Q & A time!

[telophase]

Q. So, did The Wolverine take the inspiration story that was originally published 20ish years ago and update the stereotyped Western vision of Japan it portrayed?

A. Bwahahahahahahahahaaaa inhale hahahahahahahaaahahhahahahahhahahaahaaaa! wipes glasses That was funny!

Comments

[movingfinger]

Come on! It is at least as accurate as Japan as shown in You Only Live Twice!!! That is, it surely exceeds Hollywood's standard for authenticity!

[telophase]

I admit, the bus they rode from Tokyo to the small village near Nagasaki looked exactly like the bus Rachel and I rode between Magome and Tsumago!

[lnhammer]

the bus they rode from Tokyo to the small village near Nagasaki

Riding only bus? I don't think you can do that -- not down two thirds of Honshu and across Kyushu. Bullet train to Fukuoka, express to Nagasaki, then local train/bus.

---L.

[telophase]

I"m not quite sure where they got on the bus--it's not like I was actually paying attention to much of the movie, as it was fairly dire. They escaped gun- and knife-toting yakuza by getting onto a bullet train without tickets, then got off at some point in an unnamed city (or, possibly Tokyo district) and ended up in a love hotel (they had to; it's in the contract for all Western movies portraying Japan), and then ended up on the bus.

[lnhammer]

Hmm -- if they go on the bullet train in Tokyo, they would have gotten off in another city. Fukuoka is reasonable, for that (the bullet train doesn't reach Nagasaki yet). And certainly there are love hotels there. But no local bus will get from Fukuoka all the way to a village outside Nagasaki.

Eh, whatevs.

---L.

[telophase]

I think in a world where ninjas actually dress like ninjas, there's probably a bus that goes from Fukuoka to a village outside Nagasaki.

They were trying to evade capture and hide in the house in which Mariko grew up. Against Logan's advice, but she was convinced that none of the people trying to catch them would think she was there, in this small village in which everyone knew her.

edit: Also, they just got off at the next stop, after Wolvering had a big fight with yakuza in the vestibule between train cars--where the restrooms are--and on top of the train. Whose roof was pierced multiple times with knives and cloaws, and yet nobody noticed enough to pull the cord that would alert the driver that there was a problem and the train needed to be stopped.

[movingfinger]

The first words of the line of this unfortunately evoke Trailer Voice.

"In a world... where ninjas... dresslike ninjas... there's probably a bus... that goes... from Fukuoka to..." [cue wacky comedy music or doom music] "...a village outside Nagasaki."

[telophase]

That would make a better movie that The Wolverine.

I was in it for Hugh Jackman's ass, but instead of the camera panning lovingly over his rear view, as the first Wolverine movie featured, it chose to linger longingly over his abs, and all I could think of was how incredibly dehydrated Jackman had to be during the filming to get that definition.

I got one shot of half his naked ass, and that was it!

[movingfinger]

I thought abs and other buff bits these days were most likely to be CGI.

Given the tissue-thin unengrossing plots (I should not be "Hey! What about X, why don't they just Y?" three minutes into any movie), the lack of substance elsewhere isn't surprising...