The Wolverine Review

Hey everybody! I'm Ryan howitzer and you're in The Line of Fire! Remember a few years back when Fox thought they could make a hardcore Wolverine movie, but we got X-Men Origins: Wolverine instead? Well, I'm here to tell you guys that The Wolverine completely atones for the sins of Origins. This movie has all the awesome action you could want in a Wolverine movie and it has a good story too. There are no rushed cameos and pointless fan service moments to be found here (unless you count the scene after the credits, but I won't spoil that for you). This film is just good old-fashioned awesome. So let's dive right in:

Yukio, the Ronin ally of Wolverine in the comics.

The story starts with a flashback to Nagasaki in 1945. We see that Wolverine (who was a Marine at this time) is in a Japanese prison camp. Almost immediately, the bomb drops and Wolverine helps a young Japanese officer survive the blast. The movie jumps ahead to after the events of X3: The Last Stand. Wolverine has secluded himself from the world. He spends his days drinking and his nights having nightmares about Jean Grey.

After X3, Wolverine became Grizzly Adams  

 The story picks up when Wolverine tracks a group of hunters who poisoned a bear to a bar. He starts a fight, but the fight is broken up by a Japanese woman named Yukio (played by Rila Fukushima). She gives Wolverine a sword and tells him that her boss, Yashida (the officer from Nagasaki), wants him to come to Japan to say goodbye. Eventually, Wolverine agrees and they fly to Japan. From there the story spirals into an action adventure chock full of Yakuza conspiracy, samurai sword play, and wolverine being the best at what he does. The one qualm I have with the story is that some parts of it tend to drag. I personally feel like the romance between Wolverine and Yashida's granddaughter is focused on too much. Wolverine isn't the kinda guy who gets involved. I also felt like htere were one too many Jean Grey flashbacks, but it's an important part of the story. It is a solid story that focuses a lot on the themes of being a ronin (samurai without a master) and eternal life.

The acting is pretty good as well. Hugh Jackman is, as always, incredible as Wolverine. He brings all the physicality and awesomeness that you expect from him. The other actors are great too. The one who stands out to me besides Jackman is Svetlana Khodchenkova as the vixen Viper. She was sexy and dangerous all at the same time like any good female villain.

Viper loves green for some reason

 Famke Janssen did well returning as Jean Grey.  This movie didn't have a very large cast. It did showcase a lot of good Japanese actors who aren't Ken Watanabe (Chris Nolan, I hope you're watching). It's refreshing to see a major super hero movie with a cast mostly composed of foreign actors.

The movie's strongest points were its actions scenes. Whether it was a showdown with the Yakuza on board a bullet train or a battle with a giant metal samurai in the final act, Wolverine kicks some serious butt. The actions feels pretty viscous for a PG-13 movie. I wanted more blood, but, again, it's PG-13. The movie has a lot of great swordplay. It's not Lord of the Rings quality or anything, but it's still really good. I just wish there had been less shaky cam. Can we seriously stop doing that? I wanna actually see what's happening. It wasn't too bad though, so it's a nitpick. All in all the movie delivered on the action.

The end credits scene was very good. It teases the up-coming X-Men: Days of Future Past very well. It's even got cameos from Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. This time Patrick Stewart wasn't de-aged by CGI so he didn't look like an egg like he did in Origins. It's well worth staying for, though.

All in all, the movie is a great comic book film. It finally does Wolverine some justice in spite of some minor flaws in the story. I can't wait to see how it's tied in to DOFP. This movie is a solid 8/10. Go see it.