The 1982 miniseries by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller featuring Wolverine's adventure in Japan has been regarded by fans as one of the character's greatest stories. Even Hugh Jackman looked forward for many years to adapt the story on film. In fact, the story was at first going to be the basis for the first Wolverine film before Fox decided to do his origin story first. Instead of Wolverine in Japan, fans were presented with a film left wanting their own magical memory erasing adamantium bullets to the head; seriously, that plotpoint from the 2009 film still makes no fucking sense. While Fox did intend for Wolverine 2 to be a direct sequel, over time, the timeframe of the film would become a stand-alone story set after the events of "X-Men: The Last Stand." Apparently Fox wanted to distance themselves as far away from "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" as much as fans would like to forget it, and given it featured 'Barakapool', who could blame anyone? It is definitely the blacksheep of the X-Men franchise and its place in continuity has essentially been removed.
Alot was riding on Wolverine's second chance at a solo film. Original series writer Chris Claremont gave the script his blessing while Fox's Marvel consultant Mark Millar said this would be the "Iron Man" of X-Men movies. That's quite a bit to live up to. So did "The Wolverine" respect the character and wash away the taste of 2009's atrocity? Yes and yes.
This is the Wolverine movie we deserved back in 2009. However, given the slump Fox had been in with their X-Men franchise, it may not have turned out well back then. But since they seemed to have gotten their shit together, maybe it was worth the wait for them to learn from their mistakes and in turn bring about an actually enjoyable Wolverine film. This is Wolverine at his best and Hugh Jackman shows he still has what it takes to play him. When part of the story involves him losing his healing ability, you will definitely find yourself fearing for the character's well-being, especially when most of the time, he is damn near invulnerable.
I went into this film expecting a great story but was worried about the action scenes. When you have a PG-13 rated film involving a man who kills people with metal claws that come out of his hand, you kind of have to expect it would be watered down, and I was actually thinking that based on the clips released beforehand. However, it seems that those clips were actually watered down compared to the actual scenes in the film, because while the film does not get too gory, it still definitely had great actions scenes that kept with the spirit of the character. There's not much blood, but you can definitely tell where people get stabbed that will give people wanting a violent Wolverine movie their fill. It's comparable to the fight scenes with the soldiers invading the mansion in X2. Not only that, but fans of sword fights will have something to love as well, especially the battles with the two Silver Samurai (that's right, plural). He is the best there is at what he does, and he'll definitely show it in this film.
Aside from the action scenes, two other scenes really stood out that showcased how badass Wolverine can get. The first is near the beginning of the film when Logan is a hermit in the mountains, and tracks down a hunter who shot a bear with a poison tipped arrow which he had to kill to put out of its misery. When he finds the hunter, Logan jabs the arrow through his hand and pours alcohol in it. The other is when he interrogates Mariko's fiance about why the Yakuza are after her. The best part was when he threw him off the balcony, only to show that he landed in a pool not far below; Yukio asks him how he knew there was a pool, but Logan replies "I didn't." So Logan. Gotta love it.
Speaking of the ladies of the film though, I quite enjoyed Logan's relationships with Mariko and Yukio. Watching Logan and Mariko's romance blossom was definitely enjoyable to watch. What makes it better is that he is still reeling from Jean's death, so he is learning to love again. As for Yukio, a mutant with the ability to forsee people's deaths, she made a good sidekick for Logan, or "bodyguard" as she put it. She definitely had good fighting skills as well.
The only female in the film that didn't really impress me was Viper. Yeah, she had the powers of a snake like poison spit and could even shed her skin, but she just didn't seem like that big of a threat compared to everyone else Logan fought, even though she was the second main villain of the film.
While I knew Famke Janssen would reprise her role as Jean Grey, I figured it would be one scene in Logan's dream. So I was genuinely surprised to see her keep popping up, acting somewhat as a little angel/demon on Logan's shoulder, and it shows just how tormented he is by having to kill her. Her role definitely gives the film that sense of having to let go of the past and truly live for the future. It kind of made me sad when Jean walked away from Logan in her final scene.
I think what really helped this film compared to the first Wolverine and First Class movies, which were prequels, is that it is actually advancing the X-Men universe, especially in terms of next year's "X-Men: Days of Future Past". I mean, for one thing, Logan had his adamantium claws cut off and in turn had his bone claws grow back in their place. I was quite surprised by that development and was half-expecting for the claws to get their adamantium back somehow. But no; as of now, the Wolverine of the X-Men movieverse has bone claws for the time being, and I am interested to see how that will play out.
As with most Marvel movies, fans should know to not leave when the credits begin, because there will usually be a scene to tease the future. With "The Wolverine", we get that in the form of Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart reprising their roles as Magneto and Xavier recruiting Logan to prepare for the next big threat to mutantkind. *cough*Sentinels*cough*finally*cough* And while it was nice to see them return before their main return in the next film, it left me questioning something as big as Wolverine's claw situation: Xavier is in a wheelchair again. Those who saw "X-Men: The Last Stand" know that when Jean destroyed Charles' body, his mind went into the braindead body of his twin brother, so that way, he'll look the same as he did. Maybe it was just me thinking this, but shouldn't Charles be able to walk now? My only theory is that with his brother camatose, for so long his legs are inactive due to lack of use. Unless we learn more about how Charles came back in the next film, that's the theory I'm going with.
With not only great action and top-notch character exploration, "The Wolverine" is a film fans of the character, the X-Men franchise, or Hugh Jackman can all enjoy.
RATING: 8.5/10
As a bonus, here is how I personally rank the X-Men movies from favorite to least:
- X-Men: First Class
- X2: X-Men United
- The Wolverine
- X-Men
- X-Men: The Last Stand
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine
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