When it comes to motion pictures, I typically tend to lean more towards comedies. What can I say? It’s just my comfort zone. It’s for this fact alone that it came as a bit of a surprise to my friends that I opted to watch a movie such as Prisoners, a film that’s not only gritty but damn near depressing — but depressing in a good way. Headlined by Hugh Jackman, whom we all know and love as Wolverine in the X-Men series, Prisoners is one humorless movie.

The film centers on Jackman who plays a determined father who must come to terms with the reality that his young daughter has been kidnapped and possibly murdered along with her best friend. As family members and friends deal with her tragic and mysterious disappearance, Jackman’s Keller Dover — what the hell kind of name is that? — launches an all-out war on the young man who he believes may be the culprit. Complicating things is the fact that this man, played wonderfully by Paul Dano, has the IQ of a 10-year-old and isn’t big on talking and sharing feelings. Things get a bit disturbing with some pretty frightening torture scenes and squirm-inducing images. It’s worth noting that the film was once rated NC-17 before being edited to earn an R rating. Still, it makes for some remarkably tough stuff.

With that being said, how does all of this do on BluRay?

Well, in my humble opinion, that’s rather hard to say. Never one to skimp on crystal clear visuals, Warner Brothers chose to release Prisoners in 1080p high definition — which on a movie with vibrant colors would work wonders. Pardon my slang but Prisoners ain’t that kind of movie. From the second the movie begins, the color scheme is dark, dreary and bleak. There’s hardly any sunshine. There’s an overcast in the first few outdoor scenes and everything is just grim. Perchance that’s what the film is going for. Nevertheless, when it comes to high definition, I like to see my films in color.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is a nice touch, but is pretty customary when it comes to releases from Warner Brothers as is the fact that it comes in English, French and Spanish. What I do like is that the studio chose to release this in a nice combo pack including BluRay, DVD and — drumroll, please — Ultraviolet which seems to be all the rage now. Additionally, the ultraviolet component can be instantly streamed allowing for viewing on different platforms including television, smart phones, tablets and computers.

Not too shabby, Warner Brothers.

It’s just a pity that I can’t say the same about the bonus features. I’m someone who likes to see what goes on behind the scenes of films. Call me nosy. I don’t care. I prefer the word inquisitive. I like audio commentaries. I love deleted scenes. I treasure outtakes. Sadly, Prisoners offers none of those. It only comes with two bonus features including:

• Prisoners – Every Moment Matters (3:05) — A short feature with some of the cast members talking about the subject matter of the movie.
• Prisoners – Powerful Performances (9:22) — A nice feature detailing how the cast worked together and played to their strengths.

That last feature was actually worth including on the disc. The cast for this film is indeed incredible. There honestly isn’t a single weak link, and even though Jackman is the lead, costars like Terrence Howard (who is currently making quite the splash in The Best Man Holiday), Viola Davis, Maria Bello and Melissa Leo manage to steal the show whenever they are on screen … especially Leo who’s practically unrecognizable. In fact, I was really impressed with her performance. Quite frankly, I think she may deserve an award.

So, what’s my take on the BluRay release? Eh. It’s whatever. Purchase the BluRay for the film itself and not for the special features.

Anything else would be a real crime.

Warner Home Video kindly provided CliqueClack with a BluRay/DVD Combo package for review.

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Wolverine is probably the most iconic alumni in Marvel’s vast gallery of mutant characters. He’s so popular that 20th Century Fox saw fit to tap him for his own film series spin-off after the original X-Men trilogy derailed into laughable obscurity in X-Men 3: The Last Stand. After an equally embarrassing film debut in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Hugh Jackman has returned to play the titular character Logan (aka “Wolverine”) in this summer’s mutant action romp The Wolverine.

Aside from Jackman’s reprisal of his role, The Wolverine sports a hugely unknown cast due to this film’s setting overseas in Japan. Japanese film stars Hiroyuki Sanada, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Hal Yamanouchi and Brian Tee add a far-eastern flair to the mix while Russian actress Svetlana Khodchenkova rounds out the cast of new faces. Famke Janssen has a cameo role in this film as well.

Taking place years after the events that transpired in the third X-Men film and borrowing a page from Logan’s comic book roots, The Wolverine tells 20th Century Fox’s abridged version of Logan’s well-chronicled history and ties to Japan after he is invited to the Land of the Rising Sun by an old acquaintance that can offer Logan an end to his eternal suffering. But like in any superhero film, things aren’t always what they seem. So when the Japanese mob tries to poke around in other people’s affairs you can bet that everyone’s favorite scrappy mutant bad ass with claws might have something to say about that.

The main positive The Wolverine had going for it was its cultural aspect. In the comic books, Wolverine learned many lessons about himself and life in general while in Japan that helped shape him to become a better man (or should I say “X-Man”?) and the film’s tone actually did a very good job of capturing that faithful mystique of the comic’s narrative.

The Wolverine isn’t without its fair share of action sequences either and nothing is more fun than watching Hugh Jackman, in probably his best shape ever, kick butt and take quite the punishment. Fortunately, The Wolverine definitely didn’t have the cartoonish feel that the first Wolverine film reeked of, but there were parts of the film where the pacing seemed to drag and you found yourself just waiting for a scene to end and the next action sequence to start up.

Having a relatively unknown cast in The Wolverine worked as a double-edged sword. On one hand it helps put the audience in Logan’s shoes as an outsider in a foreign land that has to interact with characters and their unfamiliar customs in a very traditional culture. On the other hand some of the Japanese actors just weren’t very believable in their roles. Perhaps it is the traditional style of Japanese acting that’s to blame? Tao Okamoto as Logan’s love interest “Mariko” was most bothersome. Besides a Famke Janssen cameo as Jean Grey, The Wolverine had such a weak cast that it actually made the film boring in those scenes where you were waiting for the next exciting thing to happen.

My biggest complaint had to deal with the highly advertised plot device of Logan losing his ability to heal. The Hollywood trademark of “stripping a superhero of his or her powers” comes into full swing just to show Logan’s vulnerabilities and quite frankly, I’m tired of seeing this plot tactic because it is so overused. We as the audience know that Wolverine won’t die. We’re watching a movie based on a Marvel comic book character — not an episode of Game of Thrones. We as the audience just aren’t going to fall for your storytelling ploy — so get creative!

Ultimately, The Wolverine was better than I thought it would be. But then again I did go into this film with pretty low expectations especially after how horrible the first Wolverine film turned out to be. Better and more polished than X-Men Origins: Wolverine, this actually tries to stay as faithful to the original source material as it can for a movie. So if you’re a Wolverine fan, an X-Men fan, a comic book fan, or an action movie fan then The Wolverine is at least worth checking out. And definitely stick around part of the way through the credits. A special tease for next summer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past is definitely worth any Marvel fan’s time and money alone.

Let it be said that with movies like The Dark Knight Rises and this summer’s Man of Steel, it is safe to say that the bar has been raised for the quality standard when it comes to superhero films. While I was at least entertained by what The Wolverine had to offer, it definitely hadn’t reached that standard. Perhaps Christopher Nolan should come over to the Marvel side of the filmworks to lend his magic touch? Wishful thinking, I know.

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The commenting period for this contest has ended. Winners will be notified by email. Follow @CliqueClack on Twitter for news, reviews and more giveaway offers!

CliqueClack has partnered with 20th Century Fox and Allied Integrated Marketing to offer our readers in the Baltimore area a chance to be among the first to see The Wolverine starring Hugh Jackman, Will Yun Lee, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Rila Fukushima, Hiroyuki Sanada and Famke Janssen. The screening will take place on Tuesday, July 23, 7:00 PM at Cinemark Egyptian at Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, MD. To win one Admit Two pass, simply leave a comment on this post telling us why you want to see The Wolverine. 30 winners will be chosen at random. One comment per person/email address only. Duplicate comments will be disqualified. Commenting period will end at 6:00 PM, Sunday, July 21 and winners will be notified by email on Monday, July 22. Please note that passes do not guarantee you seats at the screening. Please plan to arrive early. CliqueClack has no control over the number of passes distributed or the seating at the theater. Good luck!

The Wolverine opens in theaters nationwide on July 26.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgKPIWAs8Go