The Wolverine (2013)

Director: James Mangold
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Will Yun Lee, Tao Okamoto

Synopsis:
Logan is called out of his self-imposed exile to visit a Japanese industrialist whose life he saved during World War II.

Impressions:
I know Wolverine is the most popular X-Man, but I'm actually not that fond of the character. He tends to be rather one-note and if you're not some teenage nerd vicariously living out your fantasies through 90s antiheroes (I know Wolvie was created before then, but he very much embodies that spirit), then the character doesn't offer much the way he's usually handled. I still haven't seen X-Men Origins: Wolverine, so I can't personally speak about that particular cinematic misstep, but it speaks to Wolverine's draw that he'd be given another solo outing. I was fairly ambivalent when it came out, but giving it a try now, I found it surprisingly good. It probably helps having a Japan-centric plot with a Japanophile like yours truly. (And I will admit to feeling somewhat self-satisfied about following the unsubbed Japanese and then picking apart the rather loose translation when it actually is subbed.) As you would hope with a Wolverine movie, there's some good action to be had (sequences like the shinkansen fight are rather well done) and occasionally some really beautiful cinematography (the penultimate fight looks really nice). The reimagining of Silver Samurai was pretty cool and I'll give due credit to Rila Fukushima for her action girl chops. Tao Okamoto was pretty good as the romantic lead, but I wasn't terribly fond of Svetlana Khodchenkova as Viper. (I think it was more the character than the actress and some of the effects for her were sub-optimal.) While I wouldn't call this a superlative comic book movie, it was much better than I was expecting and certainly worth watching.

Rating:
Watch It