Dozens of characters have appeared in Marvel's "X-Books," the multitude of comics published under the X-Men banner. But out of them all, Wolverine is far and away the most popular. Originally created in 1974 as a one-off opponent for the Incredible Hulk, the clawed Canadian antihero joined the X-Men a year later and soon found himself in the upper echelon of Marvel's A-list players.
The character has followed the X-Men into practically all of their adventures outside of the comic book realm, joining them in cartoons, video games, and eventually in the series of live-action movies. Wolverine's popularity skyrocketed even further after that, to the point that 20th Century Fox gave him his own solo movie in 2009. The downside to that whole thing was that X-Men Origins: Wolverine wasn't exactly all that great, and it would be four more years before 20th Century Fox would dare try giving Wolverine anything more than a cameo in another movie. But they would try again, as evidenced by the new flick The Wolverine. So let's dive in and hope for the best, shall we?
It's been a few years since the X-Men made their last stand. A traumatized Logan (Hugh Jackman) has spent that time roaming the Yukon wilderness as a hermit, haunted by visions of Jean Grey (Famke Jansson) and wracked with guilt over his role in her death. He's approached one day by Yukio (Rila Fukushima), a mutant with precognitive abilities who has been sent on a mission to bring Logan to Japan.
It is there he is reunited with a dying elderly man named Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi). Decades earlier, at the end of World War II, Logan rescued and protected a younger Yashida during the bombing of Nagasaki. His death quickly approaching and looking to repay his debt, Yashida offers to transfer Logan's healing factor into himself and end Logan's immortality, allowing him to have an honorable death. Logan, viewing immortality as a curse only he should have to bear, refuses the offer, and Yashida dies the next day.
At the funeral shortly thereafter, Logan foils an attempt by Yakuza thugs to kidnap Mariko (Tao Okamoto), Yashida's granddaughter and heir to his influential technology company. Fleeing with Mariko, Logan finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy that involves Mariko's father (Hiroyuki Sanada), a band of ninjas led by Kenuichio Harada (Will Yun Lee), and a toxin-creating mutant called Venom (Svetlana Khodchenkova). And to make matters worse, something has suppressed Logan's healing factor, making his fight to protect Mariko harder than he'd expected.
I approached The Wolverine with a bit of trepidation, afraid that the problems of X-Men Origins: Wolverine would repeat themselves. But I was pleasantly surprised by just how good this new movie is. It's not the best movie in the X-Men saga, but it's both a stark improvement over the last Wolverine solo adventure and a pretty good flick in its own right.
The movie sat in developmental hell for a few years, with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Darren Aronofsky attached to direct at one point. But the duty eventually fell to James Mangold, who ended up doing a fantastic job crafting the movie. Mangold approaches it in such a way that it doesn't really feel like a typical superhero movie. He isn't making the kind of movie one would expect with a character like Wolverine in the lead role, instead making it more in the vein of a film noir. Mangold actually plays up drama and intrigue as much as he does the prerequisite action sequences, which makes The Wolverine a bit more captivating to watch.
But don't get me wrong, the action scenes are also totally worth seeing the movie for. The Yakuza shootout at the funeral is a lot of fun, while the fight on the roof of the speeding bullet train is one of the most entertaining and exciting action sequences I've seen in a while. Mangold handles these scenes with care, and though there are a few instances of that fast-edited shaky-cam nonsense I complain about frequently, they're all great in their own ways.
The script, on the other hand, isn't quite as consistent as Mangold's direction. Credited to Mark Bomback and Scott Frank (who rewrote an earlier draft by an uncredited Christopher McQuarrie), I thought the script stumbled in a few places, particularly in regards to the characters. Yukio is given a very cool introduction, but is sadly given very little to do after that. The Viper character is given even less, despite apparently being the movie's primary antagonist. Anyway, I'm guessing Viper was supposed to be the movie's main villain, since Bomback and Frank never really make it 100% clear until the climax. Viper only has a handful of scenes, and the Yakuza/ninja/government ends up being frustratingly convoluted.
Fortunately, the movie not only had a decent director, but a very good cast as well. Among the supporting cast, I really enjoyed Rila Fukushima, though I wish she'd been given more to do. Outside of her awesome introduction, all she really does is pop up once in a while and look cute. Fukushima does a great job in these scenes, which makes me wish her role had been beefed up more.
I can also say the same for Tao Okamoto, who I thought did a fine job despite a few instances where her role seems to have been written as "generic love interest." That's more a fault of the script than Okamoto, since she can only work with what she's given. But she does a fine, likable job regardless.
The rest of the supporting cast also contributes good performances, with the exception of Svetlana Khodchenkova. Her character has even less to do than Fukushima's, but unlike her, Khodchenkova doesn't do anything to make her worth watching. She just shows up and recites her dialogue, playing the part like a more boring version of the Batman villain Poison Ivy. It's a dull performance that the movie could have done without.
But on the opposite end of the spectrum is Hugh Jackman. This marks the sixth time he's played Wolverine (that's assuming you're counting his 10-second cameo in First Class too), and his enthusiasm for the role that's defined his career for the last thirteen years continues to be readily apparent. This time around allows Jackman to stretch his acting chops and give Wolverine a level of vulnerability the character usually doesn't get to show. Jackman still gets to play the character as a total badass, but he's not as hardened and rough around the edges as we've seen him before. He makes Wolverine feel as much human as he does beast, which is a nice change of pace.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the movie's 3D effects. It seems like Hollywood's convinced itself that most summer blockbusters have to be in 3D, no matter if it helps or hurts the movie. And for the most part, all 3D does for The Wolverine is add an extra few bucks to the ticket price. I often talk about how movies that are converted into 3D often look flat when compared to movies that are shot natively in the format, and The Wolverine is one of those cases. Some moments, like the bullet train sequence I mentioned earlier, look really cool. But not much is gained by converting the movie into 3D. You honestly aren't missing much by watching the movie in standard 2D.
But you are, however, missing out if you don't see this movie. Flaws aside, The Wolverine still manages to be one of the high points in an otherwise lackluster summer blockbuster season. It's a fun, exciting movie that more than makes up for that less-than-stellar previous Wolverine movie. The movie's uniqueness and lack of overreliance on popular mutants from the comics sets it apart from the others and allows it to do its own thing, letting it be a far better movie for it. And after seeing that scene during the credits, I can't wait X-Men: Days of Future Past to come out. Next summer can't get here quick enough.
Final Rating: ***½
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