The Wolverine Review

One of my most anticipated movies of this summer was The Wolverine, the continuation of the X-Men franchise after the events of The Last Stand. The latter film was obviously a step down from Bryan Singer's two previous X-Men flicks, both of which I'm a big fan. I was very excited about Logan getting his own movie, and a chance to redeem himself after X-Men Origins: Wolverine. As you might have guessed, I was not a fan of that. So, anyway, here it is; my review of The Wolverine.


This was a really good movie. Now, let me preface that statement. It was not necessarily a good film for non-fans of the source material and the universe. However, for those who are fans of the character of Wolverine, or even just the X-Men in general, you will enjoy it. The action is exciting, the story is good (though not quite as good as the comic it's based upon), and there is plenty of development of Logan's character. These are all things that Wolverine's first solo outing missed.

Hugh Jackman has returned to play Logan/Wolverine. He was awesome, as always. I still say that he is the perfect actor to play the role. It will be a sad day when he gives it up. The rest of the cast are generally unknowns, at least for Americans. If you didn't know, the film is set in Japan, and many of the main characters, and thus their actors, are Japanese. I thought, for the most part, the cast did really well, especially the girl who plays Logan's love interest. I'll be interested to see if she returns, either in an X-Men film, or another Wolverine movie at some point in the future. I'd be glad if she did turn up.

As I mentioned earlier, the action sequences were great. Logan gets plenty of time to be his awesome self and kick some serious butt. Remember that scene in X2 when the school is getting invaded and Wolverine just starts picking off the enemy men one by one in extremely cool fashion? Well, the level of awesomeness in that fight is revisited multiple times in The Wolverine.

I was a big fan of the setting. The vast majority of the film takes place in Japan. I thought the city was really cool, especially in a few scenes when Logan and the girl are being chased. It was dynamic, and different from most settings we see nowadays in Hollywood movies.

This film takes the time to explore the character of Logan in much more depth than ever before. We see the pain that he's feeling because of the events of The Last Stand. We feel his pain. For a character that is unable to die, that's an impressive feat by the writers and director.

There was one "big" thing that I didn't particularly like. And that was the third act. For most of the movie before that, there was a great balance between action, humor, and down-and-dirty character development. Once the summer blockbuster portion of the last act kicked in, much of the joy that it had conjured beforehand was lost for action. I felt the last bit of the story was rushed so more action could be crammed in. That may not have been the makers' intent, but that was nonetheless how it looked to me. So, I was really loving the first three-quarters or so of the film, but was left a tad unsatisfied by the time the credits started rolling. However...

The after-credits scene lifted my spirits back to high levels. I won't give away anything, but I will say that it got me really excited for Days of Future Past, which comes out next May. I really can't wait!

Conclusion

The Wolverine is an exciting adventure worthy of its title. It redeems the character's solo film status and delivers the Wolverine movie you've been waiting for. It probably won't make any new converts out of people who dislike the X-Men franchise, and it takes up a slightly generic blockbuster feel towards the end, but it is still a well-made comic book movie that Wolverine and his fans can be proud of. 

Rating: 7.5/10