Movie Review: The Wolverine (2013)

Let's give me applause for my first movie in 3D being a good choice! I am actually a fan of the X-Men movies since I saw the first one. X-Men: First Class revived my hope that this series still had potential. While I do wish they would give another character highlight for a moment, they do the safe and smart thing by sticking with the most popular of the crew, Wolverine. James Mangold has directed some pretty solid movies like Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma. He doesn't have anything like, The Wolverine on his credentials, but he revives the character well.

Summary: The Wolverine is living in seclusion, but is called to come out of it when he is asked to come to Japan by an old acquaintance who is dying. There is a new nemesis lurking there though who wants to challenge his power, the Viper.  The Wolverine is left more vulnerable than ever after his powers are disrupted by her force. With the help of new allies in Japan though he sets out to battle her, and help a woman trapped in the crossfires of the battle.


Acting: Hugh Jackman just really embodies who The Wolverine is every time. After seeing him in a variety f roles he proves he is a good actor by conforming to what is needed to make the character work. The the other actors might be very new to the audience but they hold their own quite well. Rila Fukushima is good as The Wolverine's sidekick, Yukio. The other really in your face performance I thought was Sveltana Khodchenkova (try to say that out loud) as The Viper. She has a lot of attitude, and seemed truly terrifying to me. Famke Janssen also returns as Jean.

Filming: The filming is well done to translate to 3D if you're choosing to see it in that format. The filming though keeps the tone serious, but Jackman balances out well with usual arrogant but fun attitude as The Wolverine. The setting is also well laid out, and it doesn't get too lost in CGI to just feel like on big cartoon the whole time. As with any movie like this many might wonder about the action? It is showcased very well.

Plot: The plot sort of just plops you down somewhere in The Wolverine's life. Now this does work, and is easy to follow, but it was a tad confusing by the end. Hint: Remain seated after the first credits! They have an extra scene. It made me confuse as to whether this was just after he had lost his wife, or was this after he had met the X-Men crew. The development though is well done enough in the movie to make you escape this thought for a while though. The Wolverine develops his emotions and perspectives on his own immortality a lot better.

The Wolverine is a nice movie to revive the character for fans of him. Hopefully the series just continues to get better from X-Men First Class onward after the dip that occurred in The Last Stand and X-Men Origins with fans. Jackman seems to always enjoy portraying the character, and adds a lot of personality and character to the mutant that makes him easy to relate to for audiences as he isn't perfect and is struggling with a lot of his own limitations.

Rating 8 of 10.