Let's face facts; THE WOLVERINE was made for two specific reasons: to keep the immortal warrior and the rest of the Marvel mutant kind in the hands of 20th Century Fox and to set up the next X-Men movie. Yes, Fox now wants to do an AVENGERS build-up, so after two hours of general entertainment, they end with a mid-credit stinger that will have everyone talking about until next year's DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. That is really too bad for James Mangold because THE WOLVERINE in itself has the right ingredients for a nearly superb comic book flick. Taking on the project from Darren Aronofsky, the prolific genre director crafts a Japanese tale full of tradition, exoticism, and modern technology. Yet, the film will surely be passed over by jaded viewers as something to rent before the next big thing instead of experiencing in a cold, cool theater.
The film has a complete conundrum at its birth: this is the first Wolverine-centric movie after the infamous X-MEN ORIGINS debacle and it deliberately takes place after X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, the inferior and not well liked entry in the trilogy. Except for a recurring appearance of Famke Janssen in a nightie, and of course the stinger, the latter is thankfully swept under the rug. Logan has been residing in a quantum of solace in the Canadian woods as a wild man. Realizing that they don't want to make the equivalent of a bad Bond movie, the makers have him going after some jackass hunters. He is approached by a wild red-haired swordswoman named Yukio (Rila Fukushima), who also happens to be a seer for plot purposes. She is to escort him to Tokyo so he can say his goodbyes to Ichiro Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), a former Japanese officer he rescued in WWII Nagasaki. Ichiro wants Logan to forgo his travels as a ronin and to protect his granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto) from the Yakuza and other outside forces. He also offers Logan the ability to die honorable, relinquishing his health regeneration and immortality. Knowing that it is stupid to give up this gift and a dumb crutch for bad writers like David Goyer, Logan refuses the offer. However, he is robbed of it by a mysterious blonde doctor the night before a major kidnapping attempt of Mariko. The two run off to lay low, especially in the case of a now-human Logan, and to figure out why everyone wants them both captured.
For the most part, the film effortlessly works as a simple yakuza flick. Clearly homaging the works of Kinji Fukusaku, the movie has a honorable "samurai" who is treading in the muddy waters of gang violence, corruption, and sleaze. The villains, from the heads to the lowly minions, are all rash hot-heads who rather bathe in money and cheap women than fight with honor and humanity. Then to make the picture more comic-book-like, the makers throw in a large ninja clan and the Silver Samurai, a mythical protector of the Yashida family who is replicated into a giant human-size mech. Though these two adversaries lead to some awesome and visually striking moments, including a complete house takedown, they also are tied to the odd misgivings that hurt the entire movie experience. Screenwriters Mark Bomback and Scott Frank sought to compound the plot with a massive Logan conspiracy involving his healing factor. Instead of just having him come to Tokyo and then capture him so they can experiment, these shady individuals instead wanted him to run all over the place on many fetch and rescue Mariko operations before finally getting him locked into a chair. Worst yet, this is helped run by the as-mentioned doctor dubbed Viper, a woman with the non-exciting powers of Toad and the campy attitude of Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy. I don't lay the blame on the actress (TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY's Sventlana Khodchenkova) but her character, as she is somehow displayed as a master of evil and near invulnerable(?) yet looks and behaves like a third-rate femme fatale.
Saying that Hugh Jackman is great as Wolverine is a given as this point. Okamoto is fine as the alluring Mariko and thankfully gets to fight back during the many kidnap attempts. Nonetheless, her fashion model body is highly distracting. Japanese character actor Hiroyuki Sanada also has a strong impression as Shingen Yashida, the father of Mariko. However, the real surprise was Fukushima; she delivers many badass scenes and plays well off Jackman. Though she is designed to be a surrogate of Kitty Pryde and Jubilee, two famed partners of Logan in the comics, Yukio is also his equal as a lone warrior who is held down by social castes and opinions. Fukushima is able to handle these moments where she is practically spit upon or drifting alone in silence. I also liked to mention Naoya Ogawa and Atsushi Sawada, not to praise them for their portrayals as Yakuza Member #1 and #2 but the fact that I get a kick of seeing pro-wrestling/MMA stars facing off with Marvel's finest.
THE WOLVERINE was surprisingly enjoyable and a nice continuing rebound for the X-MEN movie franchise. If only Fox can learn to make things simple for a change, the film could be more highly rated. Just because you need to have big effects to draw eyes doesn't mean you need to have big ideas that then later turn to out to be flimsier than a potato chip. Of course the biggest problem Fox needs to face, other than superhero fatigue, is that people are trusting more of Disney and Marvel to handle the theatrics from now on. More and more would rather see Wolverine in the next AVENGERS than be the sole holder to a franchise that has been heavily ruined by the Fox hands. Maybe DAYS OF FUTURE PAST will waive these fears but you must remember that we have already seen a recent Bryan Singer "blockbuster" helmed by him and supposedly tampered by studio intervention.
FINAL REVIEW: 3 / 5
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