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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Movies -> 
The Wolverine
    2013-10-18  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

    Starring: Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, Will Jun Lee, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Rila Fukushima Director: James Mangold

    HUGH JACKMAN returns as Logan, aka the Wolverine — the claw-popping, angst-ridden, near-immortal Canadian mutant superhero Marvel Comics introduced as a Hulk opponent in 1974, but nurtured into a tent-pole character after he joined the then-struggling “X-Men” book the following year. Jackman’s Wolverine was introduced in Bryan Singer’s “X-Men” in 1999 and has snarled, slashed and charmed his way through two sequels to that (plus a funny cameo in “X-Men First Class”) and one previous spin-off, but all of those films (even Gavin Hood’s 2009 “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”) have made the supposed loner hero join teams of equally gifted, colorful personalities.

    Adapting writer Chris Claremont and artist Frank Miller’s 1982 comics miniseries “Wolverine,” screenwriters Mark Bomback, Scott Frank and Christopher McQuarrie cut the hero off from the previous films and have him stand his own ground — save for recurring appearances by Famke Janssen as the guilt-induced specter of Jean Grey, the mutant Logan pined for but was forced to kill in Brett Ratner’s unloved “X-Men: The Last Stand.”

    Scarlet-haired, lollipop-outfitted precognitive mutant Yukio (Rila Fukushima) tracks Logan to the Canadian Northwoods, where he has been living in a near-feral state of friendship with bears, and persuades him to hop on a private jet to Japan, where he is supposed to receive an antique sword from dying industrialist Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), whose life he saved during the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

    He finds himself in the midst of a dynastic struggle and instinctively takes the side of Yashida’s traditionally meek granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto) against her corrupt politician fiancé Noburo (Brian Tee), compromised father Shingen (Hiroyuki Sanada) and flamboyantly evil reptile-mutant genetic tinkerer Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova).

    When yakuza assassins disguised as Buddhist monks try to snatch Mariko from Yashida’s funeral, Logan protects her — though Viper’s double-dealing disables his famous healing powers so he now sustains lasting wounds in his battles with the hitmen. Ninja archer Harada (Will Yun Lee) is alternately ally and enemy, and the hero’s quest takes him to a castle where he confronts giant cyborg, the Silver Samurai, whose heated blades are tough enough to clip his claws.

    Given that this adventure involves multiple claw-fights with samurai, ninja and yakuza, too many of the set-pieces seem unfocused and vague, with it being unclear what exactly the Wolverine is doing to his enemies.

    The most impressive sequence is a battle with killers on top of the Japanese bullet-train, when the claws are mainly used to anchor the hero to the speeding train as villains fly off at every turn.

    Though Jackman’s star turn is finally allowed to dominate, there’s a sense that all this is too easy for actor and character. The subplot about Logan losing his invulnerability doesn’t really go anywhere and things are reset to the default before the climactic snikt-fest, and his arc from dreamy self-pity to involvement with the heroine depends too much on faded leftovers.

    Of the freshly introduced characters, only Fukushima’s scrappy orphan mutant registers enough to be kept on for subsequent movies — and her strength shows up a plot problem in that it seems shallow of Logan to prefer the bland, submissive, occasionally suicidal, self-imperiling Mariko as a love interest.

    Given that the character’s and Jackman’s popularity was enough to get this greenlit after the generally disappointing “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” it seems likely that this will generate solid audiences — though the traditional Marvel Movie buried-in-the-end-credits teaser (which brings on two familiar series faces) seems to indicate more excitement about the forthcoming “X-Men: Days of Future Past” (in which Jackman will return again) than any further solo Wolvie adventures.

    The movie is now being screened in Shenzhen. (SD-Agencies)

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