MOVIE REVIEW: The Wolverine

Erron’s Grade: B-

Target Audience:
Fans of the Marvel comic/X-Men universe; those who appreciate action/adventure/fantasy films; motion pictures that highlight intense action sequences, swordplay and martial arts fighting; movies that significantly feature computer-generated special effects work; films set in foreign locales

Plot Synopsis:
From IMDb.com: “In modern day Japan, Wolverine is out of his depth in an unknown world as he faces his ultimate nemesis in a life-or-death battle that will leave him forever changed. Vulnerable for the first time and pushed to his physical and emotional limits, he confronts not only lethal samurai steel but also his inner struggle against his own immortality, emerging more powerful than we have ever seen him before.”

Erron’s Review:
James Mangold’s The Wolverine is probably one of the better films from the X-Men universe because it delivers both interesting action sequences while directly addressing the existential issues that would undoubtedly plague a character like Logan (a.k.a. Wolverine).  For those of you who are out of your genre here, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is a mutant who possesses incredible powers of regeneration which essentially render him immortal.  Oh, and he has bone claws that protrude from between his knuckles that are fused with adamantium, as is the rest of his skeletal system.  Adamantium is a fictitious metal alloy that is virtually indestructible—much like Logan himself.  Add to this that fact that Logan was forced to kill a woman he deeply loved (Jean Grey, another Marvel character and fellow X-Men mutant) and had been experimented on in the most brutal of fashions by Colonel William Stryker and one starts to see how Logan might have…issues.

The Wolverine’s screenwriters, Mark Bomback and Scott Frank, weave Logan’s emotional crises into a story that transports Wolverine to Japan. There, Logan is ostensibly meeting up with a Japanese business magnate named Yashida, who wishes to thank Logan for saving his life back on August 9, 1945, during the bombing of Nagasaki.  Upon Logan’s arrival, we see that there are a myriad of mysterious events and people surrounding the now aged and infirmed Yashida (played by Hal Yamanouchi).  These complications include a seemingly nefarious doctor, an emotional granddaughter, resentful son, ninjas and Yakuza.  The core of The Wolverine’s narrative involves Logan helping Yashida’s granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto) survive as she is pursued by a mélange of dangerous characters all hell bent on killing Mariko after her grandfather passes away and leaves her his company and associated vast fortune.  This pursuit of Mariko gives us some great action sequences in and around various settings that are visual archetypes of contemporary Japan including: a high-speed bullet train, beautifully sculpted Japanese gardens, a vibrantly colorful slot machine parlor and a bubble-windowed “love hotel” that features tawdry themed rooms.  There is gun play, sword fights with samurai swords, rooftop archers, a slew of martial arts fighting, and chase scenes on motorcycles and in cars.  In other words, The Wolverine delivers action content when it needs to.  Complicating this cross-country chase of Mariko and Logan is the fact that Yashida’s doctor (played in full-on sultry Bond Girl villainess mode by Svetlana Khodchenkova) has implanted a device near Logan’s heart that severely impedes his mutant ability to heal.  That’s a problem when you’ve lived your whole life being able to take bullets and bounce right back into the fray.  For Logan, this newfound near-mortality is troubling as it opens up an emotional journey that is complicated by the unfortunate timing of a lack of healing ability.  This provides The Wolverine with much of its emotional backstory along with the fact that-- over the course of his time spent as her protector—Logan begins a romance with Mariko.

I’m not going to go deeper into chronicling the plot of The Wolverine, since it’s third act features some plot twists and turns that—while not necessarily unforeseeable or all that inspired—are still worthy of being kept secret for those who may want to one day see the film.  I will, however, commend Mangold’s cinematographer Ross Emery and production designer François Audouy for the look of the film.  The Japanese set pieces are clean and visually engaging and the film has a very sleek and stylized look.  Speaking of looks, Jackman is in fine physical form and appears as ripped and physically intimidating as ever; I don’t even want to contemplate Jackman’s pre-shooting workout routines.  One element of watching The Wolverine which I particularly enjoyed was watching Logan sort out his newfound physical vulnerabilities while also trying to keep Mariko alive and deal with the ghost of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) that haunts his nightmares.  All of this dialed back the trademark surliness and anti-social behaviors which were fast becoming the trademark of the Wolverine character and we got to see Jackman do something he’s actually good at: emoting.  I thought this only somewhat softer and gentler Wolverine was an interesting dynamic to explore because the audience gets to glean some insights into the person behind the mutant ass kicker.  Don’t get me wrong: this is not a touchy feely film—there’s a lot of fighting and butt kicking and bad guys meeting their demises.  That’s all just part of the journey that we see Logan take in The Wolverine and I find it to be a rewarding and entertaining trip.  I attribute some of this to the sensibilities of the film’s director, James Mangold, who helmed two films that I really respect: Copland and Girl, Interrupted.  I hope that the new Wolverine project that is slated for 2017 reunites Jackman and Mangold (which is rumored to be happening).  They make a good duo for telling Logan’s story in a manner that is both adrenaline-fueled and emotionally rewarding.