SPOILERS AHEAD!
This is the sixth film in which Hugh Jackman has played the titular Mutant hero - including his X-Men: First Class cameo - and, although a fan of the X-Men films, the Wolverine character in particular, as well as someone who didn't think X-Men Origins: Wolverine - the character's first solo film - was all that bad, I felt reticent about yet another story about the tortured soul that the original X-Men trilogy featured as the main hero amongst the ensemble, even if they didn't delve as fully into the dark past of Wolverine, aka Logan, aka James Howlett.
In The Wolverine, it's mostly Logan's dark future we're treated to, as we find him roughing it in the Canadian wilderness, with shaggy hair and beard to match the fur of the grizzly bear with whom he keeps company. It's not long, though, before trouble comes a-knockin' and our hirsute hero is whisked off to Japan to resume his acquaintance with a man whose life Logan once saved during his last visit to Japan, in Nagasaki, 1945.
Initially under the impression that he was summoned merely to say goodbye to Yashida (Ken Yamamura/Hal Yamanouchi); formerly a POW camp soldier, now a wealthy tycoon whose name is peppered all over Tokyo as Toshiba is in the real world. Logan discovers that the old codger also wants to give him the 'gift' of a normal mortal life by removing his mutative ability to heal from any wound that helped him save Yashida's life in WWII but which has also cursed Logan to immortality. Having been dragged away from his comfy forest patch to suffer the indignities of a fifteen hour plane flight, a nude bath involving a violent scrubbing from broom-wielding ancient Japanese women, just to exchange parting words with a man he only knew briefly over half a century ago is bad enough but his wanting to nick Logan's mutant power just adds insult to injury. Fortunately, Logan heals fast from this dishonourable slight and, managing to restrain his infamous rage, bids Yashida goodbye, telling him that, 'you don't want what I got.' He leaves the old git on his pin point impression bed, left with his annoyance at the considerable effort made to find Logan and bring him to Japan, only to be rejected. Of course, this is only the beginning.
Things then get complicated in a plot involving Yashida's granddaughter, Mariko (Tao Okamoto) and a power struggle with the rest of her family, from whose assassins Logan forsakes a return to his nice forest to protect her from, confident he can also see off his competition for her affections in the form of an ex-boyfriend and the fiance of an arranged marriage. This, rather excitingly, involves him taking on the entire spectrum of the Japanese warrior caste, including Yakuza, Samurai and ninjas. The highlight of these myriad battles is surely one aboard and on top of a speeding bullet train, which easily beats Skyfall's train fight. Here, an injured and mysteriously unhealing Logan must use his claws to stay attached to the speeding vehicle, whilst seeing off Mariko's would-be murderers. That said, some of the action is cut too choppily to be truly satisfying, such as the preceding funeral fight, possibly to subdue the violence for a 12A rating. A later sword vs. claw fight takes place almost completely in the dark, At least there's no climactic duel between Wolverine and the femme fatale - Svetlana Khodchenkova's Viper in this case - as became the norm with the X-Men films. One of those femme fatales, now just a mere femme, returns here in Logan's dreams, providing an interesting subplot and a nice link to X-Men III: The Last Stand, from which this new chapter follows on.
The Wolverine is one of the better films of the X-Men series. Although, whilst an improvement on Last Stand and Origins, it doesn't match X-Men 2 or First Class. Like those films - and most comic book/action movies - it follows a fairly safe formula, which is especially apparent in the final act, when Logan must rescue the damsel in distress from the villain's lair, wherein he finds it is Logan himself whom the villain really wants. Quite why, then, he has to wade through a hundred ninjas to get there, rather than be allowed all the way inside before capture, I didn't understand. Also perplexing was how Logan's claws didn't leave bloody wounds in his hands during the scenes where he couldn't heal, as well as how, when Yashida was extracting Logan's blood and thereby his healing ability, the old man reverted to the exact age he was when he met the Wolverine. Maybe I'm taking a comic book film too seriously - only as seriously as it takes itself, although it's no Dark Knight - but its internal logic is weird; most of the non-Mutant supporting characters don't make enough of an impact early on for them or their motives to be interesting enough later on.
The script is better than Origins, despite the slight plot similarities with previous films toward the end. At least there's no dialogue clangers like 'Coocoo-catchoo got screwed.' There are some intentional good laughs, too, as well as a self-surgery scene that was almost as intense - more so, in a way - than the one in Prometheus.
The sound effects, particularly when Logan and Yukio (Rila Fukushima) first arrive in Japan, were also impressive. The noise of the cars, birds, etc is very immersive. The special effects are well handled, although the grizzly bear at the start was a little unconvincing, yet Jackman's performance helped here.
The Wolverine is an enjoyable addition to Marvel's most profitable franchise but I know enough of the character's history to not need another standalone film about him. An end credits coda reveals that he'll be back on the team for the next X-Men film, Days Of Future Past.
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