THE WOLVERINE (review)

Review by Joe Yezukevich

Produced by Lauren Shuler Donner, Hugh Jackman, 

Good news True Believer: The Wolverine is not X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Director James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line) leads the  audience through a story that lends itself equally to examining the effects of war on a soldier as it does providing a hack and slash fest that fans of the 1982 Marvel Limited series are looking for.

There are certain snacks that comic fanboys will eat up – a fleshed out scene with a crazed grizzly comes to mind – but overall The Wolverine plays more like a slightly flawed Skyfall than the X-Men movies from which it has sprouted.

The story starts outside of Nagasaki moments before the bomb is dropped. Logan saves the life of a soldier who declares his unending gratitude to him  – a sentiment that serves to haunt Logan in the movie. Flash forward to the present. Logan is living in the Canadian wilderness when he meets Yukio, an agent for Japanese Billionaire Yashida, the Nagasaki soldier now on his death bed. They travel to Japan and Yashida presents Logan with a bargain, an opportunity to give up his immortality and live a life that allows him to have an actual death.

Here Logan also meets Mariko, Yashida’s granddaughter and heir to his throne.

Needless to say, a struggle for the Yashida empire ensues between Logan fighting for Mariko’s interests and the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia. These scenes are almost coated in gray as Logan discovers that something is sapping his healing ability. Not knowing how he will make it from one scene to the next with his life actually gooses the story.

Throughout the movie there are frequent rumination a on how the madness Wolverine has witnessed throughout his life have effected him. This is no heavy handed commentary on current events, but a direct connection to that metaphysical beauty that sucked me into X-Men comics in the 80s. These war stories have played out since the dawn of time, through Nagasaki, through our current conflicts, and sadly, they will not end.

The soulful suffering that accompanies acts of bravery is as never ending as the idea of the soul itself. (I guess I’ll be the heavy handed one)

Through this, Logan falls in love with Mariko, wins her fortune for her and is forever reminded of the fleeting humanity around his seemingly indestructible self. He also fights tons of ninjas, who slide into scenes like shadows. It’s a beautiful display and one that harkens back to Frank Miller’s artwork from the limited series.

Are there faults?

Sure. Yashida is a bit uneven and underdeveloped. An appearance by the Silver Samurai will be disappointing to any fan of the comic book villain and maybe just confusing to a non-comic reading viewer.

However, the movie does what the X-Men have always done: cut right to the core of what it means to be human in a not so humane world.