The Wolverine Review

Apparently "The Wolverine" had a very low wardrobe budget, because poor Hugh Jackman had to go shirtless for much of the movie.  May I suggest Kickstarter. . .

Here it is, the latest entry in the "X-Men" franchise.  Compared to the other superhero flicks of the summer ("Iron Man 3" and "Man of Steel"), "The Wolverine" ranks at about the same quality level as they do.  It's good, but it doesn't compare to summer of 2012, where such epics as "The Dark Knight Rises" and "The Avengers" were blowing away moviegoers.  2013 pales in comparison.

Here's a quick rundown of 20th Century Fox's/Marvel's "X-Men" series:


- "X-Men" (2000)

This is it.  This is the movie that kicked off the superhero craze which has endured for the past 13 years.  Director Bryan Singer ("The Usual Suspects") may have seemed like an odd choice for a comic book movie, but his more serious approach to the material elevated it to something more than mere kiddie fodder and struck a chord with audiences worldwide.  It also introduced the world to Hugh Jackman as Wolverine (a.k.a. Logan), a star-making performance if there ever was one.  While this movie doesn't quite hold up as well as is did in '00, it's still pretty good stuff.


- "X2: X-Men United" (2003)

Singer returned and, in my opinion, improved on everything that made the first movie work so well, creating an excellent sequel and one of my two favorite entries in the series.  Sure, it borrowed the template of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" but made it its own, with better action than the first movie, improved dialogue, more assured performances and a powerful story which leaves you wanting more.  Great stuff.


- "X-Men: The Last Stand" (2006)

Singer bowed out due to conflicts with Fox, so director Brett Ratner (the "Rush Hour" movies) had to step in to finish the trilogy.  Ratner handled the action scenes pretty well, but not so much the rest of it.  While it wrapped up the story fairly well (or, I should say, concisely), some of the plot elements felt like a cheat (studio interference, no doubt), rendering much of what happens in "The Last Stand" moot.  It's kind of disappointing.


- "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (2009)

This one's a prequel, chronicling the life of Logan from the late 1800s to the 1970s.  Hugh Jackman was great in the role (as always), but the movie around him wasn't very good.  Badly shot action sequences, an overcrowded mutant cast, annoying plot contrivances, and just plain poorly handled, it's clear that director Gavin Hood ("Tsotsi") should have stuck to directing indie films.  But there was hope on the horizon. . .


- "X-Men: First Class" (2011)

Bryan Singer made nice with Fox and returned to produce this awesome prequel, which spans from the '40s to the '60s and chronicles the relationship between Professor X and Magneto.  Matthew Vaughn ("Kick-Ass") directed this one, and he did a fine job.  "First Class" and "X2" are the two best "X-Men" movies, in my opinion, and while Hugh Jackman only made a cameo appearance in this one, it sure was memorable!  Those jonesing for Jackman needed only to wait two years until the release of. . .


- "The Wolverine" (2013)

For the past few years Logan has been living in the Canadian wilderness, hanging out with grizzly bears and beating up asshole hunters (it seems that killing the woman you love in order to save the world will do that to a man).  Soon enough, he's summoned to Japan by young mutant named Yukio.  She works for a rich industrialist named Yashida, whose life was saved by Logan back in World War II, when the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.  Yashida is dying and wants to repay Logan by offering to restore his mortality.

Do you think there's a catch?

Yup, it's the old "superhero becomes mortal and learns a valuable lesson" schtick.  I don't mind it, though.  Consider it a rite of passage that all superheroes must go through to become "fully formed".  Besides, it hardly makes a difference in this case.  Wolverine may be able to die now, but he's still one tough bastard.

Lets look at the good and the bad, shall we?


Pros:

- Streamlined.  The problem with most of the "X-Men" movies is in the sheer overabundance of mutant characters and story lines.  "The Wolverine" keeps it simpler.  Besides Logan, there are only three other mutant characters, and the story is focused solely on Wolvy.  Less clutter is a good thing.

- Hugh Jackman.  He still owns this role and is fun to watch.

- Action.  There aren't any mindblowing sequences here (although the bullet train scene is silly fun), but the action is far more solid than it was in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine".

- Rila Fukushima.  She plays Yukio, Logan's summoner and bodyguard, who has a mutant ability which allows her to see when a person is going to die.  She's the other bright casting spot in the movie, besides Jackman.

- James Mangold.  He's the director of such good films as "3:10 to Yuma", "Walk the Line" and "Girl, Interrupted".  He brings a solid sense of character and a measured, well-crafted buildup to the proceedings.  A good choice.

- Turning Japanese.  Setting the film in Japan gives this a flavor unique to the series.  Plus, it allows for. . .

- Ninjas!  'Nuff said.

- Brutality.  This is the most violent "X-Men" movie yet.  It's still PG-13, but it pushes that rating with its abundance of stabbings and slashings.  It's great to see Wolverine being the violent bastard he is in the comics.  Director Mangold has hinted that a more violent DVD cut will be available in the future, featuring a scene cut from the movie where Logan goes all Ginsu on a small army of ninja attackers.

- The mid-end credits scene.  More on that later.


Cons:

- 3D.  It's pretty useless here, and not terribly well done.  See it in 2D.

- Svetlana Khodchenkova.  Bless you.  She plays a villainous mutant named Viper in "The Wolverine".  She's absolutely over the top and annoyingly EEEEEE-vil.  It's like she belongs in a different movie.

- Too much CG.  The climax is all computered out, and while it's entertaining in it's own way, it almost feels like something that was shoehorned into the movie for all the 14 year-olds.  And it probably was.  Could have been handled better.

- Plot clutter.  Earlier I complimented this movie on its streamlined story, and while that holds mostly true for Logan's arc, there are an awful lot of doublecrosses, double-doublecrosses and extraneous characters going around.  All of these plot machinations are ultimately unnecessary, since I easily figured out what was "really going on" far in advance.  It's the typical flaw of many big budget American films these days - too much overplotting.  The plot gets in the way of the story, as they say.

In the end, this movie falls in the middle of the "X-Men" spectrum.  It's not as good as "X2" or "First Class", but it's far better than either "Origins" or "The Last Stand".  It's a nice epilogue to the original trilogy.  Worth a look.

Oh, and as for that mid-end credits scene:

It kicks ass.  It's practically the highlight of "The Wolverine", and all it really is is a setup for. . .

- "X-Men: Days of Future Past" (2014)

A gigantic mutant blowout!  I can't wait.