The Wolverine ~ review

The Wolverine is the sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a spin-off movie of the X-Men movie franchise and set after the event of X-Men: The Last Stand. It starred Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rila Fukushima, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Will Yun Lee and Famke Janssen. The film follows Logan / Wolverine as he travels to Japan to meet old acquaintance and, unexpectedly, new enemies as well as trying to coop with his own inner dilemma.

As one of the person who did not really like X-Men Origins: Wolverine (which I only watch on television), I decided to have more faith in The Wolverine and went to watch it in the cinema. Fortunately for me the movie turn out to be quite good. I really like the plot surrounding Logan's ability or mutant power of regeneration (which enables him to live longer than normal human being) in which he thought as more of a curse but valued by others who thought that the ability is indeed a blessing. Personally I think this is quite different than previous X-Men movies where mutant powers are usually scared by normal people or viewed as source of manipulation for weapon creation. But in this movie, it is viewed as a gift and being used in any way possible to assist in everyday life, in which in this movie it is to sustain the family business empire. Even most of the bad guys that Logan fought throughout the movie are normal people with no mutant powers whatsoever. In fact, mutant powers are not the main attraction of this movie as it usually are for previous movies in the franchise, and that I promise you, is not a bad thing at all. It allows the movie to focus on its characters and their struggles without being too distracted by the special effects coming from using the mutant powers. For that, I think this movie is unique and refreshing for a movie coming from the X-Men universe.

As for the acting from the casts, I was impressed with Hugh Jackman performance as well as Rila Fukushima as Yukio and Hiroyuki Sanada as Shingen. They really bring out the best of their characters on screen. The others did quite good too although I think Svetlana Khodchenkova's character (Dr. Green / Viper) is a little bit under-developed, Tao Okamoto is a little bit stiff as Mariko Yashida, while Will Yun Lee's character (Kenuichio Harada) is a bit unnecessary in the movie. My favourite character from the movie would definitely be Yukio played by Rila Fukushima. I like strong female character and I think Yukio's strong physical prowess as well as her emotional connection to the Yashida's family as well as to Logan makes her a well-balanced and likeable character.

I feel the movie is separate from the X-Men movie franchise in many ways; the settings which is mainly in Japan, the casts, and plot are all making this movie unique and special in its own way. The settings, for example, like the Japanese mansion and the Japanese fishing village, bring this movie out from the franchise and making it its own movie. But of course you will constantly be reminded that this is a part of the X-Men movie franchise with the contant appearances of Famke Janssen as Jean Grey throughout the movie, which for me is not a bad thing too as I love Jean Grey in previous movies. The appearance of the character gives me hope that they will bring Jean Grey back to life in future X-Men movies.

Overall, The Wolverine turned out to be a rather good movie than I had expected it to be, with good casts and strong plot that makes it more than just a standard superhero movie. Yes, it is very important to note that this is not a standard superhero movie, it is not about saving the world or the mutant race like it normally would in such movies, but it is just a good movie with mutants happen to be in it.

I give The Wolverine three and half stars out of five.

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