The Impact Review - The Wolverine

The man calling himself Logan lives out in the woods of the Yukon, only venturing into town to retrieve batteries for his radio or if needing the occasional supplies. He's lost in his own sadness, haunted by the memory of Jean Grey. However when he encounters amateur hunters that killed a passive bear with illegal poisoned arrows, he teaches them the kind of lesson that only an adamantium-skeleton'd mutant can. The fight is broken up by the appearance of a young asian girl, Yukio, with a sword who bring news to Logan. Many years ago, while held prisoner in a Nagasaki POW camp, Logan saved Yashida, one of the more sympathetic guards from the ground-zero blast. Now that man lays dying of old age, but he says he has two last gifts for his saviour - an ancient samurai sword and the secret to ending Logan's virtual-immortality in a world where everyone he loves seems to die.

Logan travels with Yukio to Japan and finds that the offer may not be that simple... and that the Yashida clan, one of the key business empires of the modern era, is about to implode with the death of their patriach. Can the mutant warrior protect Yashida's beutiful grand-daughter Mariko from assassination and a much bigger plot and secret plan that has been decades in the making?

Watching Jackman on the screen, one has to be reminded that this is the technically the SIXTH time that he's brought the character to life (the previous chapters being the three original X-Men movies, his solo outing in 2009 and the briefest of two-word cameos in X-Men: First Class). But for this outing it feels very much like the first movie in which he's been front and centre, the other films always filled with other characters actively battling the Canadian mutant for screentime and the best action sequences.

Clearly taking its inspiration from the classic Chris Claremont/Frank Miller era of the character on the printed page, the film isn't beholden to every story beat and uses the source material to inspire mood and motivation rather than a strict blueprint. Taking Logan to Japan is - as it was originally - something of a masterstroke, making the character not just a rough and ready fighter but a Ronin, a modern masterless samurai with aspects of duty and honour. Equally, director James Mangold's creative decision to cast some top-notch Japanese actors and have subtitles in certain scenes (and, indeed, to have scenes withh no subtitles, where we need to concentrate more) should be applauded and pushes the idea of a stranger in a strange land as we make the journey into a totally different culture with our lead character.

The international casting is spot-on. Amid the return of Jackman (and a key, if ethereal role for Famke Janssen's Jean Grey) there are such distinguished names as Hiroyuki Sanada (as Shingen Yashida), Will Yun Lee (as Kenuichio Harada) and Brian Tee (as Noburo Mori).  The two female leads are also strong. Tao Okamoto brings both fragility and strength to the role of Mariko Yashida, whom Logan ends up protecting from assassination and Rila Fukushima as Yukio is a great 'sidekick' who holds her own. Both women are models with limited acting experience on the screen and yet they take to it like naturally and give full performances.

Yes, there's probably some truth to the fact that the film is ultimately a bit uneven, every so often punctuating its more laconic and moody Clint Eastwood-esque demeanour with speedy requisite set-pieces of the more traditional summer blockbusters, demanded by studio executives. But this is also a film that, for the most part, doesn't want to be saving the world or jumping tall buildings in a single bound, but prefers to keep the stakes more personal. Wolverine is a born brawler and a fighter, not a 'flashier' kind of mutant hero and so the action is very much hand-to-hand and claw-to-claw neccesitating sequences that - large or small - have to get in a little closer to proceedings to make them work, whatever the background or canvas at the time.  While this isn't Kirosawa level drama, it certainly feels as if the hand on the tiller  wanted to edge the commercial venture a little that way, with several lines and scenes echoing some classic moments of cinema without feeling like it's merely picking their cinematic pocket or standing on the shoulders of giants.

If there is still a strong R-rated Wolverine epic yet to be filmed, then this is at least a definite, demonstrable improvement on the previous chapter's more rudderless outing and one that should please long term comic fans who aren't there merely for the CGI smash and grab.  With Jackman matched with a director that 'gets' the character but who can work inside the studio system, the resulting film may have to navigate through formulaic, mainstream waters and may lack the sense of 'fun' that some recent superhero movies have offered, but its Gaijin heart is in the right place (and even on show at one point!).  In a year full of men of steel, men of iron and thunderous norse gods, The Wolverine stands toe-to-toe and claw-to-claw with most of the summer fare and it ultimately delivers a sharp, stylised and savvy samurai tale which should please the more discerning summer masses in search of some action entertainment. 

And, yes, DO stay for a mid-end-credits moment that sets the scene for some very interesting developments that we will be seeing played out when Bryan Singer returns to the franchise next year...

Watch out for the report of our sit-down with James Mangold,  this coming week...

The Wolverine, is unsheathed by Fox at cinemas across the country on 26th July.