Has anyone ever owned (or reprised) a role more than Hugh Jackman with the character that put him on the map; The Wolverine? This is the 6th time we have seen Jackman as this character in films and the 44 yr old actor has never looked better. In the beginning X-men movies, Jackman was only occasionally shirtless, now it’s his natural state. James Mangold takes on the Director’s chair with this take of a story loosely adapted from the iconic ‘Wolverine” mini-series of the 80’s by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller that is widely acknowledged as the definitive Wolverine story. I very much respect trying different things with the same character. Mangold attempts to take Wolverine away from the super hero genre and towards a more reflective and thoughtful direction. However, Wolverine is a super hero and the film is actually at it’s worst when it goes down the path of super heroics. This film is a dark and introspective take on our favorite X-man and I applaud the risk.
The film opens serenely and beautifully on a quiet sunny day in 1940‘s Japan. As the camera slowly pans out, we realize that a prison camp is nestled in this idyllic scene and off in the distance 2 large planes tranquilly approach. It slowly dawns on us that they are B-29s and the camp is in the city of Nagasaki. Wolverine, aka, Logan is a POW (of course shirtless) and a young Japanese guard named Yashida attempts to free the prisoners as he realizes the impending doom. It turns out Logan rescues the guard and creates an eternally grateful and awestruck Japanese soldier.
Flash forward to the present, we find Logan wandering homeless in the Canadian wilderness, essentially a hermit haunted by the ghost of Jean Grey, the woman he loved and was forced to kill in the last film. Jean’s beautiful etherial presence is an odd choice and I’m not sure it worked effectively, but it didn’t detract from the film. After starting a bar fight, Logan is confronted by a young japanese martial artist name Yukio who tells Logan that her master Yashida is dying and wishes to thank Logan for saving his life all those years ago. Wolverine agrees and is wisked off to Japan.
As it turns out, Yashida has since become a billionaire as head of the largest company in Asia. Yashida’s true wish is not to thank him rather to transfer Logan’s ‘curse’ of immortality to himself. Helping Yashida is a beautiful (if vacant) doctor. Svetlana Khodchenkova plays the physician and also lethal mutant named Viper like a runway model. In this case, I felt this insertion of a super villainess character (who is nothing like the comic book version) was gratuitous. The rest of the film becomes a story of international intrigue as Logan becomes immersed in a family struggle of Shakespearean proportions. Yashida is willing his company to his grand daughter, the lovely Mariko (Tao Okamoto). This transfer of power upsets everyone and makes her a target of everyone from family to the Japanese Yakusa mobs. Wolverine being Wolverine takes on the role as her protector.
The Director Mangold seeks to further distance himself from the superhero realm by having Wolverine’s healing power taken away, making him vulnerable. Wolverine must deal with pain and limping after a fight like anyone else. Mangold has an obvious love for showing us different aspects of Japanese life and many of his scenes and filming techniques are reminiscent of Japanese film makers like Akira Kurosawa, but ‘hey’ Chris Claremont did the same thing in his comic book series, so why not? Like I said, it doesn’t really fit the super hero mold, but that made it all the more intriguing. There is obvious connection between Logan and Mariko, but it is never developed to the level it was in the comic book series.
Of course, there does have to be super hero moments and with the exception of an incredible fight on top of a speeding 300 mph bullet train, the scenes are generic and not worthy of what the film was trying to accomplish. Overall, I enjoyed the film immensely, my only critique is that they could have done much better. If you are going to commit to taking the character and tone in a different direction, commit all the way. Lest you walk away thinking you missed out on your fix of super hero coolness, as always, make sure you stick around until after the credits. We are assured this is far from the last time we will see The Wolverine.
I give this film *** stars
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