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| Courtesy of 20th Century Fox |
Apparently,
there’s some weird rule at Fox that requires a Wolverine movie to fall apart in
the third act. It happened in X-Men: The Last Stand, it happened in X-Men
Origins: Wolverine and the same fate has befallen The Wolverine, the latest
chapter in the character’s solo adventures.
Too
bad, because up until a specific point – and you’ll know when you see it – the
film is a nice recovery for a character who was squandered in his last
cinematic effort (not counting a fun cameo in X-Men: First Class).
Unfortunately, his charisma can’t overcome an unnecessary samurai robot (not as
cool as it sounds) and one of the most irritating villains I’ve ever seen in a
movie. But we’ll get to that in a second.
For
the first 90 minutes, it’s terrific spending time with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman,
his sixth time in the role) again. The film picks up a few years after the
events of The Last Stand and the nearly indestructible mutant isn’t doing so
hot. Logan is so haunted by his role in the death of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) that
she now lives in his head as a warped conscience.
To
keep from hurting anyone else, he has become a recluse, emerging from the
forest only when he needs to stock up on booze and batteries for his radio.
That changes when he is approached by Yukio (Rila Fukushima), who asks Logan to
travel back to Japan with her. She represents a former acquaintance (Hal
Yamanouchi) of Logan’s, now elderly and dying, who wants to tell him goodbye.
Logan
gets on a plane and is immediately thrust into a deadly conspiracy that spans
generations. Reluctantly, he takes it upon himself to protect his friend’s granddaughter
(Tao Okamoto), who has become the target of various assassins. Lots of stabbing
and slashing follow, as does the previously mentioned robot and annoying mutant
villain.
As
always, Jackman is the best aspect of the film. No matter what ridiculous turns
the plot takes, the actor always throws everything into his performance. As
such, he almost makes the stupid stuff work – almost.
But
even he couldn’t stave off my irrational desire to throw objects at the screen whenever
Svetlana Khodchenkova showed up as Viper. I’m sure the actress is a fine person,
but the combination of uninteresting character and annoying line delivery was
too much for me to handle. Other moviegoers seemed to agree – I’ve never heard an
audience cheer that loudly when a villain got his or her comeuppance.
Viper’s
unfortunate presence, combined with suddenly bad CGI and an insipid “plot twist”
anyone with a brain can see coming, means The Wolverine goes out with a
whimper instead of a bang. Still, for most of the movie, director James Mangold
– along with screenwriters Mark Bomback, Scott Frank and Christopher McQuarrie –
keep the focus on the intriguing characters rather than gratuitous action
sequences. They should be commended, even though that philosophy doesn’t extend
to the final half hour.
Despite
the letdown, anyone who’s a fan of the character will find plenty to enjoy
about his latest adventure – especially those who stick around during the
credits. There’s a fun tease for next summer’s sequel, X-Men: Days of Future
Past, which promises to get the whole mutant band back together.
The Wolverine is rated
PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, some sexuality and
language.
Grade:
B-
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