The Wolverine Review

Logan's Japan Adventure
Full, spoiler-free review by Isaac Handelman

In many ways, The Wolverine is the best Wolverine movie yet. Whereas the last entry featuring Hugh Jackman’s invincible clawed hero stumbled over its hackneyed attempts to tie into greater X-Men lore, The Wolverine is almost squarely focused on Logan himself, which turns out to be a darned good thing. Without any need to accommodate for an ensemble cast, Logan is finally able to take center-stage for the entire duration of the film; in doing so, the film begs the question as to why this is the first time 20th Century Fox has seen fit to let Wolverine go it alone.

Picking up at an undisclosed time after the events of the (regrettable) X-Men: The Last Stand, The Wolverine finds it titular hero still mulling over the death of his love, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), and wandering around remote Alaska picking fights with hillbilly hunters. Soon enough, Logan is approached by Yukio (Rila Fukushima), a messenger for a powerful Japanese technology tycoon named Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), whose life Logan saved during the bombing of Nagasaki. Yashida claims to have found the means to revoke Logan’s immortality and allow him to live a normal life and eventually join his lost love in death. Things soon go awry, and Logan finds himself fending off members of the Japanese Yakuza as he strives to protect Yashida’s granddaughter, Mariko (Tao Okamoto).

The film's consistently-Japanese influences are a wonderful mixup to the formula.

The Wolverine is set almost exclusively in Japan, and the surrounding culture turns out to be a perfect fit for Logan’s samurai-like demeanor. The entire supporting cast is strong, and is populated almost entirely by unknowns save for Jackman himself. This choice, along with the film’s title, makes it very clear that The Wolverine is meant to be Logan’s story alone.

The film stumbles a bit when it begins to broaden its scope, and the few moments when it begins to focus on other conflicts are its weakest links. The most notable of these misfires comes right around the film’s finale, as it comes dangerously close to veering into painfully cliched and old-fashioned “save the damsel in distress!” territory. Thankfully, by its close, The Wolverine recovers and secures itself back on the right track, leaving quite a bit open for continuation but closing the book on this specific chapter in Logan’s life. Also, be sure to stay for the mid-credits sequence, which will leave you starving for next summer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.

And the road to that scene is populated largely by blissful blockbuster fun. Wolverine’s fighting style is more hard-hitting and brutal than other Marvel comics characters, and his presence is arguably more imposing than many of his less stoic brethren. Jackman is once again fantastic in the title role; it’s obvious in every scene he’s in how much the veteran actor loves playing the role that kick-started his career. Obviously, he’s the most fun to watch when he’s kicking the snot out of bad guys, but Jackman excels during the character’s more tender moments, making Logan’s inability to ignore those in need of help feel genuine. He doesn’t strive for fame or recognition of any sort; he simply feels good utilizing his blessing/curse to help people who he sees are in dire need of help.

Despite the solo nature of The Wolverine, Logan doesn’t have to do everything by himself. He gets help from a couple of notably strong female heroes. Neither is strong in the typical, stale “badass-female-who-doesn’t-take-any-crap” way; they’re both real human beings who also happen to be capable of putting up a fight when they need to, and they collectively help Logan out of more than one tough situation.

The Wolverine is beautifully shot, filled with striking color and imagery.

Those tough situations are highly enjoyable to watch. From an exhilarating sequence atop a speeding bullet train to a Logan vs. ninjas showdown in snowy rural Japan, The Wolverine is exceptionally good at providing engaging situations for Wolverine to partake in. Though its hero is grittier and less jokey than others of his kind, the film never lets up with its style of delightful, comic-book-y fun. The cartoonish elements overstay their welcome just a tad during the film’s finale, though they aren’t so overbearing that they become distracting.

As The Wolverine neared its climactic apex, setting the stage for an epic final confrontation, I leaned over to the friend who accompanied me to the film and mumbled, “This is gonna be good.” That sense of carefree fun is the embodiment of what The Wolverine achieves. Its willingness to focus squarely on a single hero pays off at a time when ensemble outings are becoming the more desirable option, and its willingness to finally give Wolverine the singular spotlight he deserves proves to be a fantastic creative direction. Ultimately, that's one of the most impressive things about The Wolverine; it's neither a direct sequel nor an origin story. Instead, it tells its own self-contained tale in the life of the Wolverine, much in the way of the comics it was based on, and the format works wonderfully. Though he’ll undoubtedly be just a supporting link in the massive conglomeration that will be next year’s Days of Future Past, it’s great that Logan was able to claim one outing all his own beforehand -- it just so happens to be his strongest in years.