Review: THE WOLVERINE

THE WOLVERINE  (ACTION/SCI-FI)
Three and a Half out of Four Stars
Directed by James Mangold
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Famke Janssen, Hiroyuki Sanada, Haruhiko Yamanouchi
PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, some sexuality and language.
Verdict:  To point out that it's a lot better than its bland predecessor, X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, isn't an especially strong recommendation, but it's also a refreshing standout amongst the usual superhero flicks laden with bombast and threats of global implications.  Director James Mangold (3:10 TO YUMA) and writers Mark Bomback (LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD) and Scott Frank (MINORITY REPORT) have crafted a swell Japanese sci-fi noir of sorts with the Wolverine's best lead appearance to date.  It's a bit rough around the edges, but with the exception of a somewhat dopey climax (which smacks of misguided studio interference), all complaints are suitably minor and unobtrusive, while there's plenty to praise in the way of sophisticated and pleasurable entertainment.

The role that made Hugh Jackman a household name and headlined one of the first modern comic book-adapted film franchises has not always gotten the respect he's deserved.  Not counting his brilliantly-conceived, one-line cameo in 2011's X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, Wolverine hasn't been in a good, let alone not-bad, movie since X2: X-MEN UNITED a full ten years ago in 2003.  Between then and now, he was featured in Brett Ratner's abysmal X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, and his first solo round, X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (2009) was another victim of the 2007-2008 Writers' Guild Strike that was evidenced in the following summer.  Unlike X-MEN ORIGINS, THE WOLVERINE takes place after the events of the THE LAST STAND, and it's far better than either of those.
Of course, that's still not a very strong recommendation, so it would be better served to say that THE WOLVERINE is better than the original X-MEN; in fact, it's about on the same level as X2, although with its big weaknesses more concentrated into one twenty-or-so minute section of the film.  To date, I believe FIRST CLASS is at the top of the peak, a golden standard for later installments to aspire to.
THE WOLVERINE finds its titular character, more personally known as Logan, in rural Canada, following the events of THE LAST STAND, which left his old flame, Jean Grey (Janssen), dead.  Jean still haunts Logan's dreams, as Logan is consumed by the realization that his all-but-immortal state of being (thanks to his ultra-rapid healing ability and indestructible skeleton) forces him to watch as all he loves eventually dies away.  The solution to that dilemma presents itself to Logan in the form of a summons to Tokyo, where a dying Imperial Army veteran-turned business tycoon offers to repay him for saving his life in the Nagasaki bombings by making Logan mortal.  Despite Logan's doubts, his supernatural healing is suddenly absent, just as the dying tycoon passes away, creating a whirlwind of intrigue over the future of his corporation.  At the center of the mystery is the man's granddaughter, Maroki (Okamoto), with her abusive father (Sanada), a philandering fiancee (Brian Tee) and a serpentine femme fatale (Khodchenkova).
While unraveling the mystery like a super-powered, knife-knuckled Jack Gettes, Wolverine also finds time to slice and skewer his way through Yakuza thugs, ninjas and a samurai or two.  Something that's been troublesome for attempts to adapt the Wolverine character to film has been 20th Century Fox's refusal to allow for an R-rated take on what is already essentially an R-rated character (he's a rough-and-tumble anti-hero whose defining superpower is six six-inch knives that emerge from his knuckles for goodness' sake), but THE WOLVERINE pushes the extent of the PG-13 rating so far that it seems to be on about the same level as Mangold's 3:10 TO YUMA remake, which itself was rated R.  Granted, it's still not really R-rated carnage, but it's one of the bloodiest PG-13-rated films that I've seen and certainly the better for it, as the obvious absence of result to that kind of violence can be annoyingly distracting (see: THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA).
The film's original director, Academy Award-nominee Darren Aronofsky, officially cited the extended overseas shoot as his reason for leaving the project, but some reports have indicated that his script was hard-R level.  Either way, it's too bad we didn't get to see what the BLACK SWAN-director had up his sleeve; I'd sure like to see a summer superhero movie from an auteur, but some other time, I guess.  Thankfully, Mangold  was up to the task.  The film is much leaner than today's typical superhero film, where the central peril is consistently on a global scale, which THE WOLVERINE trades in for a relatively intimate mystery.  But the action is certainly not shortchanged, and some of the summer's best action set-pieces are included, among them an awesome fight atop a 300 mph bullet train and a memorial service that turns into a bloodbath.

Khodchenkova as Viper, a bad villain, so to speak.

The film is not without its weaknesses, but only one is especially consequential; that one in question being the film's climax, which forgoes the refined, kinetic style and restraint of the rest of the film in exchange for some over-the-top sci-fi weirdness and some goofy revelations, while the unintentionally goofy villainess Viper sharing the spotlight after being wisely kept behind-scenes for most of the film.  For myself, I enjoyed the rest of the film well enough that I am able to write this off as a (barely) forgivable annoyance, although it's a shame to mar an otherwise perfectly fine action film.  The manner of this climax seems to be less under Mangold's control than it is the influence of studio money-men, which is understandable, considering that they're the ones putting up millions, but it is nonetheless misguided in this case.  On the other hand, maybe the artistic talent just went astray and it's their fault entirely.
All other complaints to be made are inconsequential, amounting to little more than minor plot inconsistencies and the like.  Even as it can be picked apart more easily for its weaknesses, THE WOLVERINE is, by a very narrow margin, possibly the most entertaining superhero film this summer; not necessarily meaning the the best, as IRON MAN 3 is probably the best-crafted, but its gleeful deviation from expectations means that IRON MAN 3 will take time to reach its entertainment potential.  On the other hand, in stark contrast to MAN OF STEEL's intergalactic, biblical scope, THE WOLVERINE is ultimately the better film with far sharper action and a refreshing restraint (most of the time).  Hopefully, THE WOLVERINE may encourage a slimming down of the superhero genre, now that the stakes have been so endlessly escalated to a fatiguing degree of global implication, a scale to which only THE AVENGERS has been successful at to date.
Rougher, rawer and sexier, THE WOLVERINE gives new hope to the character's cinematic future.