Hugh Jackman left the role of Wolverine (supposedly) with this past weekend’s Logan after over 20 years and numerous X-Men series films. We choose to dedicate this week’s list to a nostalgic look back at some of the brightest critical highlights from a wonderfully diversified filmography that appears as if it has only just begun to delve into his prodigious potential in honor of his amazing stint as one of comics’ most well-known characters. Snikt! Total Recall has come!
[1] Real Steel: When you consider Real Steel’s premise—giant robots boxing!—you may assume it will be the kind of critic-proof movie that performs poorly on the Tomatometer but draws massive crowds of action fans to the theatre. It turns out to be a family drama with sci-fi overtones, with Hugh Jackman playing a retired boxer who becomes a promoter when robot boxers take over, and Dakota Goyo playing his estranged son who assists him in creating a pugilistic machine that would rule the ring.
[2] LES MISÉRABLES: If nothing else, you’re guaranteed to win points for chutzpah if you dress up a group of serious actors, give them a great musical, and ask them to sing – live in front of the camera, no less. Tom Hooper, the director of Les Miserables, courted disaster by taking this approach to his 2012 adaptation of the beloved Broadway play but managed to escape with little damage, collecting a tonne of Golden Globe awards, earning eight Oscar nominations (including Best Picture), and grossing more than $440 million globally.
[3] The wolverine: The homicidal streak that makes Wolverine such an intriguing character in the comics has also made him somewhat problematic on the big screen, and its PG-13 neutering is part of what made Hugh Jackman’s previous solo outing as the clawed superhero, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, such a letdown for longtime fans. When it came to directing the sequel The Wolverine, director James Mangold had the advantage of reduced expectations, but the finished product — which was inspired by a beloved ’80s comics story that took the character to Japan — was nevertheless impressive.
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