If you’re a fan of the original X-Men trilogy, you may not want to read what I say next. Or maybe you will… Either way:
The Wolverine was the second best “X-Men” (I say, “X-Men”, because there was only one X-Man in Wolverine, unless you’re counting Jean Grey) movie I’ve ever seen.
It never felt slow, the acting was solid and everyone got to see their favourite tri-clawed vigilante slice random oncoming foes to shreds.
There wasn’t a single villain in the film; which usually would be a cause for concern. But I found that it actually worked out quite well for this one. There are two main villains and I suppose a couple sub-villains. But the two major ones are Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova) and Yashida (HalYamanouchi), who had his life saved by Wolverine back in World War II and is the grandfather of Mariko (Tao Okamoto).
The plot of the movie isn’t too deep (essentially a find out who the bad guy is and kill him type deal) but the way the director (James Mangold) went about this film, he didn’t make it seem overdone or disappointing.
Hugh Jackman also added a lot to the flick, since he’s been Wolverine in every other X-Men movie; plus he’s a fantastic actor. His love interest also did a strong job in the acting department. Viper wasn’t exactly anything new as a villain, but she played her role and came across as believable.
And kissing people to kill them was pretty…disturbing. So, extra points for that.
There were a few clichés, as in any film. A couple of the most noticeable ones were when Wolverine through an enemy over the edge of a balcony, who ended up landing in a pool far down below. When asked how he knew the pool was there, he replied, “I didn’t.”
Also the fact that all of the Japanese people fought with “ancient” weapons; such as swords and bows.
Uh huh.
But the movie dished out what it promised to be and even a little bit more because the action scenes were fun and well done. Forcing Logan to lose his regenerative powers was also a unique idea that hadn’t been done in any other X-Men movie to date, so that gave resulted in boosting the intensity a bit, forcing you to wonder if Wolverine was actually going to die since he was now susceptible.
I mean, usually, it’s, “Oh, he’s being attacked by fifty men with guns and swords! Holy crap, what if he – Oh, right. None of that is gonna hurt him. See ya, suckers”.
I would strongly recommend The Wolverine if only for the bonus scene after the credits.
*Warning: Spoiler*
The moment that Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) wheeled his way over to Logan, the entire movie theatre I was in gasped and started freaking out. And I mean freaking out. The nerds in the place were literally shaking with excitement.
And Magneto (Ian McKellen) was pretty neat too, but I think we all expected a return from him.
Fun movie. Action movie. Metal claws. Bone claws.
Great stuff.
Rating out of 100: 77
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