The Wolverine

Short Verdict: A solid, well constructed action-adventure film that puts the X-Men film franchise back-on-track for Days of Future Past.

Some spoilers follow

The X-Men series finally moves forward, as the story picks up years after the events of The Last Stand. Logan, or more famously known as Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), is a hermit in the “middle-of-no-where-America trying to null the pain of the loss of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), the woman he loved and was forced to kill (long story). An opportunity is presented to Wolverine to travel to Japan to visit an old-dying friend whom he saved at Hiroshima and maybe a chance to redeem himself. Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), now a very successful businessman, offers Wolverine a chance to pay him back for saving him – a chance rid himself of his immortality, which Logan views as a curse. What follows is a high-octane action-adventure which sees Wolverine embroiled in a chase across Japan, becoming involved in company conspiracies, yakuza dealings and the secret of Yashida’s inheritance. Supporting him is Yashida’s grand-daughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto) and step-grand-daughter Yukio (Rila Fukushima), a mutant with the power to foresee the future. 

When superhero films are becoming increasingly about shared continuity post-Avengers, it is genuinely refreshing having just a stand-alone story in a wider universe. While there are loose connections to the previous films (and future ones....no spoilers though), The Wolverine can be enjoyed as a stand-alone action-adventure film that hits all the right beats. This is particularly comforting given the quality of the recent X-Men films – The Last Stand was a limp conclusion to the original trilogy, X-Men Origins: Wolverine failed at almost every level (except for producing unintentional humour) and X-Men: First Class, while an improvement and all-round decent flick, glossed over many key plot elements that make it fail as a prequel. The Wolverine is content to tell a smaller-scale story which serves as a proper showcase for Hugh Jackman’s dominance of the character. 14 years down the line (man, I feel old), Jackman still has the sarcastic wit and physical prowess to keep playing one of the characters that defined comic-books. 

Moving at a good pace, the film makes full use of the Japan as opposed to just background eye-candy. It actually works in ronins and the nature of samurai to tell a story of redemption for Wolverine. Some of it is pretty ham-fisted, but it just about succeeds in developing the character. It ending up doing a lot more than I initially expected, setting him up to take the stage for Days of Future Past. However, rather than feel like a place-holder film (Iron Man 2), The Wolverine has great action, a fun, gripping story that takes full-advantage of the Japan setting and a serious tone, but without stepping into Nolan territory of pretension, leaving room for some light-hearted moments. It completely gets how to entertain a mass audience, something which a surprising number of blockbusters fail to get. The sparse use of action is also appreciated, where a good chunk of the film is dealt with dealing with Wolverine’s actions and atoning himself. The action scenes themselves are very well-thought and quite unique, again taking advantage of the setting and Wolverine’s powers – a fight on top of a bullet-train, where basically physics and Wolverine do battle, is particularly clever, as a great deal of it is spent planning the next move and careful judging each act. It’s pretty neat stuff and refreshing, especially when compared to the constant onslaught and mindless dirge of Man of Steel’s action scenes in the final third. The Wolverine remembers that pace; building-up and setting-up; are key components when putting an action film together. The plot itself just about holds together until the final 15 minutes when it digresses into mindless action schlock. Fortunately, the ending doesn’t do this u-turn as poorly as previous superhero films (Iron Man, Man of Steel, Thor) however in a film that has portrayed Wolverine in a mostly grounded matter, it is pretty jarring. But then again, this is what comic books are made of and the rest of the film more than makes up for it.

However, the film isn’t really about the plot (though there are enough twists and turns to keep the audience interested) and rather opts to presents entertaining high-octane action-adventure that is really constructed and executed, while following the exploits of Wolverine. The plot just about holds together for presenting these two elements. The Japan setting is used surprisingly well and goes a lot deeper than expected into its culture and the nature of death and redemption (in the best way a mass produced Hollywood film can do). As a smaller-scale standalone superhero film, The Wolverine is genuinely refreshing, especially when continuity is becoming too important (just see the mixed fan receptions to Iron Man 3 – managed to reference the entire trilogy in one review!). Understanding exactly what kind of film it is, The Wolverine charges forward with a fun, if garbled, plot, inventive action scenes and a myriad of great Wolverine moments. 

Long Verdict: Hugh Jackman returns to the role that defined superhero films and in the process redeems previous X-Men follies, making a statement for standalone superhero films in the face of ‘interlocking/shared universes’ and for producing an entertaining action-adventure film, with inventive action scenes, strong pace and memorable moments. Completely understanding what kind of film it is, The Wolverine is deliriously entertaining, but intelligently made. 

Rating: 7/10