X2: critical faculties suspended. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[truepenny]

Went to see the new X-Men movie this afternoon. I have nothing coherent or insightful to say about it because apparently Hugh-Jackman-as-Wolverine short-circuits my brain.

I was trying to explain this at lunch, and got some frankly dubious looks. Wolverine's okay (*shrugs*), and Hugh Jackman otherwise I find rather boring. It's the combination--Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine--that does it for me. *fans self*

I did genuinely enjoy the movie, and maybe later I'll manage to say something intelligent about it. All I'm saying now is that if I were Jean Grey, I'd dump Cyclops for Wolverine in a hot second and never look back.

Comments

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

You're sure it's just not Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in hot leather pants? Does it for me...

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

The leather certainly doesn't hurt ...

[renenet.livejournal.com]

Okay, so there's something I could have asked at lunch if I hadn't been so busy shoveling curry into my mouth: how are you sorting out the Wolverine aspect? Wolverine's character in the comic books, so, quite separate from Hugh Jackman's involvement? Or just the collection of identifying features (talents, weaponry, backstory, attitude, etc.) that make up Wolverine in the movie, assuming that one can disentangle them from the fact that he's being played by Hugh Jackman? See, I totally get not being into Hugh Jackman except in this role. I do that all the time with various performers and roles. It's the not being into Wolverine thing that causes confusion, because I'd normally think of liking Hugh Jackman *as* Wolverine as being the equivalent of liking the movies' version of Wolverine, period. With the qualification that, if another actor had played the role, your feelings may have been quite different. But it's very possible that I'm not understanding you at all on this matter. In which case, let me know, and I can just go back to the dubious looks.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Okay, let me see if I can explain myself properly.

Wolverine as a set of attributes and characteristics I find interesting enough; certainly, he was my favorite X-Man (can it be singularized?), from what little I knew, before the movies started coming out. I'm a big sucker for amnesia stories, lame and cliched though they often are, and otherwise he's a guy with attitude and knives. Permanent knives. Lots to like.

But I don't care about Wolverine; I've never made any effort to hunt out the comic books. I'm not invested in him in the way that I am invested in Spike or River or Frodo. Also, in the comic books? Not so much with the sexy, as far as I'm concerned. It's Hugh Jackman inside that assemblage of traits that makes me unable to think coherently.

Also, now that I think about it, it's also a combination of things. Viggo Mortensen-as-Aragorn is sexy, but doesn't cause the suspension of critical faculties, because I'm not invested in him. I'm invested fairly heavily in Elijah Wood-as-Frodo, but don't find him particularly sexy--although I suspect in a different role in a different movie, that could change. But Hugh Jackman makes me invest in Wolverine and makes him sexy--even those freaking cigars. I think that's where I go off the rails.

Does that help with the sense-making?

[renenet.livejournal.com]

Yes, this does make sense. Thanks. I mean, I don't *get* the "even those freaking cigars" thing, because I find that to be annoying, but as a delineation of how the Hugh Jackman, Wolverine, and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine things are working for you it's perfectly intelligible. All those who were giving you dubious looks should henceforth cease to do so on this matter, because I declare it to be an understandable thing. Okay, they can give dubious looks if they don't get the particular matters of taste (e.g. cigars), but I'm declaring a moratorium on dubious looks about the Truepenny-isn't-making-sense stuff. Go tell them. Don't let on that I'm not sure how I'm going to enforce the moratorium from here, but do log any and all infractions in detail so I can follow up.

[renenet.livejournal.com]

The "that" in question being the freaking cigars themselves, not the fact that you like the cigars. ::sigh:: Dear renenet: When substituting a pronoun at the last minute, please reread the sentence for clarity of expression before posting. Thank you. Love, renenet

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Actually, since I'm violently allergic to cigar smoke, I hate cigars and all their works. Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine enables me to suspend my cigar-hatred to the point that I am not actually repulsed by the fact that he smokes them. That's as far as it goes. And it wouldn't go that far if I actually had to be exposed to the smoke, or to the reek of it on his clothes and in his hair ... I wonder if adamantium traps smells?

It's fantasy, and we don't have olfactory technology. The cigars remain a drawback, but not an insurmountable one.