Yup, I knew I'd pretty much agree with your review.

What was the reference? I didn't pick up on anything.

Like I said, "sneeze and you miss it". It's extremely subtle at best.

Saw this today and I liked it a lot. Jackman of course rocks and that needs no explanation. I also really liked the Japanese girls in the movie. Both were adorable and held their own especially the red head who kicked major ass. The biggest weakness in the movie was just the villains,(seriously how do you make silver samurai more lame)? I also had trouble watching it because it basically boils down to a samurai vs ninja movie featuring Wolverine(and yes I know that was what the comic was like). Overall I'd rate the movie a solid 4/5. I enjoyed it, and it was by far a much stronger movie than origins.

eh, well it was better than 'Origins', but really?... half way through I got kind of bored with the new movie.

Maybe because I saw it at an 11pm showing last night, but this film felt like it had no momentum whatsoever. The Jean Grey scenes were so repeatitive, they lost any dramatic impact they were meant to have.

Logan: "Jean..."
Jean: "Are you going to die now?"
...20 minutes later...
Logan: "Jean..."
Jean: "How about now?"
Repeats about 5 times throughout the film.

For as much as I like slow dramatic films, I found myself wishing there was more action here since the slow character building stuff felt hacked together. The few fight sequences we did get though were about as poorly directed as any I've seen.

I don't get it, Wolverine seems like such an easy character to bring to film and he was always my favorite growing up...they just can't get it right for some reason. Oh well, I guess I'll just watch him turn Cyclops' car into a convertible (animated series) on loop to lift my spirits today.

I thought it was ok, much better than origins but that isn't saying much. The one thing I don't understand is where did all the ninja go. There were like a hundred of them after they took Logan down. I don't see how they could have gotten out of the building with all those ninja running around. Maybe they went to fight some pirates.

It was alrite, a side story that doesn't connect to anything or goes anywhere

Saw this last night. I thought the first half was good and then it fell apart and just got stupid, I mean really stupid, I can count to potato stupid. Wolverine is the ultimate badass superhero. Jackman is born to play this role. Yet somehow, someway, they can't put together a better than average movie?

God damn this movie got stupid... Things that sucked: the gravity defying horrible cgi train fight, Viper, overly convoluted, and nonsensical plot, the fight scene between Iron Man and Wolverine, Viper, the love story between Wolverine and Meriko (Jackman had better chemistry with just about everyone else in the film), Ninja Gaiden (could've been such a cool character), Viper (wtf? is she invincible?), extremely predictable and lame motive and ending with Yashida, Viper, Adamantium can be destroyed now? (I know, it was melted! Well, if the Adamantium sword was hot enough to melt his claws, it would be liquid and not a sword), and Viper.

Things that didn't suck: Jackman and his bodyguard, the backstory, the character development focus of the first half of the film, the martial arts fighting was well done.


Bottom line: A turd that actually makes me angry and very fearful for the next X-Men. I have zero confidence in Fox to get it right. I'm actually torn at the moment, on which I liked better, but I think for now I'll give this a slight edge over Origins.

Yeah I thought the was zero chemistry between Jackman and Meriko

Honestly, what was the point of even having her in the movie? It seemed like everyone wanted to kidnap her or kill her for god knows what. First you have this half baked and under developed character of her father, who apparently wants to kill her because daddy didn't love him enough (and grandpappy is ruining the company). Then you have her fiancée who was basically a one dimensional tool. Then grandpappy, who for some reason likes her, he does like her right? I mean I couldn't even really tell. It seemed he wanted her bad enough to be a part of his master plan, leading the viewer to believe that she is an essential part of the ending sequence. Except she wasn't. She didn't even need to be there! Then there is her high school sweetheart, who loves her, but doesn't mind betraying her, well until he loves her again. What a fucking mess. Gaaaahhh...serenity now serenity now....

And you give the edge to Origins? You know, because they had to stick Gambit in there for no reason. Well, if you count fan service a reason, then yeah, it made sense for him to be there. No it didn't.

lol at origins being better than this

I liked the abundance of Japanese content in the film, the first Hollywood movie almost entirely set there since...MEMOIR OF A GEISHA? I thought the two actresses were good, although I'm guessing they were both dubbed by someone else as was the Russian actress who played Viper.

However, the Japanese men were all villains, some unnecessarily so. It was good seeing Hiroyuki Sanada again in a major role in a Hollywood movie (he was in THE LAST SAMURAI with Tom Cruise and 35 years ago he appeared in MESSAGE FROM SPACE with Vic Morrow), but it was a standard villain role.

I thought the fight scene on the bullet train came too soon after the massive battle and chase at the funeral. They should have found a way to pace it better and put the next big action scene much later.

I thought the film really lagged in its last half-hour. That whole Silver Samurai section reminded me too much of IRON MAN I when Jeff Bridges got inside that giant robot to fight Iron Man.

In that scene where Logan and one of the Japanese women storm into the apartment of Noboru, the finance minister (and Mariko's fiance), and find him with the hookers, the music on the soundtrack is a Japanese pop song, "Onna, Kanishi, Otonajan," that happens to be in my J-pop collection. Miki Fujimoto is the lead singer on it and is one of my favorites. It was a thrill hearing her on the soundtrack of a Hollywood film, but the clip used was too short.

Hiroyuki will be in 47 Ronin. He should be badass in that.

Actually I gave this a slight edge over Origins. I honestly don't remember anything about Origins other than my feeling of disappointment walking out of the theater. I must've blocked it from my memory...

Ah, I misread that then.

Good ear you've got!

He was one of the few good things about Rush Hour 3 and is who they should have cast as Shredder in the new TMNT flick. The man is a badass and has great presence. I was hoping he'd be left alive in this flick to return as an improved Silver Samurai in a sequel.

Speaking of Silver Samurai, wasn't he a mutant in the comics? If so, they basically did a reverse Juggernaut (although I hear he is a mutant in the Ultimate X-Men series) on him, huh?

Silver Samauri is a mutant in the comics and Yukio is not. Both of those are the opposite in the film.

Also Silver Samuari is Mariko's half brother in the comics, not her grandfather.

Yeah I did like that most of the film was based in Japan very unusual and cool for Hollywood

I really hope this brings the end of solo Wolverine movies. The third time will not be the charm.

So can someone here explain who (or what studio) owns what film's rights, and how it relates to Marvel?

So for example, I know Sony owns Spiderman's rights, correct? And they have to make a new movie every 4 years of they lose the rights?

As someone who loved all of these superheroes as a kid but never read the comics religiously, I guess what I'm wondering is this: Could Wolverine ever appear in an Avengers film? Could Spiderman ever show up? Could The X-Men team up with Iron Man and The Hulk ever?

Or, does whoever that owns The Hulk or Thor or Captain America have no access to X-Men or Wolverine? And how can these all be Marvel properties but, for example, Spider-Man can't co-exist in the same "movie world" as Iron Man because of rights or licensing restrictions?

And lastly...about The Wolverine--did I miss it, or was there no Stan Lee cameo?

No X-Men or Spidey character can crossover into a Marvel film. Not without both studios agreeing to it, that will most likely never happen.

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are a whole other issue. They're X-Men characters by creation but dominantly associated with the Avengers. I'd like to really read that part of the rights.

Now we almost had an OsCorp building in The Avengers but it never happened. Not sure how they agreed to that happening but it didn't happen cuz it just wasn't given to Marvel in time.

Marvel, when it was nothing like it is today, sold off characters left and right. So Fox got FF, X-Men, DD. Sony got Spidey and GR. and others went to other studios which by now they've most of what they lost. Title wise. Except for the big 2, X-Men and Spidey. Those are the major ones not by Marvel. FF isn't really that big but it's the third important one...technically.

Everything changed when Marvel created their own movie studio and produced Iron Man on their own and started the shared cinematic universe. Before that, they didn't have a movie studio, and in order to get their movies made, they licensed their characters out to to other studios. Marvel is no longer licensing out their characters, but some of those licensing agreements remain in place as long as those studios keep making movies. Most notably, Sony has Spider-Man and Fox has X-Men and Fantastic Four. Most of the rest of Marvel's properties are owned by or have reverted back to Marvel Studios.

There will be no crossover between studios without an agreement of some sort, which will likely not happen. Fox is going to try to cross over X-Men with Fantastic Four though.

Also, you are correct, no Stan Lee in The Wolverine, but he wasn't in the first Wolverine movie either, and he didn't actually create Wolverine.