The Wolverine(spoilers)

[Jayngfet]

Sorry but I saw this movie, and I just kind of needed to vent, and warn everybody else.

This movie does pretty much nothing correct. The cast has no chemistry, the pacing is all over the place, and the only thing that made me care about the movie was starting to root for the villain.

I mean, the villains's entire motivation was that instead of being a bunch of prodigies with lots of powers, they were dudes who got passed over because the cool-unique-superpowered main characters got everything basically handed to them. I mean the ninja dude and the buisnessman's entire problem is that they got screwed over for doing the right thing, or at least, acting better than the good guys. Hell, after he's done with the Yakuza wolverine goes on to stab a bunch of dudes who were on the same side as him, rather than spend thirty seconds to ask why dudes who've saved his life twice are siding with the enemy.

Also, the romance plot was creepy. I mean Logan goes after an engaged woman about a quarter his age, and when they kiss it looks like he's forcing himself on her. I mean they basically spend the whole movie proving they have no chemistry and barely making eye contact, then suddenly she picks him over the man she explicitly wanted to marry to begin with, going so far as to stab him to get to Wolverine, rather than listen as he's about to explain what's actually going on.


Seriously, who the hell greenlighted this? It's basically just the worst kind of fanboy writing. It's literally worse than the Lone Ranger, and at After Earth levels of bad.

[navar100]

What movie did you see? It had nothing to do with superpowers. The villain wanted Logan's immortality. The other villain wanted his father's business empire. I knew who the villains were before their respective reveals, but still. The Yakuza were obviously red herring mooks. No one was on Wolverine's side except for his "bodyguard" and the daughter. The Yakuza were hired to kill the daughter so that the other villain would get the business. The Black Hand worked for the main villain who needed the daughter alive as bait for Logan so his immortality could be extracted, hence their temporary alliance at the funeral. However, they then kidnapped the daughter and attacked Logan first when he went after her.

[Empedocles]

What movie did you see? It had nothing to do with superpowers. The villain wanted Logan's immortality. The other villain wanted his father's business empire. I knew who the villains were before their respective reveals, but still. The Yakuza were obviously red herring mooks. No one was on Wolverine's side except for his "bodyguard" and the daughter. The Yakuza were hired to kill the daughter so that the other villain would get the business. The Black Hand worked for the main villain who needed the daughter alive as bait for Logan so his immortality could be extracted, hence their temporary alliance at the funeral. However, they then kidnapped the daughter and attacked Logan first when he went after her.

...this. The OP sounds pretty far off, in my opinion. Ill agree that the romance was a little off putting though.

[Jayngfet]

What movie did you see? It had nothing to do with superpowers. The villain wanted Logan's immortality. The other villain wanted his father's business empire. I knew who the villains were before their respective reveals, but still. The Yakuza were obviously red herring mooks. No one was on Wolverine's side except for his "bodyguard" and the daughter. The Yakuza were hired to kill the daughter so that the other villain would get the business. The Black Hand worked for the main villain who needed the daughter alive as bait for Logan so his immortality could be extracted, hence their temporary alliance at the funeral. However, they then kidnapped the daughter and attacked Logan first when he went after her.

Wolverine, the bodyguard chick, and Viper were all mutants. Outside of the bodyguard they all got major screentime.

The main villain shows up in the beginning and dissapears until the last five minutes. The father had what, three scenes where he was the star? Heck, his introduction had the mutant who got way more screentime call him mediocre at swordsmanship, which was more or less his thing. The Black hand guy showed up once at the wedding where he was entirely in the background, then again at the end right before he promptly died by virtue of not being not as cool as Wolverine. Heck, the black hand guy's entire character isn't even done with him there, it's explained to the audience by creepy love interest while Wolverine pretends to care.


The vast majority of this movie is basically Logan going around with his soulless love interest, Yukio reminding everyone she has mutant powers that don't need special effects, and Viper attacking random people to show off HER mutant powers that do have an effect.

[Kitten Champion]

Wolverine 120+ at least, so not many exactly fall into his age range for romantic suitability.

Although Tao Okamoto - who I am assuming is the love interest - is about half Hugh Jackman's age. They could have gotten someone at least in their thirties I'm sure, but that's Hollywood.

[Raimun]

It wasn't bad but neither good.

... Then again, the villain of the movie was Silver Samurai. Think about that for a moment.

[shadow_archmagi]

My favorite part of the movie was how late the inevitable reveal came. I mean, anyone with a fraction of bran could've figured it out ahead of time, but the implications still amuse me.


Everyone constantly refers to their actions as fulfilling "Your grandfather's last wishes" leaving us to assume for most of the movie that his dying wish was to have a giant robot kill Wolverine.

[Starbuck_II]

Also, the romance plot was creepy. I mean Logan goes after an engaged woman about a quarter his age, and when they kiss it looks like he's forcing himself on her. I mean they basically spend the whole movie proving they have no chemistry and barely making eye contact, then suddenly she picks him over the man she explicitly wanted to marry to begin with, going so far as to stab him to get to Wolverine, rather than listen as he's about to explain what's actually going on.


Yeah, and you what sadly real women act that contrary. They pretend they want nothing to do with someone, but when he saved her life (the second time) she realized maybe he has potential. Then like Back to the Future's mom she fell because he wasn't invulnerable anymore.

Some women like Macho men, some like men they can take of, and some like both. People are complicated.

The man she wanted to marry had changed. He kidnapped her!

[Hawriel]

There is nothing creepy about a person in their 40s falling in love with a person in their 20s. Nor is it creepy or unheard of for a 20 some thing to fall in love with some one in their 40s. That is just human.

It was normal for older men to marry woman who just turned into adults by the standards of which ever time period you want to pick. Just as it was normal for a younger man to marry an older woman for very similar reasons.

For example Woman in colonial Virginia got rich because men had a greater death rate. So they inherited all the wealth, got married again, widowed again, married again, and so on. The woman might have been 16-20 at the first marriage, with the man being in his 30s. Then possibly be in her late 40s and marry a man in his 20s by the fifth one. Granted this was mostly about social status, money, and politics. However people being people you cannot deny actual romance drove some of these marriages as well.

Logan grew to care for, if not fall in love with, the Mariko because he learned that she was more than just a rich girl princes. She turned out to be a rather sweat and intelligent person. Mariko was also young and vibrant, she served as a salve for Logan's guilt/PTSD over Jean, and grow out of the nothing to live for mind set he was in. It did not hurt that she is a wonderful representation of femininity.

Mariko's attraction to Logan is not that hard to believe either. Logan is a very unique person. He does have that animal magnetism. However, even though she might have saw him more attractive after he cleaned up the cave man look, he was still a brute in her eyes.

His actions in the movie showed him that he is willing to go through almost any thing to help her. He never showed interest in her because she was rich. He never cow towed to her nor, did he take her crap. He treated her as a person, granted as a naive person, but still a person. His vulnerability also helped her see the man behind the brutish, gruff armor.

As you can see at the end of the movie the romance did not last. Mariko was essentially a rebound girl for Logan. Logan was not quite a rebound guy for Mariko, but it had a similar meaning. As far as I can see any way. They left the movie being friends, close friends who could trust each other.

Wolverine depowered in this movie, is wolverine done right. The massive power creep, that turned into liquid terminator insta heal, takes away from any thing that would make the character interesting.

[Jayngfet]

There is nothing creepy about a person in their 40s falling in love with a person in their 20s. Nor is it creepy or unheard of for a 20 some thing to fall in love with some one in their 40s. That is just human.


He's not 40something. He's a WWII vet who was like 40 when the war was going on.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Frankly the biggest mess up in my mind was the timeline, while it is clearly set after X-Men Last Stand, when you see the stinger which
Sets is just before Nightmares of the Future Past, now the problem lies that X-Men: First class ALSO has something to do with NotFP, but it is in a completely different timeline than all the other movies. Since time-travel is involved travelling to parallel timelines is not out of question.

[SuperPanda]

I don't generally like Wolverine, I feel that normally he's written as the Belkar of the X-men.

I liked this potrayal of him overall because he's still Belkar (Hurting people is all he's good at) but he's also showing his real vulderability. I don't mean his power-down, I mean his emotional vulderability. The reason Wolverine always acts like a jerk is the same reason Tennat's Doctor tried to go it alone for a while and got so dark at the end. Everyone he ever cares about dies. And if they don't die on him (abandoning him) he gets them hurt. And if he doesn't get them hurt, they betray / hurt him.

Now the "love story" frustrated the heck out of me for several reasons.

1) Mariko is beautiful and I simply don't like Wolverine enough to want him to get the beautiful, rich, altruistic, intellligent girlfriend ... especially after the film-verse deciding that his love for Jean was greater than Cyclopses love for her.

Off topic rant about the film-verse
I am pretty sure I read somewhere that Cyclopse got written out of X-3 because the actor was friends with the old director and the director had a falling out with Fox... I think Summers is an excellent foil for Logan and that their triangle with Jean makes things interesting... for me personally though, Logan loves Jean, Jean likes Logan but loves Summers, and Summer loves Jean. Logan is the dangerous/wild man Jean makes a mistake with, not her one true love.

2) Logan is just using Mariko as a rebound, the film pretty much explicitly shows that when he's lying with her he is thinking of Jean.

3) Mariko's love of Logan is childhood hero worship of an ideal that never was Logan. Its what Logan wants to believe he is, but its never what he was. Also, her life is completely ripped out from under her and she's got no one to trust apart from this stranger... she's extremely vulnerable.

4) Bodyguard has a pretty obvious thing for Logan right from the start. Her hero-worship of him is based on what he actually stood for, what he fought for. She fell in love with the man, not with the idea.

5) Bodyguard is so selflessly devoted to Princess Mariko that she is willing to suffer in silence while Logan and Mariko have their thing. She's been told all her life that her only purpose to be Mariko's play thing and that she'll be discarded the moment she no longer fulfills that role... and when there is a legitimate point that could cause tension in, she suffers in silence rather than risk offending Mariko.

6) Implication of this... Logan's selfishness means he hurt Bodyguard, and probably Mariko too.

--------

Reasons I don't find it (as) creepy:

1) Mariko is thrown into a truly chaotic sequence and Logan doesn't try to take advantage of her (until things have calmed down quite a bit).

2) Mariko hero-worships and ideal of Logan which he, unwittingly is acting out while his power down makes it clear he is "just a man." I'm pretty sure that if this was Steve Rogers and not Logan there'd be less "creepy" factor in the girl falling in love with someone whose playing the Hero.

3) Logan is brutal and dangerous throughout the film, but never dangerous to her. He's the ideal bad-boy from her perspective: Definitely a bad boy, but her presence makes him better.

4) there really never feels like there is love, only sex. Mariko is a human being with desires and needs... and evolutionarily you don't get better genetic health than Logan. What we know about the genetic side of attraction explains why lots of women in-universe want to jump his adamantium at least once. She's explicitly been living for other people for a long time and has reached a point in her life where she wants to live for herself. There is plenty of implication that she is using him for her own wish-fullfillment everybit as much as he is using her as a body-double for Jean.

It wasn't love, it was just Sex.


I still wish that the obvious triangle had been explored.

[Jayngfet]

3) Logan is brutal and dangerous throughout the film, but never dangerous to her. He's the ideal bad-boy from her perspective: Definitely a bad boy, but her presence makes him better.


He has a post traumatic hallucination next to her about his old woman, and nearly kills her upon waking up, taking several seconds to realize what's going on.

If he hadn't been poisoned, he would probably have sliced without asking questions and straight up murdered her.

[SuperPanda]

I'm not saying it makes sense, but it is there.


When I've talked to people about the "bad boy" thing many like... they like to know the character/man/whatever is powerful and dangerous but that they "won't harm me." Or "don't act that way with me."


The point isn't that he nearly killed her, its that he didn't actually hurt her. He did stop himself. You and I, as film goers, know that he would have if not for the poison. She doesn't.

You and I as film goers know that he doesn't even see her when he's lying with her, he's seeing the girlfriend he was forced to kill. She doesn't.

You and I see how Wolverine kills everyone and anyone who gets in his way throughout the film... she only sees "he is protecting me when he has no reason to... but he kills everyone else who gets in his way, but he protects me." We know that she isn't special, that she was just chosen by a quirk of fate and that everything is about Logan... Because that's what being a Bad Boy really means. From Mariko's perspective however... she's the woman who tamed the Wolverine, she's the person Logan is willing to feel pain for, she's the most important person in his world because he's willing to sacrafice everything for her.

In a way, the two are a great match in how self-centered they have to be to get together in the first place. This is why I wanted Bodyguard to confess she had feelings for Logan to Mariko and it to cause conflict between them... because then the film would show Mariko as being self-centered when it instead goes out of its way to suggest she is the only good person in the family.

And if it needs clarifying... I find the "Bad Boy" appeal as being pretty stupid myself, but then I accept that almost everyone is a little stupid when it comes to sex and love. People who can live dangerously and thrive make better hunters... so somewhere in our genes they probably register as being genetically superior. Being a Jerk doesn't have to be part of it, but it seems to have some connection there. Also the idea that you changed someone "for the better" simply because of how wonderful you are... that's got to be a great fantasy. Men have that fantasy too about "Saving" bad girls and changing them into good people through the power of their love and awesomeness, or taking "good-girls" and turning them into bad-girls simply by the power of machismo...

[SaintRidley]

stuff about Logan's age

Logan's over 100 years old. Not 40.

[MLai]

I like the fact that the romance in this movie isn't an ideal "true love", and the movie never pretended that it is. Logan and Mariko had exactly 1 night together, after much shared emotional duress. You don't need a ton of beautiful chemistry for that to happen; you just need 2 reasonably attractive ppl who can fool themselves about each other long enough to get through the night.

[Psyren]

It's.... not bad, per se and per Movie Bob. (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/7804-The-Wolverine) I initially raged that they were legitimizing the original trilogy, but the end credits bonus scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eEbEHa6LOE) does kind of make up for it and made me feel better about the whole thing.

[HamHam]

I'm not saying it makes sense, but it is there.


When I've talked to people about the "bad boy" thing many like... they like to know the character/man/whatever is powerful and dangerous but that they "won't harm me." Or "don't act that way with me."


The point isn't that he nearly killed her, its that he didn't actually hurt her. He did stop himself. You and I, as film goers, know that he would have if not for the poison. She doesn't.

You and I as film goers know that he doesn't even see her when he's lying with her, he's seeing the girlfriend he was forced to kill. She doesn't.

You and I see how Wolverine kills everyone and anyone who gets in his way throughout the film... she only sees "he is protecting me when he has no reason to... but he kills everyone else who gets in his way, but he protects me." We know that she isn't special, that she was just chosen by a quirk of fate and that everything is about Logan... Because that's what being a Bad Boy really means. From Mariko's perspective however... she's the woman who tamed the Wolverine, she's the person Logan is willing to feel pain for, she's the most important person in his world because he's willing to sacrafice everything for her.

In a way, the two are a great match in how self-centered they have to be to get together in the first place. This is why I wanted Bodyguard to confess she had feelings for Logan to Mariko and it to cause conflict between them... because then the film would show Mariko as being self-centered when it instead goes out of its way to suggest she is the only good person in the family.

And if it needs clarifying... I find the "Bad Boy" appeal as being pretty stupid myself, but then I accept that almost everyone is a little stupid when it comes to sex and love. People who can live dangerously and thrive make better hunters... so somewhere in our genes they probably register as being genetically superior. Being a Jerk doesn't have to be part of it, but it seems to have some connection there. Also the idea that you changed someone "for the better" simply because of how wonderful you are... that's got to be a great fantasy. Men have that fantasy too about "Saving" bad girls and changing them into good people through the power of their love and awesomeness, or taking "good-girls" and turning them into bad-girls simply by the power of machismo...

I think you just put more thought into this than the filmmakers did.

[Hawriel]

He's not 40something. He's a WWII vet who was like 40 when the war was going on.


Logan's over 100 years old. Not 40.

No, really!? :smallsigh::smallannoyed:

Jayngfet is the one who braught Jackman's age how it also feed into his creepy feelings about the movie.

It does not matter how old Logan is. Mariko is a mature adult. Logan is a mature adult. There is nothing wrong with the attraction. It does not matter if there is a 20 year or 100 year age difference. Only a person's individual feelings, and motives, in the matter count. If Logan could only think of Mariko as a child then he would have.

Age difference is really a cultural difference. Like a Canadian falling for some one from Japan. Granted after a certain point were a base line of maturity comes into play, at about 18-20 years. Then factor in experience. A 17 year old may be a kid in part, but life experience could make them far more mature than some one decades older. Just as some one who is 100 could never have grown out of being a dumb self centered kid.

It also speeks to the maturety of Logan and Mariko that recognized that their relationship was not a lasting thing. That it really did run it's course. Friendship and trust remained. Forcing it could have ended up very badly.

However I do understand an element in criticize the age difference. The first thing you think of is, what would a 100 year old person have in common with a 25 year old? I have used this as a starting point to criticize twilight.

Twilight also has a 100+ year old person romanticly inclined towards a very young person. However twilight's romance, at least to me, comes across as very twisted and creepy.

Bella is 16 I believe when the story starts. Edward is 100+ who looks 17-18. he was stalking her and was seducing her until he could make his move when she became legal. He was hanging out in a high school around teenagers, and found one he wanted.

It had nothing to do with blending in with humans. After all if you have 100 years worth of life experience you can make yourself pass for early to mid 20s rather easily, and maybe a baby faced 30. Look at Tom Cruse and Michael J Fox, they looked 25 for 30+ years.

Edward's maturity has not grown sense he was a teen. Either because that's an effect of being a vampire, or most likely the guy is a creep pervert.

That's how Twilight's romance comes across.

As for being attracted to a bad boy. A lot of it has been said, but is another element that was not mention.

Girls like bad boys not just because they are bad, but not to me, or I can fix/save/tame him. Its because they will be bad to others on their behalf. Whether that motive is conscious or subconscious, that bad boy can be directed at another the girl wants him to screw with.

[navar100]

I find it hypocritical that some people (not saying anyone here, just colloquial) complained Famke Jensen was in a nightgown while ignoring the fact Hugh Jackman was shirtless for half the movie and even had a nude scene of "plumber's butt".

[SuperPanda]

I think you just put more thought into this than the filmmakers did.

Thanks, that made me laugh. :smallbiggrin:


Re: Romance creep / not creep.


Twilight is really creepy on alot of levels, age is just one thing.

If maturity was a factor in the creepiness, well we have the same formula here, a 100+ year old guy who is really not mature in any meaningful way and a young woman. The difference is that Mariko is decently mature throughout the movie and Bella (from what little I've seen) has to shake her head really hard to get the brain cells she does have to connect long enough to think.

On the whole I didn't mind the romance arc too much in this story but I think they missed a great chance to have Bodyguard's character develop. I mean, that kid obviously wanted to be a member of the X-men and had some genuine hero-worship of the person Logan really was, rather than just the one he wanted to be. There is just enough awkward tension in between the two characters for me to believe that Logan is aware of it too, and keeps his distance for that reason. Whether the development went with Logan actively trying to get away with her to keep running from his past or with her confronting Mariko for getting everything she (bodyguard) wanted... it could have been much more fun.


The only point where I was actively upset with the film was when Logan finally said goodbye to Jean at the end when he let her go and she had her "now I'm all alone" moment. There should have been a man in red sunglasses standing behind her with his arms out and Logan getting a line to the score of "No, your not." Then waking up and adding on to it, "And neither am I."

It would have been a small thing and a nice touch to show Logan not alone letting go of Jean but remembering that She was never his girl to begin with .

I've calmed down from that point a bit when I saw an interview with the director for "Days of future past" in which Singer said that he'd love to find a way to write X3: Last stand out of the continuity, or failing that fix problems he felt the film made needlessly including cyclops's death. Really though, it would have been a really nice continuity nod and a good growth moment for Wolverine if they'd had that little detail in there.

[TheThan]

Honestly, the romance in this movie is FAR more believable than it is in the X-movies.

For starters Jean tells him what her power is, and then reads his mind, and we’re supposed to believe he’s completely smitten with her. Sorry not really, maybe in a completely lustful “she’s hot, I want to sleep with her” way but not in any meaningful relationship sort of way. Then there’s the Jean/Scott romance. We’re supposed to buy these two are married and in love? They barely speak ten words to each other through all three movies. Not to mention as the “Phoenix” (I hesitate to call her that), she straight up murders Scott. That’s not something you do to someone you love. There’s no chemistry between any of them and we never see what makes any of them Love or be attracted to any of them.

Now in The Wolverine, Mariko is young and impressionable and we see wolverine risk his life for her multiple occasions. Which she doesn’t get, nobody ordered him to save her, and he did it on his own accord. She tells him to leave her alone and even tries to ignore him, and he won’t because he knows she’s lived too sheltered a life to survive on her own, so he sticks around to keep her alive.

He’s the only person in her life that’s not family, that she can’t boss around. That’s got to interest her in some way. Sure he’s a Gaijin and a caveman, but he’s willing and capable of doing something that no-one else seems to be able to do, protect her. She’s even willing to pay him back and help him when he succumbs to his injuries, indicating that she’s grown to care for him at least at a platonic level, after all this is the dude that saved her life, she owes him at least that much.

She hears him call out for Jean, this makes her curious, and begins to realize there’s more to him than meets the eye. That behind the tough exterior is a man that has real feeling and experiences real pain. She tries to get him to open up to her, by asking “who is Jean”, he won’t and hides behind his tough guy exterior, unwilling to let go of the pain and lose jean. It’s possible she’s jealous of this “Jean” person, or its possible she realizes he’s in pain and is trying to help him.

They spend the night together (which I thought was mostly unnecessary), and that acts as a catalyst for him to get over losing Jean (which he really never had) and move on. Saving her life a third time and putting his life on the line, allows him to finally get over jean’s death and find something else worth living for. It also allows him to embrace who and what he is; becoming The Wolverine, instead of just Logan.

[danzibr]

I enjoyed it.

To be honest I found it very predictable, but I still liked it. They messed up the timeline, but that's not a crisis. I mean, to fit it into the series it was a totally understandable alteration. The bonus scene at the end was really exciting.

Regarding Logan's age, I thought he was way over 100. Like, maybe even Civil War old. Even so, for the age complaints, who is he supposed to shack up with? Another mutant his age? I did find the romance a little awkward, but not due to age considerations.

[Aotrs Commander]

Well, I thought it was great, itching to see the next one. (But I also liked all three of the first ones, though. And the first Wolverine movie. Though all six X-Men films need vastly more Jubilee.)



The age thing is a non-issue; Wolverine is closer to two hundred than one hundred and I think both ageist and unfair to say he's not allowed to have relationships with anyone because of that.



We also have no idea how old Mariko is; she could be older than he looks anyway. (Given that asian women seem to can look quite a lot younger than they are sometimes: I remember once being completely floored after seeing Puffy Ami Yumi in a interview or something about the time they did the cartoon, assuming she was in her mid-teens or something and finding out she was like, my age.)

[Wardog]

My main criticism is that the plot just seemed to have too many separate threads all pileing up, and none of the villains seemed to have concvincing motivations for what they were doing.


The age difference between Logan and Mariko is a non-issue, IMO. Logan is a mature adult. Mariko is a mature adult. If they want to have a relationship (or get married, or have a one-nigh stand) that's their business. Furthermore, Logan has the body of a very fit and healthy 40-50yo, and - as much as it can be, given the circumstances - a mind to match. This isn't a middle-aged man takign advantage of a teenager, or an octagenarian leching after a young woman (or a young woman trying to snare an octagenarian with a large bank account). The fact that Logan is actually 100-200 years old doesn't have any affect on their relationship.

As for the fact that she was engaged - it was an arranged (and arguably forced, certainly unwanted) marriage, he was clearly a jerk (even before he was shown to be cheating on her). I can't remember if the engagement had anything to do with her suicide attempt, but it clearly wasn't something she was lookign forward to enough to prevent it. (And wasn't he also involved with the plot on her life?)

[warty goblin]

I enjoyed the movie up until the precise moment when Wolverine got his powers back. Until then it was a fun romp, with some inventive action scenes, a sort of moody feeling of isolation and dislocation, and a bit of mystery as to what was going on. After that, alas as so often is the case, along with the super came the stupid. The entire last fight scene was a nonsensical bore, the plot had resolved from having a lot of characters with their own motivations down into hero stabs people, and I pretty much just wanted it to end.

On a different perspective, the first part would have been crazy good directed by Aronofksy. On the other hand, thank heavens he didn't waste his time with that in light of the last half an hour.

[Dienekes]

So as someone who won't care or pay attention to any romance subplots this movie has, but prefers a cohesive story that won't make me confused on why the heroes or villains don't do the obvious move that would solve all their problems. How would the movie hold up?

[MLai]

So as someone who won't care or pay attention to any romance subplots this movie has, but prefers a cohesive story that won't make me confused on why the heroes or villains don't do the obvious move that would solve all their problems. How would the movie hold up?
Read the original Miller-Claremont graphic novel if you want a story.
This movie is better than Wolverine 1, only because it's on-location Japan, and the movie doesn't ruin any character you actually care about (Silver Samurai but who cares, he's not Deadpool).

[Jayngfet]

So as someone who won't care or pay attention to any romance subplots this movie has, but prefers a cohesive story that won't make me confused on why the heroes or villains don't do the obvious move that would solve all their problems. How would the movie hold up?

Not terribly well. I may have harped on the romance but it's kind of a non-issue compared to the weak motivation and cheap plot all things considered.

[Joe Justin]

To be honest.. It didnt feel like a Marvel-flic.. It felt like a sad excuse for an idea to make wolverine completly worthless for nearly an hour and a half.. Constantly limping around from wounds, and just being stopped and manhandled in every corner.. Yes, there IS some badass fighting, but id say 95% of the movie is about him being pink and fuzzy.. A good movie, but nothing id like to see twice like the rest of the marvels..

[LibraryOgre]

The Mod Wonder: Closed for Necromancy.