The Wolverine Review

Hugh Jackman flexing in The Wolverine

Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox

The Wolverine

B+

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

The Wolverine is a great example of a right place right time film. So far in 2013 the Superhero genre of blockbuster films (which at this point is a genre) is growing stale. Films in the genre seem to be falling into similar formulas including the world is blowing up film and the world building film for the bigger world is blowing up film. Then The Wolverine, a more personal and character bases superhero film comes around to freshen the scene up. The Wolverine, despite having its share of bombastic action, is much a much more personal character driven film that relies more on the internal struggles of its title character than on its action or some overarching plot line. The result is a fresh take on a mostly mistreated character and the best of 2013’s crop of Superhero blockbusters.

The Wolverine picks up after the events of the third X-Men film where our hero Logan (Hugh Jackman) finds himself alone and troubled by the death of Jean Gray (Famke Janssen). Soon after a conflict in a bar Logan is picked up by a young Japanese woman Yukio (Rila Fukushima). Yukio wants to bring Logan to Tokyo so that he can meet up with a dying business tycoon Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi) who’s life Logan saved during the second world war. It turns out that Yashida wants more than just a simple good buy but instead wants to be granted Logan’s healing factor so his legacy can live on forever and Logan can die an honorable death. Unfortunately Logan doesn’t accept and Yashida dies just a day after. After Yashida’s death Logan, with a now suppressed healing factor due to the mysterious mutant Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova), is drawn, out of guilt and respect, to protect Yashida’s granddaughter and air to the company Mariko (Tao Okamoto) from the Yakuza whom for some strange reason are trying to kill her.

Really the plot is simple (at least it’s simpler than it was to try and describe it) and provides a good mystery while leaving plenty of time for internal turmoil. The film’s overarching mystery, while intriguing and important, doesn’t dominate the film and allows for a good balance of character struggles and a tight knit plot. The film makes the viewer care about Logan’s struggles with eternal life and his past mistakes instead of glossing over it for the sake of plot and action. It makes for a fresh experience throughout most of the film and strikes a balance that few blockbusters have managed this year.

The problem with the film sadly lies within the last 20 minutes of the film. While it’s not a total anticlimax or a debacle like many other summer films have experienced this year the film goes a little cheesy and loses some of its previous freshness near the climax. All of a sudden there is a big robot that looks like it’s in the wrong film and a final battle that isn’t all the film’s best action sequence. Again not saying that the film completely goes off the rails it just looses what made it standout throughout the rest of the film.

Of all the superhero performances this year Hugh Jackman’s is easily the best. There is a certain investment that Jackman has in the role that is felt throughout the entire film. This is his role and his charisma really gets to shine here. Jackman proves that when done right a film with Wolverine at the center can be fun and interesting. The rest of the supporting cast is very solid here and all slide into their respective positions. Rila Fukushima is very solid as a sidekick and does a solid job going alongside the charismatic Jackman. The standout of the supporting cast is Yamanouchi who is very good in his brief time on screen as Yashida and plays a character who has enough to live for not to want to die. While Famke Janssen only appears in dreams she does also provide a good layer of internal conflict for Logan and she plays his conscience well throughout her brief screen time.

While the film is mostly a character driven mystery there is plenty of good looking action to be had. The Wolverine has the advantage of not having to have things blow up on massive scales and instead focuses on more melee action sequences. The action scenes are personal and exciting without relying on a huge amount of CGI. The action scenes feel like they’re taken from a Japanese ninja film instead of a modern superhero film. They mostly (with maybe the exception of the one near the end) work and even allow for some truly stand out sequences, like the fantastic bullet train battle. The film’s 3D isn’t very good as it makes a dark film darker, this is a film that should be seen in 2D and is another needless 3D conversion. The score works with what it’s trying to do and ultimately is pretty generic. The set and costume design are very good in this film and add to what is mostly a solid technical package.

The Wolverine adds a much needed boost of freshness for the superhero film. The film is a reminder to people who are getting burnt out on the superhero film (me being one of those people) that not every superhero film is the same. It provides a superhero film that’s less worried about world building and high stakes and instead focuses on the simple and personal. It’s not perfect but it is fresh, and in a year with a lot of action films that feel stale this is very welcome.