The Wolverine

First Hit:  Convoluted story but it is somewhat amusing.

Someone in movie land felt it was important for the “The Wolverine” to have his own movie – again. The past film “X-Men Origins:  Wolverine” focused on his earlier life. Here Logan (Wolverine – Hugh Jackman) is lost because he killed his love interest accidentally.

Here the film’s story is a vehicle for Wolverine to find himself and get out of the self-imposed isolation of the Pacific Northwest. The story the writers chose is one that dips back to where the Wolverine saves Japanese General Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi) from dying during the bombing of Nagasaki. Right before his eyes, General Yashida watches The Wolverine melted and scarred from the heat and radiation of the bomb, heal right before his eyes.

For the rest of his life the General attempted to find ways for his body to reproduce itself and respond to damage, just like the Wolverine's. He wants immortality. To get it from the Wolverine, the General sends Yukio (Rila Fukushima) to find him and bring him back to Japan. The General’s granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto), who is the one who’ll inherit the General’s company when he dies, becomes a foil and someone the Wolverine opens his heart to, to love again.

But the story (outside of the bomb blast, which I thought was really good), lacked a reason to care much about the characters.

Jackman as the Wolverine was strong (physically looking) and portrayed his suffering well enough, but some scenes were just senseless and unnecessary (think 100 arrows in his back, each with a rope to the arrow shooter). Okamoto was very good and her model’s beauty was an asset while portraying the granddaughter of the General. Fukushima as the protector of the General was the most fun and interesting of the film’s characters. Mark Bomback and Scott Frank wrote an overly complex storyline to introduce bring forth the Wolverine character. James Mangold directed the film which was, at times was well choreographed, and at the other times meandering with forced action.

Overall:  This wasn’t the worth price of admission but maybe something to stream when bored some Sunday evening.

Total Recall

First Hit:  I enjoyed this version more than the 1990 version.

Unlike “The Dark Knight Rises” (see previous review), the opening sequence sets up the story well.

The point of the opening sequence of a film like this is to set us up to get our buy-in, to have us suspend our reality and invite us into a story.

Total Recall does this and that is why I enjoyed it. Douglass Quaid, aka Houser, (played by Colin Farrell) is stuck in a life he doesn’t understand. He goes to work making robot enforcers in Great Britain from Australia by getting on and riding the “Fall”.

The Fall is what people call the vehicle which transports people through the only two habitable places on earth, Great Britain and Australia. Its path is through the middle of the earth and when it reaches the core there is a few minutes of gravity suspension because gravity switches its pull.

Australia is called the colony and everyone there is poor. It is ruled by Great Britain and Chancellor Cohaagen (played by Bryan Cranston) and they suppress everything for control. There, of course, is an underground group fighting the rule and Matthias (played by Bill Nighy) is their leader. Quaid’s wife Lori (played by Kate Beckinsale) is a cop and works a lot of nights investigating and killing the rebels.

We learn quickly, she’s one of the best and toughest investigators. Douglas, in his frustration with his life, goes to “Total Recall” which promises dreams that make you feel good. His visit takes us into a new story of what is reality and what is truth.

Although an unbelievable story, it works because the actors, script and direction allows us to believe it.

Farrell is very good and strong in both the physical challenges of the role but by also giving us a true sense of being lost and wanting to find the truth. Cranston is great as the Chancellor. Beckinsale is so strong in her physical role and was fun to watch. Jessica Biel (as Melina) was very good and shows strength in this physical role. Nighy is good in a limited but pivotal role. Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback wrote this effective screenplay while Len Wiseman gave this film believability, fun and action.

Overall: Enjoyable version of this story and worth the price of admission.

Unstoppable

First Hit: Anything with Denzel Washington is good but this film hangs on the border of not being good.

We know the ending as soon as the film begins. Yes this is typical Hollywood action fare but there is hope because there are some great looks and lines by Denzel.

In Unstoppable Washington plays Frank a 28 year veteran of driving trains. He knows his stuff. His partner for the day is Will (played by Chris Pine) who is a newbie, fully distracted because his wife wants a restraining order against him, and has basically failed at most things he’s done in the past.

Two lazy mindless railroad yard employees are ordered to move a train while they are taking yet another break. They don’t hook up the air brakes, they don’t set the switches in the cab correctly, and the only person in the cab jumps out thinking he can throw a switch and get back into the cab.

We all know the answer, the train gets loose and it is at full throttle heading for Stanton, PA on its own with no driver and at high speed. In Stanton there is a dangerous curve which no train can make at more than 25 miles an hour or it crashes into the middle of town and some oil storage containers.

This curve creates the motive for multiple attempts to stop the train. The senior company men care less about lives and safety of people and more about the money that will be lost if they have to derail the train so they make stupid decisions.

After we wade through their failed attempts to stop the train, including derailing it, Frank and Will come to the rescue by catching up to it from behind and slowing down the moving bomb and along the way they become better people.

Washington is wonderful as Frank the 28 year veteran who is wise and caring about who he is and his work. Pine is adequate as the lost Will. I never got that his acting brought realness to his character’s story. Rosario Dawson as Connie, who runs the yard where the runaway train departs from, is good at being commanding in this predominantly male environment. Tony Scott directed this in Tony Scott fashion where the action is big and the story obvious. Mark Bomback wrote the script and there are some good lines but the story is obvious from beginning to end.

Overall: A enjoyable rental film for a family evening viewing.