The Wolverine!!!!

The Wolverine.

When the world of X-Men was released to the world one of the main characters who came out as a big fan favourite was Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). Three films into the franchise and the world finally got a Wolverine only film 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' which wasn't received very well. But this time round it feels that the Marvel franchise have got things right deciding to carry on the story after the death of Jean Gray. 

Picking up after the third film it shows how a  down and out Wolverine is living in the wild with a grizzly bear and has recurring nightmares of killing Jean Grey. As he gets into a fight in a local bar a young Yukio (Rila Fukushima)  intervenes and saves him from killing anyone. Explaining who she is and who she works for he is soon flown to Japan to meet his long lost friend Yashida (Ken Yamamura). Finally meeting the older Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi) the story of how they both met is played out on screen as you see Logan saving a young Yashida's life and in exchange for him saving his life he says he can make Logan mortal again. 

Soon enough Logan is approached in his sleep by Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova) who implants something into his body which he has no knowledge of as he thinks it was a nightmare. As Logan is attacked and fights his way to save Yashida's daughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto) he sustains cuts, stab wounds and gun shot wounds to his body but yet he doesn't heal like he used to. Hindered by this affliction he carries on as normal trying to find Mariko and also try and regain his superhuman powers as well. 

With a final showdown with a massive metal samurai you finally see who is behind it all and what they truly want. Will Logan unleash the Wolverine and save Mariko and will he regain his superpowers again?

One thing I loved about this film is the setting, set in Japan it gives the film a different feel and using Japanese characters really does bring something fresh to the table. Hugh Jackman looks incredible, it has to be the most ripped he has ever been to play the rabid Wolverine and it really shows on screen. During fight scenes you see all his veins pop out and you see the stress lines on his face which just gives that ferocious image that better edge. The storyline is a clever one and I like how it follows on from the third X-Men film instead of being a complete new story and allows the story to possible follow on even more. 

With the added Marvel scene after the credits have rolled by it shows and sets up what we can expect from the next X-Men instalment film: X-Men: Days Of Future Past.

8/10.

Pacific Rim!!!!

Pacific Rim.

I have to say I am kind of biased when it comes to reviewing this film because of one reason, Guillermo Del Toro. The ever so imaginative and amazing director of some of my favourite movies from Pans Labyrinth to Blade 2 to Hellboy 1+2 he is an amazing creative genius in my eyes.

So anyway onto Pacific Rim which is GoT's first major budget film in five years and in which has been a long time coming. With a sneak peak trailer being aired at Comic Con in 2012 fans have been waiting to see the giant Jaeger's and Kaiju's in action and battle it out on the big screen in all it's glory. 

Set in a world where a rift opens up in the Pacific ocean and giant Kaiju monsters come through the rift and decide to attack the city's around the world as Sydney, Manila and China are all attacked in a matter of months which calls for decisive action. As the country's of the world call a truce to fight a greater evil together the Jaeger program is put in place to build giant mechanical robot's to fight the Kaiju's and to stop them from destroying the world. 

As we see our first two characters on screen Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and his brother Yancy Becket (Diego Klattenhoff) are alerted to a Kaiju attack they must deploy their Jaeger Gyspy Danger and kill the Kaiju. As the brother's fight the Kaiju at first the brother's are cofident but soon enough catastrophic events take place and Gyspy Danger is soon enough flat on it's face on a near by beach defeated with an injured Raleigh. Fast forward a couple of years and we see Raleigh working on the Canadian Kaiju defence wall, now not a Jaeger pilot he moves from city to city to keep working and his mind of that catastrophic event.

Soon enough the Kaiju's are becoming stronger and are breaking through the defence walls like knives through butter and so the government has no choice but to close and shut down the Jaeger initiative. With their leader Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) given only a time frame of funding for another six months he must find a way to stop the Kaiju's once and for all and quickly. Visited by Stacker Raleigh makes the decision to re-enter the Jaeger initiative and pilot Gyspy Danger once more with a new co-pilot Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi). 

As we see the process of finding his co-pilot the rivalry between Jaeger pilots and the imminent danger of the Kaiju every day it is a race against time for the team to finish this war. As day by day more Jaeger's are taken down and destroyed by the Kaiju the team is cut down to just four Jaeger's. The Australian speedy fighting Striker Eureka piloted by Herc Hansen (Max Martini) and his son Chuck Hansen (Robert Kazinsky). The three armed Chinese all fighting Crimson Typhoon piloted by the Wei Tang triplets (Charles, Mark and Lance Luu). The heavyweight Russian Cherno Alpha piloted by husband and wife Lt. S+A Kaidanovsky (Robert Maillet and Heather Doerksen). 

As the pilots fight the Kaiju's out in the world the Shatterdome (home of the team) scientists try to work out how the Kaiju work and how they communicate. Dr Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day) and Gottlieb (Burn Gorman) work together to try and learn about the Kaiju, even approaching Hannibal Chau (Ron Perlman) a back street underground Kaiju dealer in parts the try to find out information to defeat the Kaiju anyway possible. 

With the imminent threat of a high class of Kaiju to come through the rift and destroy the rest of life on earth the team must form a plan and follow through quick but what will happen?!

Overall a great film especially if you love Transformers, Godzilla and the whole Gundam Wing franchise as this film has a great mix of all three with some massive fight scenes added on top. The Jaeger's on screen look daunting and yet powerful and forceful, the Kaiju look again massive, impressive and at times scary as well. I could go into detail about the lighting and how well it was used, the sound effects and little touches of western spurs chinking on boots to how impresive the sets look but I could be here for hours. 

The characters were believable and really brought the story forward, a downside was that of Stacker Penetcost as he just felt a little bit too overly cold in my opinion and the film could have slowed down a little bit in order to take all the information in. But I have to say this is impressive film making from GoT and I really hope that we don't have to wait another five years for another film from him.

So if you want to see a film with massive robot's versus giant Kaiju monsters with an emotive underlying theme then check this film out as it is in my eyes an amazing film that is not to be missed. Welcome back Guillermo Del Toro........Pacific Rim 2 now, PLEASE??!

9/10.