Of Recalled Trekaddicts, Adamantium Plans and Retinal Hallways into Heaven
Logan: Do I look like a man who exaggerates?
Wolverine has been one of my recent addictions. The comic book. I never saw X-Men films. Neither did I pick up their comic books earlier. “Too complex”, I said to both. Much later, quite recently, when the streets were done with all the Batman and Spiderman that they could think of, did I turn towards them. “This guy looks OK”, I murmured to myself, and picked up few Wolverine comic books, mostly because of their inspired artwork and versions.
Soon I was inducted into the cult adamantium planet, going through the agonies of the well-haired and well-adrenalined superhero. The books kept revealing one dimension after the other, as Loganman moved from oriental orbs to citystreet gangsters to jungle jamborees. I always thought of him as a superhero who would take to his destiny reluctant and lazy, and then weighing things as they come, slashing a few in the process, mulling over it, slash a few more, and become the all-pervasive absorber of all the pain in this world, yet grinning and quite literally, baring it, for all the lack of irony in a suddenly changing world. He wouldn’t often need much help, from the other contemporaries, but he would give me that occasional dig fun, at times crossing paths with the ones lacking his sense of timing and humor. That was Wolverine. That is Wolverine.
Now think of how he grew them infamous claws, how he comes to be facing the situation that he is perpetually in, trying to run away from a past he wish he never had, to a distant future, deciding on the immediate aims and having a wild, animal go at them. That is story. And for story, you can find your own sweet little comic books in some corner, they will give you versions to pick from, make your own favorites. I had mine too. One I recently read had him face some Victorian rough times, as he kills and slashes his way through the century to land in a worse presentday Dirty Hairy state.
So I went for the new X Men Origins Wolverine film.
The beginning had me in splits. Soon some weird getting together a crime gang followed. Then a backstory of how he grew the claws, a career he kicks away for unchartered forest greens(in Canadian Rockies), a truly obscure love story in the woods, return to a form he was born for, meeting his bête noire, then meeting his destiny, through voluminous setpiece grande action, and long shots followed….
I made myself removed from the associative possibilities. It is a film, I thought, and kept faith. And the faith did pay off in some ways I must say.
The film is no great treat for a fan or a non-fan, but it does have its moments. I particularly liked Jackman’s demeanor, his restraint, his smooth transition from one scene to other as if he is a be-it-know-it-all spectator. It was some way to slice/approach a Wolverine film. The practiced stunts in opulent frames, a love of all things huge and extravagant, taking scenes as they come approach, make this one a sincere attempt at realization of a what-could-be-easily-one-of-our-more-Shakespearean superheroes journey.
Then comes Liev Schreiber. A performance coming at you from where you least expect. A performance consumed in the possibilities of surprise a portrayal brings. Schreiber lived Victor Creed. It is not the menace he creates; it is the love with which he takes to it, a delicious attempt, to say the least.
Danny Huston got his mostly linear act redeemed in the last walk. Some pay off. I thought Ryan Reynolds would suck as Deadpool, but he didn’t. Taylor Kitsch as Gambit gave us another cool superhero, but the one I would put my price on was the circus magic trick dude. Quite a charmer with the eyes.
But more than the usual superhero film important elements like casting, production, it was some strange invisible factor that worked for the film. Look at the village/barn sequence. The way it transitions from that countryside calm to violent energy. And having Wolverine at the center of it all, knowing he will come back at you with them restrained walks and lines, keeps the rehearsed mind engaged all the more. Keeping action of this frequency blended with the other read emotional goings-on isn’t an easy job. And I would rather blame the current Batman franchise than praise it for setting the standards so ridiculously high that a superhero film would rather not be inspired go to a little undefined or crude fun road. That is one tragedy that works against Wolverine. He is seen through the eyes of the now-aware average watcher. I don’t care what people say but I think of the shot where he walks with his back turned towards the blasting chopper and I went Yeehaw! Isn’t that some good ol’ fun? Or the one in Colonel Stryker’s research lab where you see sheer power being created in minutes and out walks a new man, down the roads of redemption but never to be. You can count the climax too, if not for it’s supercool island/nuclear o somethin’ of a plant fun, then at least for its sense of thrill.
Female Bartender: Are you drinking to forget?
Logan: No. I’m drinking to remember.
Though I could have done with more usage and unconnected random mentions of ‘mutant’, some more doses of guilt, some colorless silhouettes to refresh a graphic memory, a lesser cared about look, more lonely moments read howling wolves, and not to mention a wilder screaming-mighty-pissed formerly-known-as-James Howlett, I still liked the build-up/undercurrent of the Wolverine philosophy through this one. Waiting for the next one.
Scotty: I’m so – What? Are you from the future?
Kirk: Yeah, he is. I’m not.
Scotty: Well that’s brilliant! Do they still have sandwiches there?
OK. So it happens I am no trekkie either. But I guess I am not alone. And thanks to the new Star Trek reboot, me and my likes have a reason to smile, ya ya, I could have said, launch into a warped smile, but we’ll pass that.
So sliding into the premise without the slightest air of familiarity (if you don’t count 2001 & Solaris as familiar that is), I let the stars play their magic. A handful of clever sci-fied sequences, that might belong to any other regular summer blockbuster as well, and I was in. I kept making fun of characters as they came, was caught unawares at times with the precise direction, a keen sense of craft like music and exposition, but it was another film for me. Why and how did it change the way our parents and their geeker friends looked at the world back in their TV-friendly and friendly-TV world? What stops me from spelling Spock as SPOC? Why should I approach a Star Trek review with caution and anoint it with trekkie references and winks at the popculture which possibly changed the fate of all such similar popcultures to ever evolve in the near and immediate future?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind, possibly in some near-next-neighborhood alternate universe. Star Trek is easily more than a film or a franchise or a premise, and JJ Abrams and the well-nuanced writer-duo of Orci-Kurtzmann know it well enough. Enough to keep the film achieve that rare place in the space between an obsession and a following. And that explains the impressing flow of the new film, as it effortlessly reprises a celebrated cult, and brings two generations face to face, with their closet-hidden fantasies and their imagined demons.
Spock: Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
For lack of a reason, I missed the reawakening/reimagining of Bond in recent times, but I was redeemed and exhilarated in witnessing Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek come to the present day silverscreen. It was a moment of sheer discovery, I knew some big shit is going on somewhere but I couldn’t see it coming. And thank god for that. It was only few days later that I gathered courage to pick up some Trek stuff and my days have been awash with the possibilities of an alternate literary world, the one which challenges the apparent other, and gives what no form of recreation could ever give to you – a reanimated desire to defy the norms. Welcome to the Star Trek world, welcome to the U.S.S.Enterprise, welcome to the Starfleet. Welcome to the ABODE of geek fantasy.
The new brand of Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Bones, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov are all in for big money, and they got reasons for it. This is a laudable effort on all grounds. And I guess I would repeat what’s been said before everywhere around – the biggest achievement is bringing a smile to fans and non-fans alike. And you need to witness this for your own.
Even without the hangover, one can’t deny when the addictive charms hit you. For me, it was when a quieter Sulu picks up the sword and oozes a rare warrior-like dexterity. As they say, that’s when the shit first hit me. May be after that, I grew more cautious. And it kept coming. I was thinking Back to the Future. The same old-worldly charm where all you care about is little less known facts of this could-be parallel dimension.
Then there are some tasteful-throwbacks to the old times in an always-welcome time travel bit, that pack of beans called Simon Pegg and a wacko alien sidekick, a hot new Uhura(Zoe Saldana) who puts the cool back in groove, and an uncompromising scale of action, thrills and old-world chills, that make the new edition and enjoyable summer fest at once, and a fitting aging gift for all those who agree with the passage of time.
And the eternally-chemical-romance duo of Kirk-Spock…not since the Raaju-Beeru reunion of apna very own showman have I jumped with joy at a cinematic pairing of this stature and mood.
Pertinent. Important. Poignant. Essential. Blockbuster.
As for trekaddiction, I have just recently been oriented, so I will be truly and honestly digging into the realms of this proven escape route more often. Here are some parting lines for posterity and prosperity:
Show me Uhura reciting verse at Warspeed….and I’ll show you poetry in motion.
What do they call a Kingon with half a brain?
Gifted!
Why did the Kingon cross the road?
To conquer the other side.
What are eyeglasses called on Vulcan?
Spocktacles.
And as for the last bit about Retinal Hallways, yes I did like Angels & Demons for its unabashed picturesque charm and a flying inferno of a climax, so there goes another justified title.
Tags: Gavin Hood, hugh jackman, Liev Schreiber, Marvel Comics, Wolverine, X-Men
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
hahaha… long live the Shakespearean heros! Arn’t we all a sucker for them?
I laughed my way through all the 3 films, wolverine most of all. The barn seen u say – is there something like it in the comics? I never bothered to check but i burst out laughing in the scene,,, pretty loud in a packed theater… the jacket i guess made me laugh more i guess.
Nice round-up, bub but Liev Schrieber needs more love, much much more.. i mean to shoot it straight- I WAS FUCKIN ROOTIN FOR HIM LIKE A VIRGIN CHEERLEADER(hypothetical?). A much-loved thesp.. claw that and make it- much-respected thesp who unlike the cast that revolves around him gets to the point.. that this is in no way Shakespeare (@ravptor).. but what it is, is a BIG DUMB STUDIO HOLLYWOOD SUMMER TENTPOLE BLOCKBLUSTER and that the platform doesn’t get any bigger than this.. and Liev decides to indulge a part of him I have never before seen on-screen- the crazy savage. Just what the summer slate of Hollywood orders. So while the movie jumps and postures pretentiously all the while tone-deaf and lost- you have our everyman Schrieber indulging his mutant demon geek and even with bad lines and all- gave me something to hook on to in a movie which i desperately wanted to like but was instead consistently bland. The writing was godawful, Hugh Jackman except for a few seconds was a stuffed bore and the girl was a non-entity, Gambit was too cool for comfort, Danny Huston good as Stryker (not as good as the original Brian Cox version) was laid low by some really bad lines but Reynold’s deadpool was a whole lotta good things for a very little time. In the end we have only Schrieber/Victor giving it his all. he made the proverbial ‘jungle out there’. Fucking shame the movie couldn’t latch on. The second half does have some sort of rhythm but nothing new- it was more like a collage of the cool Wolverine sections from the first two X-men films. And Hugh Jackman should send an hour each day looking at stills from Dirty harry and the Dollars trilogy and CHANGE THE FUCKIN WRITERS FOR CHRISSAKE. the good thing though is that the movie ends with things on an absolute clean slate and the fact that it made enough money to warrant a sequel.. well, hope it gets uphill from here. There’s all the scope in the fucking world for that.
Live Long and Prosper!
@Tushar
cool post
I like the opening title sequence of Wolverine a lot, and too good action sequencec in the movie.
delight for storyboard artist!!
I am not much of a fan for the comics and superheroes (have had too much of my fill of Rajini movies in early childhood). Startrek series is a different cup of tea for me as it hacked into my DNA in my early childhood – probably one reason, I dont want to see its reboot. And pray wasnt that Angles and Demons? ;-)
awesome post. you should now go finish writing that script that you have been pickling! seriously.