When
The Wolverine came out in theatres earlier this summer, I missed it without too much regret thinking it would be a fun enough stay at home DVD to indulge in come the fall. I now regret not seeing it on the big screen.
While clearly not ‘unmissable’ like Gravity, which loses a major part of its essence if not seen on the big screen, The Wolverine is an example of the better kind of summer spectacle, set mostly in modern day Tokyo and fully utilising its $120 million budget to jaw dropping effect.
The film is adeptly directed by James Mangold whose most commendable film was the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line (2005), and the film stars, as most Marvel Comics fans will already know, Hugh Jackman, as the eponymous Wolverine. Now Jackman has never been a favourite of mine, but even I cannot fault his seamless portrayal of this much beloved, much damaged, but terribly romantic comic book character. He brings the Wolverine’s tortured soul to life without ever hamming things up, throwing in just the right amount of world-weary disdain and refreshing sarcasm into a character that has pretty much seen it all.
If you want backstory, well, you need to go out and watch all the previous X-Men films (of which there are six including the previous Wolverine origins story, with a seventh due out next year) because the Wolverine is indeed a complicated character. Suffice to say that this film begins with Logan (Wolverine’s real name) waking up to deeply disturbing nightmares involving his past love Jean (Famke Janssen) and his rescue of a Japanese soldier just before the bomb drops on Nagasaki.
Logan has given up on being the Wolverine, wandering the world lost in his own misery and wrapped up in the existential angst that comes from knowing that not only are you immortal you are also a manufactured and deadly fighting machine. Bearded and miserable he is found by Yukio (Rila Fukushima) a red headed samurai trainee who has been sent to find him by the very Japanese soldier he once rescued.
Reluctantly taken to Japan to meet the dying but grateful Shingen Yashida (Hiroyuki Sanada), Logan finds himself suddenly embroiled in what is about to become an all out war involving the legacy of Yashida who is now the head of one of the richest business empires in Japan.
The rest of the film involves some terrifically cool fight sequences between ninjas, samurais, with the Wolverine wielding his raw power, a particularly well-choreographed fight sequence atop one of Japan’s famous bullet trains, a minor but subtly played out love story between Logan and Mariko, Yashida’s granddaughter and heir apparent, and a few other nice little surprises that are usually non-existent once a summer block buster has passed the 90 minute mark.
So sit back and distract yourself, it will be a welcome respite from this past week’s election madness, that’s exactly what this kind of film is for.
Watch Trailer:
The Wolverine