The Wolverine
Year: 2013
Director: James Mangold
Starring: Rila Fukushima, Hugh Jackman & Tao Okamoto
Runtime: 132 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 06/01/22
Director: James Mangold
Starring: Rila Fukushima, Hugh Jackman & Tao Okamoto
Runtime: 132 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 06/01/22
X-Men Origins: Wolverine was such a monumental disaster for 20th Century Fox and the X-Men brand that it almost tanked the entire franchise. Plans for a series of prequels under the ‘Origins’ moniker was scrapped entirely and reworked into the franchise prequel/reboot X-Men: First Class in 2011. But the other series of films that had been planned to follow the release of Origins: Wolverine were two more films centred around Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Much like what became First Class, the sequel to Origins: Wolverine was already too far along to be scrapped, but with a little rejigging what was a sequel to Origins: Wolverine instead became a spin-off sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand.
Set a number of years after The Last Stand, Logan (Hugh Jackman) lives in solitude in the Canadian wilderness where he has visions of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and has vowed to never kill again.
He is tracked down by Yukio (Rila Fukushima) on behalf of her employer Ichiro Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), a man whose life was saved by Logan in World War II. Yashida is dying and so Logan is flown out to Japan where he can say one final goodbye to an old friend. Following WWII, Yashida created a technology company which has gone on to be one of the biggest corporations in the world, but he is not ready to die and offers Logan the ability to become mortal in exchange for his regeneration powers. Logan refuses and as a result Yashida dies, leaving his company to his granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamato).
When an attempt is made on Mariko’s life at her grandfather’s funeral, Logan is drawn into a power struggle over Yashida’s fortune. But following an encounter with the mutant, Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova), Logan’s regenerative powers are failing, and he must learn how to reverse the effects of Viper’s poison.
Set a number of years after The Last Stand, Logan (Hugh Jackman) lives in solitude in the Canadian wilderness where he has visions of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and has vowed to never kill again.
He is tracked down by Yukio (Rila Fukushima) on behalf of her employer Ichiro Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), a man whose life was saved by Logan in World War II. Yashida is dying and so Logan is flown out to Japan where he can say one final goodbye to an old friend. Following WWII, Yashida created a technology company which has gone on to be one of the biggest corporations in the world, but he is not ready to die and offers Logan the ability to become mortal in exchange for his regeneration powers. Logan refuses and as a result Yashida dies, leaving his company to his granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamato).
When an attempt is made on Mariko’s life at her grandfather’s funeral, Logan is drawn into a power struggle over Yashida’s fortune. But following an encounter with the mutant, Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova), Logan’s regenerative powers are failing, and he must learn how to reverse the effects of Viper’s poison.
On paper The Wolverine sounds like a film that has a lot going on and none of it particularly interesting, especially as a sequel to The Last Stand with its gigantic battle sequences. But The Wolverine allows for a more personal look into how Logan has coped with the grief of killing Jean Grey, and touches on his more empathetic side which we only ever caught glimpses of with Rogue in the first three films.
It places Logan back into that bodyguard style role we saw him as in X-Men 2 but puts a different spin on it by having him lose his regeneration. Now whenever Logan is hit, he is injured, and to see Jackman try to play a role that’s always been about bravado and invincibility now fear for his life is actually really cool.
Outside of Logan, the characters in The Wolverine are unfortunately not all that interesting. Yashida is given a decent amount of fleshing out despite his brief presence in the story, however because his wealth is the subject of all the drama we learn so much about him and what he did following Logan saving him at the start of the film.
For a while it seems like Yukio is going to be the ‘sidekick’ of the film, fighting alongside Logan and generally being a badass but she actually ends up getting relegated into the background pretty early on which is a shame. She too is a mutant and her ability to see into the future would definitely have been a great component in the story, and interesting angle for the film to explore some more.
It is instead Mariko who we spend the most time with apart from Logan. As they travel across Japan in an attempt to keep her alive, we see the two begin to grow close and even begin to fall in love. I feel like this plot point is a slight problem because it feels like they wanted to give Logan someone to live for now that Jean isn’t around anymore, but once Logan begins to fall for her the Jean Grey stuff gets dropped entirely. Mariko also isn’t given enough depth for the amount of time she spends on screen and is just given the role of damsel in distress much of the time. She does come into her element more as the film progresses, particularly the final act, but it feels too little too late and that badassery isn’t earned.
It places Logan back into that bodyguard style role we saw him as in X-Men 2 but puts a different spin on it by having him lose his regeneration. Now whenever Logan is hit, he is injured, and to see Jackman try to play a role that’s always been about bravado and invincibility now fear for his life is actually really cool.
Outside of Logan, the characters in The Wolverine are unfortunately not all that interesting. Yashida is given a decent amount of fleshing out despite his brief presence in the story, however because his wealth is the subject of all the drama we learn so much about him and what he did following Logan saving him at the start of the film.
For a while it seems like Yukio is going to be the ‘sidekick’ of the film, fighting alongside Logan and generally being a badass but she actually ends up getting relegated into the background pretty early on which is a shame. She too is a mutant and her ability to see into the future would definitely have been a great component in the story, and interesting angle for the film to explore some more.
It is instead Mariko who we spend the most time with apart from Logan. As they travel across Japan in an attempt to keep her alive, we see the two begin to grow close and even begin to fall in love. I feel like this plot point is a slight problem because it feels like they wanted to give Logan someone to live for now that Jean isn’t around anymore, but once Logan begins to fall for her the Jean Grey stuff gets dropped entirely. Mariko also isn’t given enough depth for the amount of time she spends on screen and is just given the role of damsel in distress much of the time. She does come into her element more as the film progresses, particularly the final act, but it feels too little too late and that badassery isn’t earned.
The action sequences are quite memorable though. It takes a while for one to even happen, around a third of the way into the film, but once things start, they get pretty interesting. This first action sequence covers quite a lot of ground too with it starting at a funeral and moving through the streets to a train station, where you’re given a short break before a train fight happens. The train fight in particular is arguably the best action sequence in the film with it feeling less like a fight in a superhero film and more like something you would expect to find in a more grounded action film.
The final battle does fall very much into superhero film territory however and whilst it’s not bad it’s definitely the weakest part of the film. The final twist did take me by surprise the first time I watched it and I feel is handled very well without being totally outside the realms of possibility. But the ensuing fight is just a CGI heavy mess that doesn’t have the same qualities as the rest of the films action scenes.
As a sequel to The Last Stand, The Wolverine feels a bit weird. It isn’t an X-Men film as you would expect one to be, and the general tone is so different to the average superhero film that it can be jarring. However, it’s a very enjoyable action film with some good ideas and it does a lot of interesting things with the character of Logan which will make it worthwhile for any X-Men fan. Plus, because it doesn’t lean too heavily on what happened in the previous X-Men films it’s something that newcomers to the series can dip their toes in to test the waters for the real deal and not get lost in confusing backstories. A fun spin off, but overall a generally middling X-Men film.
The final battle does fall very much into superhero film territory however and whilst it’s not bad it’s definitely the weakest part of the film. The final twist did take me by surprise the first time I watched it and I feel is handled very well without being totally outside the realms of possibility. But the ensuing fight is just a CGI heavy mess that doesn’t have the same qualities as the rest of the films action scenes.
As a sequel to The Last Stand, The Wolverine feels a bit weird. It isn’t an X-Men film as you would expect one to be, and the general tone is so different to the average superhero film that it can be jarring. However, it’s a very enjoyable action film with some good ideas and it does a lot of interesting things with the character of Logan which will make it worthwhile for any X-Men fan. Plus, because it doesn’t lean too heavily on what happened in the previous X-Men films it’s something that newcomers to the series can dip their toes in to test the waters for the real deal and not get lost in confusing backstories. A fun spin off, but overall a generally middling X-Men film.