally wounded. There are a few other supporting characters - Harada (Will Yun Lee) an archer, Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova), a mutant with the ability to inject poison and Mariko's father Shingen (Hiroyuki Sanada).

Silver Samurai in The Wolverine 2013 movie Hugh Jackman Logan

The movie climax involves Logan facing off against Silver Samurai. The movie's version of Silver Samurai is a hulking robot, operated by Yashida.

This is an out and out Hugh Jackman movie. There are a number of shots of Hugh's immensely ripped body. In his sixth outing as Wolverine/Logan (counting his cameo in X-Men: First Class), Hugh has the role down pat. This time, he fleshes out his signature role more, thanks to the loss of his self-healing ability.

Hugh Jackman as Logan Wolverine in The Wolverine movie review 2013 James Mangold

Most of the remaining cast members are stereotypes - the young sidekick, the damsel in distress, the evil businessman and a few more. Don't miss out the excellent promo for X-Men: Days of Future Past in a mid-credits scene.

Will Yun Lee as Harada the archer, Svetlana Khodchenkova as Viper the mutant, Tao Okamoto as Mariko and Hiroyuki Sanada as Shingen in The Wolverine 2013 movie

Pros

  1. Hugh Jackman's performance
  2. Very much a personal story - No threats of world wide apocalypse or scenes of city wide destruction .

Cons

  1. Badly staged action sequences
  2. Convoluted climax
  3. Lack of chemistry between Hugh Jackman's Logan and Tao Okamoto's Mariko
  4. Jean Grey's flashback scenes

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Recommended to fans of Hugh Jackman/Wolverine. Click here to read all my posts related to Marvel Comics.

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Image Sources: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Marvel Entertainment and Dune Entertainment

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

X-Men: Days of Future Past - Trask Industries Viral Commercial


James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men Days of Future Past Poster

We get our first look at the Sentinels in this viral commercial for X-Men: Days of Future Past, upcoming superhero movie from Bryan Singer.




Bryan Singer returns to the comic book franchise, he started way back in 2000. The movie has a large ensemble cast (even by the usual Bryan Singer's X-Men movie standards). The cast of the original X-Men movie series (Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Anna Paquin, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Daniel Cudmore) comes together with the cast of X-Men: First Class (Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult) to make this movie the must watch movie event of Summer 2014.

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Image Sources: Wikipedia, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Marvel Entertainment, Bad Hat Harry Productions and Dune Entertainment

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Movie Review: Iron Man 3 (2013)


Iron Man 3 Movie Review Robert Downey Jr.


This review contains minor spoilers. Readers who wish to avoid any kind of plot related details/information are recommended to skip this review.

The planet saving heroics of Avengers has left Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) a broken man. Tortured and paranoid, Tony is hell bent on building the best possible weapons and suit. Jarvis (voiced by Paul Bettany) advises Tony to allocate more time for Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).

Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian in Iron Man 3
Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian 
Pepper finds herself the object of attention of Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce). Aldrich has been working on Extremis technology and is trying to strike a deal with Stark Industries, now that Pepper is the CEO. Previously, Tony had rejected his proposal.

The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) is issuing terrorist threats to the US President Ellis (William Sadler) and masterminding some deadly explosions. Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) is left seriously injured in one such incident. This makes things personal for Tony and he issues a direct challenge to the Mandarin.

Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin in Iron Man 3
Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin
Tony's Malibu residence comes under heavy attack by Mandarin's henchmen. Jarvis pilots Tony out of the scene of action to Tennessee. Colonel James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) becomes Iron Patriot and is on the Mandarin's trail.

Tony befriends a youngster, Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins) and starts his campaign against the Mandarin. The enemy is not slagging off either. Couple of Mandarin's agents, Savin (James Badge Dale) and Brandt (Stephanie Szostak) attack Tony. Separated from his Iron Man armor, Tony turns to his brains and outsmarts his pursuers.

Tony tracks down the Mandarin and is in for a major surprise. Revealing any more details will be spoiling the fun.

Don Cheadle as Colonel James Rhodes Iron Patriot in Iron Man 3
Don Cheadle as Colonel James Rhodes/Iron Patriot
Pepper gets kidnapped and the Mandarin is gunning for the President's life. Tony has to save his girl and the President and teams up with his buddy, Rhodes for an all-out climactic confrontation.

Robert Downey Jr. returns in the role that turned around his acting career and made him a bonafide movie star. RDJ spends a considerable amount of time in the movie outside the Iron Man suit. Interestingly, RDJ looked bored and his zingers lacked the usual verve. Doing the same role in 4 movies in 5 years (5 movies, if his cameo in The Incredible Hulk is also considered) seems to have sapped his passion. I am curious to see his performance in the Avengers sequel slated to be released in 2015.

Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce walk away with the acting honors. Both of them have a blast playing the baddies.

Rebecca Hall as Maya Hansen in Iron Man 3
Rebecca Hall as Maya Hansen
Rebecca Hall is criminally underused as Maya Hansen, Tony's old flame and presently working for Aldrich. With minor changes to the script, her character could have been totally written out and the movie would not have been impacted in the least.

Don Cheadle, Stephanie Szostak and James Badge Dale make good use of their screentime. I have never taken to Gwyneth's performance as Pepper and this movie does not help her case either.

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There are a number of action sequences in the movie and almost all of them deliver the goods. I especially enjoyed the helicopter attack on Tony Stark's residence and an indoor action sequence with Tony acquiring the Iron Man armor in bits and pieces as the fight goes along. 

Mandarin's attack on Iron Man/Tony Stark's Malibu residence in Iron Man 3
Iron Man confronts Mandarin's henchmen
Shane Black has done a solid job with the writing. There are a number of twists and turns that will delight the audience. Dialogues are his forte and Iron Man 3 is no exception.

Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts in Iron Man 3
Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts
Recommended to Marvel and RDJ fans, who will undoubtedly enjoy this movie.

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Image Sources: Marvel Studios, Paramount Pictures, Screencrush

You might also like:

 Ant Man (2015) - Review
Ant-Man (2015) - Review
 X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Review
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Review

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Trailer: Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man 3


Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark Iron Man in Iron Man 3

The trailer for the upcoming movie, Iron Man 3 starring Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man is out.



Joining the regular cast Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle and Jon Favreau are Sir Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce. Ben Kingsley plays The Mandarin, the archenemy of Iron Man. I think he will make a great villain and seems a very inspired casting choice.
Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin in Iron Man 3
Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin

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Image Source: IGN


Friday, January 13, 2012

X-Men: First Class (2011) - Review


Michael Fassbender as Magneto in X-Men: First Class

Erik Lehnsherr AKA Magneto happens to be my most Marvel character of all time and Michael Fassbender makes a great Erik/Magneto. Both these factors combined makes this my all time favorite X-Men movie.

After X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), there were reports of 2 separate movies in development: one based on Wolverine and the other focused on the Master of Magnetism.

I was quite interested in the latter and while the resulting movie is called X-Men: First Class, it is quite obvious that the movie was originally intended to focus only on Magneto.

The movie starts with the first scene of X-Men (2000) featuring a young Erik being separated from his parents in a concentration camp in the 1940s. The officer-in-charge notices the young Erik's mutant powers on display and decides to exploit the same. The officer kills Erik's mother to force the boy to display his mutant powers and succeeds in permanently scarring the boy's psyche with vengeance and hatred towards mankind.

In upstate NY, young Charles Xavier takes in fellow mutant Raven Darkholme AKA Mystique into his manor and they grow up together.

The movie picks up later with a grown up Erik tracking down his mother's killer, who now calls himself Sebastian Shaw. Played by Kevin Bacon in the vein of a 60s Bond movie villain, Shaw oozes pure evil. His mutant power is to absorb energy and use it to increase his own physical attributes to finally overpower his opponent. He is assisted by Emma Frost, Azazel and Riptide.

Erik joins forces with Xavier and his band of fellow mutants (Beast, Darwin, Havoc, Banshee and Mystique), as they counter Shaw’s plans to start a nuclear war.

Competently directed by Matthew Vaughn, the movie erases the bad taste left  in the mouth by X-Men: The Last Stand. The presence of Bryan Singer as producer no doubt helped.

Nicholas Hoult and Jennifer Lawrence are great as Beast and Mystique respectively. Other mutants with the possible exception of Banshee and Havoc leave no impression, mainly due to the lack of character development.

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender share great chemistry as Professor Xavier and Magneto

James McAvoy is a great foil as Xavier. He is a suave ladies man and does not mind using his formidable mutant powers to make an impression. McAvoy radiates the calm demeanor and wisdom that will eventually make him the mentor for X-Men. He makes for a believable younger version of Patrick Stewart’s Prof X. McAvoy and Fassbender share a great chemistry as the two men who will eventually part ways, as their ideologies differ radically about the peaceful co-existence of mutants and non-mutants.

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Ian McKellen is one of the most accomplished actors and always excels in his work, whether he plays Gandalf the Grey/White or the Master of Magnetism. It is a great tribute to Michael Fassbender that he puts his own stamp as Magneto, despite the inevitable comparisons to McKellen.

Fassbender has a very magnetic screen presence (no pun intended) and exudes immense on-screen charisma as he puts his mutant powers to display, especially in the climax. The scene with Prof X where he learns to control his rage is a textbook example of Fassbender's thespian skills.


Michael Fassbender as Magneto

Fassbender single-handedly makes this movie a must-watch for Magneto Fans and/or X-men fans.

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Image Sources: MPGTodayBeyond Hollywood