Review #676: 'The Wolverine' (2013)

After one failed origin story with the dismal X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), Hugh Jackman's short-tempered Logan AKA Wolverine is given another chance at a stand alone movie. With the X-Men movies generally hit-and-miss, mainly due to an over-abundance of mutants, director James Mangold has taken the story into unfamiliar territory. There's no army of mutants baddies for the mutton-chopped hero to slice apart, nor is he held back and forced into the background by his fellow X-Men. The Wolverine takes us and Wolverine to a different continent entirely, only to find he even has enemies in Japan.

Tortured by the death of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), Logan (Hugh Jackman) is long-haired and bearded and hiding out in Yukon, Canada. After an incident in a local bar, he is befriended by the samurai sword-wielding Yukio (Rila Fukushima) who has been sent by an old friend to recruit Wolverine. The old friend is Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), a Japanese soldier rescued by Logan during the bombing of Nagasaki in 1945. Yashida is on the verge of death, and in his search for elongating his life, wants to transfer Logan's healing abilities into his own body. When Logan refuses, Yashida passes the following day, only for the funeral to be attacked by yakuza gangsters looking to kidnap Yashida's granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto) and heir to his billion-dollar company.

It's a flimsy plot to say the least, and not one that successful, multi-million dollar blockbusters are founded on. And here lies the biggest problem for The Wolverine, as although a change of pace and setting is always welcome, there's not much happening on screen for Logan to sink his claws into. The decision to move the action to the neon-lit Japan is an interesting one, but doesn't seem to serve any other purpose than to allow for some admittedly gorgeous-looking set-pieces, and to introduce a giant samurai robot for Logan to bash around. Lightly comic scenes of cultural differences are amusing, but seem out of place considering that Logan is repeatedly told he is a ronin, a samurai without a master.

With Logan seemingly invinsible, The Wolverine does the thing that most superhero movies do nowadays which is to strip him of his powers. With Batman battered and imprisoned in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and Tony Stark without his army of metallic suits in Iron Man 3 (2013), here Wolverine's healing abilities are drained by villain The Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova), who infects his body with a parasite. This is successful in making a more reluctant, damaged hero, and therefore adding dimensions to his character, but (as sexy as she is), Viper is a pretty thin and non-threatening baddie, and resembles Uma Thurman's Posion Ivy from Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin (1997) too much to be taken seriously.

However, Jackman is as compelling as ever in the role, which is the sole reason that there is still life in Wolverine's stand-alone franchise. This is now his sixth film, in a role he has played for 13 years, and this is probably his most dynamic performance. The Wolverine is heavily flawed, but manages to be a minor success thanks to Jackman's ferocity and more concentration on the hero everyone came to see. There's also a nice little tie-in at the end to the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past, adding yet another weave into Marvel's ever-expanding universe. But, with a weak climax and a strangely thin storyline, I would be surprised if The Wolverine lingers for very long in many people's minds.


Directed by: James Mangold
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Famke Janssen
Country: Australia/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie