This particular franchise has gone through many changes, especially in its now quite messy timeline. This is now the tenth film within the X-Men universe.
This is also supposedly the last performance by Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. It is quite hard to put into perspective that he has played this character for almost 20 years. Now that I have seen it, I will leave it to you to see the film whether or not you think this is the last time we'll see him.
From the opening scene, you can totally see why the film-makers were determined to give this a higher age rating. The violence is pretty brutal and there is a fair amount of swearing. It is nice to see a superhero film go as gritty and mature as its particular source material does. It shows the film-makers are passionate that this deserves to be the rating that they intended, and that they remain confident that they can still get a profit out of it. They really didn't hold anything back, and it is certainly not squeaky clean.
The story develops nicely and my general feeling was just that it was just great to see these characters in such a brutal environment. A few scenes managed to drop my jaw in amazement, both due its execution and the paths this story takes us.
In terms of the action, it is thrilling, exciting and definitely the most graphic within the franchise. While a lot of people will be more interested in the action. The emotion side was a nice surprise. There is real heart in this film and a lot of it comes from Jackman, with his scenes with Patrick Stewart and newcomer Dafne Keen. Plus, it ends strongly with yet more heavy emotional scenes involved.
Hugh Jackman gives a great portrayal of a Wolverine the hardcore fans have been longing to see. This is a beaten down and withered version of the most famous of X-Men. It certainly is a shadow of what he used to be. I liked the vulnerability Jackman gave and it is great how much more he can give to a character he has now played in nine different films. You would think he would just do a performance that is by the numbers, as he knows this character like the back of his hand. But I think due to the different tone, it gave us something that we haven't seen before.
I don't know if this will be controversial. But despite the top performance by Jackman, I honestly feel Dafne Keen was the star. For someone who was 11 when this was being filmed, she committed so much to this angry and violent character. She was simply the perfect choice. I want to see her in more films.
I liked Boyd Holbrook's character as well as his performance. He was going toe-to-toe with Jackman's character for quite a bit of the movie and was certainly the supporting actor I wanted to invest in the most. Patrick Stewart was as good as you would expect and Richard E. Grant was pretty good with his mysterious character. Despite it being strange at first, I thought Stephen Merchant's character was well developed and used.
While I'm glad to see the reviews elsewhere are seeing this as one of the best superhero films ever. I thought it was very good, but not quite up there with the best. There is a lot of good stuff in here and it certainly stands out compared to most superhero films.
A couple of minor negatives to speak of, the pacing and tone does get mixed up at times and that the swearing did feel over-used just because of its rating.
Despite that, I still think this is a pretty good film with lots to like, especially if you feel every superhero film is the same. Jackman is great in it and his chemistry with Stewart and Keen is strong.
I like that it felt more like a serious drama with action rather than a superhero film. Don't worry, it is not completely without humor. There is a small amount of chuckles in there. In fact, I could say that it felt like a western. The film actually does hint of the tone being a western in one certain scene.
It will be interesting to see if any other superhero films will go down this similar path of containing brutal content that would only be suitable for older audiences.
I must mention that there is NO scenes during or after the credits. Absolutely nothing. So you're time watching a bunch of names won't be required this time.
This is the first of six superhero films of 2017. We are off to a pretty strong start.
Rating: 8/10
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