The original writer of ‘The Wolverine’, Chris Claremont, speaks his mind about the recent film.

Let’s face it, if I asked a majority of strangers who Wolverine is, they would definitely know who I was talking about. Since Wolverine is an iconic character, he definitely belongs at the top of the ladder with Iron Man and the rest of the Avengers. The only difference with Wolverine and those other characters is that he can be both a blood thirsty killer, and your favorite puppy dog.

Fox recently released their latest Wolverine movie entitled: The Wolverine, and it was based upon work from Chris Claremont several years ago. Vulture recently caught up with Chris and spoke to him about how he feels about Wolverine, what he thought about the movie, and how he feels about film studios handling the Wolverine IP.
[**Warning Spoilers for The Wolverine and Iron Man 3**]

The way I always describe Wolverine is, if you walked into Logan’s room at the X-Mansion, you’d be immediately struck that the room would be split almost literally in half. One would be a total shithole: clothes on the couch, beer cans wherever. This is a guy who doesn’t give a damn about anything; he just tosses it. There’s nothing sophisticated, nothing respectful; it’s altogether creepy. And then there’s the other half of the room, which is pristine, elegant, down to the bare essentials of what, for him, is life: a samurai short sword sitting on a desk, and maybe a few precious other items. You’d look at that side of the room and be instantly struck by the balance, the sensitivity. That’s the two sides of Logan. There’s the side that Sabretooth is always reaching out to and saying, “There’s no one like you except me. We should be pillaging the world because we’re predators. Why are you wasting all your time with these wimps?” And then there is the Ronin side, which wants to find a purpose greater than himself that will make him whole. And originally it was with Jean Grey, but she was spoken for. So he turned to Mariko. And that turned out to be doomed. But for me, the fun was the struggle. Logan is trying to find a better way, a way that validates the love of Jean or Mariko. A way to be the man they want — ignoring the fact, of course, that maybe the wild creature is the one they want. But he wants to make himself worthy, and he always almost gets there.

So, what did you think of the movie?

The first two acts were kick-ass, and they set this up to be a really exceptional, different movie. It was like the film took this giant step forward. I liked that it focuses on the essence of who Wolverine is and what he does. Hugh Jackman is eloquent, and he owns the character at this point. It’s a surprisingly multidimensional performance. The third act wasn’t bad, per se, but it was a different tone. That moment he starts motorcycling up the 400 kilometers … he was almost riding into a different movie. It would be interesting to talk to Mangold and ask why they felt they had to go in that direction. 

….The end sort of turned into stuff we’ve all seen before. It just started throwing superhero tropes against the wall: the Yakuza against Wolverine, the Viper imprisoning Wolverine, the Silver Samurai cutting off Wolverine’s claws. The point is not how many artful ways can he cut someone to shish kebab. There was no moment of emotional punch to match, say, Tony Stark watching what he thinks is Pepper Potts’s death in the third Iron Man. That’s a moment. There should have been one in this, but everybody was on the sidelines. There should have been more direct involvement with Mariko. The problem with that superhero silliness, I’m sitting there thinking, What’s Viper there for? And what exactly does her venom do? People go all bubbly and collapse? I wanted a moment of choice for the characters in that scene in the castle. That sort of got lost in all the running and jumping and hitting.