Review of The Wolverine (2013) by Henry G — 11 Jun 2014

If I ever get the chance to meet James Mangold I must remember to shake (possibly kiss) his hand and thank him for giving fans a quality solo outing for Wolverine that blows it's hauntingly awful predecessor out of the cinematic water. It's not completely perfect in all it's execution but it is damn near close.

The Wolverine loosely utilizes the beloved classic story arc from Chris Claremont & Frank Miller that follows our titular hero and his exploits to Japan where Logan is paying his respects to a dying old "friend" he saved in Hiroshima during WWII while still haunted by his guilt and the events of X men: The Last Stand (as are the fans ... Ohh!!). What ensues is a cleverly well done small scale story with excellent large scale action where Logan is stripped of his immortality making him fight his Samurai sword wielding enemies like he has never before because his life (as well as others) are truly at stake.

The characters are smartly comprised of only a few and relatively unknown mutants including his quickly lovable death predicting red headed assassin sidekick Yukio played brilliantly by Rila Fukushima. This small scale cast of mutants also helps the film keep the focus on our metal claw wielding hero as this is a Wolverine movie after all. And Jackman as always comes through with a performance and script that doesn't let him or the fans down. A better tactic as opposed to bombarding fans with unnecessary mutants. (Ahem blob).

I also found the inclusion of Mariko's and Logan's sweet and brief love story juxtaposed with his old crippling love for Jean Grey (Famke Janssen was a greatly pleasurable addition to the story) was well executed and believable even for lone wolf character like Wolverine.

My biggest complaint falls with what's not included in the film which is the inexplicably deleted scene at the end where Yukio hands Logan a box with his classic style yellow and brown X-suit. Why mangold? why deprive us of this? You are only forgiven for shooting this scene in the first place.

This installment excellently and welcomingly revamps and reinvigorates the Wolverine series in a surprising way that delivers a worthy and thrilling adventure for one of our favorite superheroes and leaves this franchise in good shape.

Watch closely at the end for a lead in to next installment Days of Future Past. Which ironically requires Mangold to once again revamp the series completely for the almost confirmed sequel. You'll see what I mean ... Old man Logan comics would be a good place to start just saying James...