Wolverine could be the next James Bond. Think about it. James Bond comes out with a new movie every few years and everybody flocks to see it. Few of the movies have anything to do with one another, especially when they change the lead actor. They’re all usually just stand alone James Bond adventures. If The Wolverine is any indication, that could totally work for everyone’s favorite clawed Canadian. There are decades worth of Wolverine comics, and an endless number of original ideas just waiting to be put up on the silver screen. We could be watching Wolverine movies for decades to come. Just point Wolverine at the latest super-villain and let him SNIKT his way back into our hearts each and every time!

The Wolverine is an entertaining, solidly-made action hero movie that keeps the story focused on its hero, where it should be. The movie is solid proof that Wolverine can easily hold his own as a leading man and doesn’t need the rest of the X-Men or a wealth of comic book references to make a good flick. Though it’s hardly a perfect movie.

Movie Rating: 7/10 – Good.

The Wolverine isn’t anything special. There are no great, memorable moments or lines. My pulse and heart were never racing. I maybe chuckled a few times. It’s just a solid, well-made movie with a great leader actor. Hugh Jackman returns for his umpteenth time playing Wolverine, and he continues to own the character. For that I give him all the credit in the world. Here is a guy who absolutely knows that playing Wolverine made him a star, so he’s more than happy to stick with the character to keep the fans excited. And it’s probably a ton of fun to play Wolverine anyway. Jackman is the strongest part of the new film, which is mostly about the character’s journey from lost soul back to hero – or from ronin to samurai, if you will.

Joining Jackman is a pretty great cast of Asian actors, including two new actresses playing his sidekick, Yukio, who was a lot of fun, and his love interest, Mariko, who was fantastic. The rest of the cast is good, and while the plot could get a little confusing at times, it was altogether a quality story. I’m sure when we have time to look back in hindsight, the villain’s scheme probably has a few holes in it. But I was never really bothered while watching the movie. Nor was I ever very surprised. I saw the twist ending coming from a mile away. And the big battle in the finale seemed more gratuitous than reasonable, as if the director thought the film had to have a Final Boss Battle.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think a giant, evil, robot samurai really fit with the soul-searching, personal movie that came before it.

Join me after the jump for the full review. There will be some SPOILERS!

I didn’t expect to like The Wolverine as much as I did. The trailers weren’t very impressive, and I just don’t think whatever production team is behind the X-Men franchise is all that good anyway. Sure, X-Men: First Class was awesome, but X-Men: The Land Stand and, especially, X-Men Origins: Wolverine were both pretty lame. There was a time when I was convinced that Fox was simply going to pump out X-Men movies of inferior quality just to hold on to the license. Marvel is destroying cinemas with their franchises, and I felt that X-Men was done for. There’s no way they can compete. And while that’s still partially true, I’m happy to say that The Wolverine held its own.

Like Wolverine holding his own against an entire army of ninjas!

Following the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, where Wolverine had to kill the woman he loves, Jean Grey, he has left the X-Men and lives in the woods out in Canada somewhere. He doesn’t bathe, he doesn’t shave, and he’s haunted by visions of Jean. One day, Wolverine is found by Yukio, a pink-haired, sword-wielding ninja mutant babe who has the power to see when people die. She is working for Mr. Yashida, owner of one of the largest technology companies on the planet, and also someone Wolverine saved in WWII when the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Yashida is on his death bed, and he wants to say goodbye to Wolverine before he passes. When Wolverine arrives in Tokyo, however, Yashida reveals his secret agenda: he wants to take Wolverine’s healing factor for himself, making him immortal, and giving Wolverine the chance to finally die. Wolverine refuses and Yashida dies, and that’s when all the drama really begins. Yashida leaves his company and his entire fortune to his beautiful granddaughter Mariko, who is the target of both the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia, and other unseen forces. Wolverine becomes embroiled in life or death shenanigans in order to protect Mariko from everyone who is out to get her, because that’s just the kind of guy he is.

I won’t spoil any of the twists and big reveals, though if you’re like me, you’ll see them coming far in advance.

Unless you’re blinded by all of this

The main draw of the movie is Wolverine himself. Like I said, Hugh Jackman is once again fantastic in the role, combining the gruff tough guy with a few snarky one-liners. Nothing as great as “You’re a dick” from the first X-Men film, but still some quality lines and bits of comedy here and there. The action is also pretty cool, with Wolverine slicing and dicing his way through gangsters and ninjas. Again, nothing as spectacular or as exciting as when he tore through those soldiers in X2: X-Men United, but still it’s pretty cool. He gets into a lot of fights, and the choreography is always well done. Other characters also get fun fight scenes, so it’s not just Wolverine.

The real story is in Wolverine’s journey from depressed loner to true hero. He starts out at rock bottom, and with help from Yukio, Mariko and his own sense of justice, Wolverine overcomes his inner demons and re-emerges as a new man. It’s very well done, and the best story in the film. His final scene with the ghost of Jean Grey, where he finally puts her to rest, was well-earned. The story benefits from the fact that the bad guys take away Wolverine’s healing factor for most of the movie, so he’s always limping, bleeding and in need of serious medical attention. It serves to make him more vulnerable, which totally works for the story at hand.

So does the red-haired, stripe-wearing, sword-wielding ninja babe

I also really liked most of the supporting cast. Yukio, played by Rila Fukushima, is a ton of fun, but then I’ve always been a fan of sidekicks. She never overshadows Logan or the story, but is just there to give him a friend and someone to talk to, like any good sidekick. Mariko, played by fellow newcomer Tao Okamoto, is fantastic. She’s beautiful and strong. She’s never quite the damsel in distress, and her scenes with Wolverine are just plain good. I liked the two of them together.

The rest of the cast, especially the villains, aren’t that great. But they don’t need to be. The movie is about Wolverine, and they just need to be worthy of SNIKTing. There’s Mariko’s dad, who is pretty much just a grumpy Japanese businessman, who is also a super samurai (because everybody in Japan knows swords). There’s Viper, a mutant poison specialist who is very, very forgettable. And kind of silly. I mentioned earlier that Wolverine loses his healing ability, and that is Viper’s doing. So I thought she had developed some kind of poison that suppressed his mutant powers. That would seem to be the point of her character, right? Nope! Turns out this venomous mutant instead has some kind of tiny robot that she attached to Wolverine’s heart, and that’s how she took away his healing factor. Yeahbuwhat? Again, Viper is very unimpressive.

At least she’s better than movie Deadpool

There is also two different versions of Silver Samurai for some reason. The first is Harada, a normal man and ninja master, who has a ton of ninja friends. So he’s responsible for the cool Wolverine vs. an army of ninjas scene. Harada is good for a few cool action scenes, but he never amounts to much, and he never gets any scenes with Wolverine. They never officially team up or even really give each other that knowing nod of dual heroes. Harada is part bad guy and part good guy, and has an interesting enough subplot, but he never amounts to much.

The other Silver Samurai is a giant, metal, samurai robot, and it’s ridiculous. Most of the movie is this epic, soul-searching journey of discovery, then it ends with Wolverine fighting a silly-looking giant robot. The Samurai comes out of nowhere, and it definitely feels like the director thought he was required to include a big super-villain climactic battle. I didn’t particularly care for it. Not that I have any better how idea how to the end movie, but ‘giant robot battle’ was a poor choice. I suppose it was good enough. It did what it needed to do and ended the film.

Ho-hum

And props to the director for what he did to Wolverine’s claws. That had to have taken some guts.

The Wolverine is a good Wolverine solo film, sending him to a far off land to have a cool adventure. The villains are forgettable, but Wolverine himself is still a solid action hero, with more than his share of depth and complexity. Like I said in the beginning, I think this could be the first of a series of solo Wolverine films, sending him all around the world kicking butt, falling in love and slicing things.

Though a few words about the ending, if I may. And I will spoil the very end, so turn away now if you don’t want to be spoiled.

Why the heck didn’t Wolverine stay in Japan? He saved the day and got the girl, but in the end, he leaves Mariko and hops in a plane. Why? She loves him, he loves her, and she’s about to take over a billion-dollar company. Mariko is still the target of both her father and the Yakuza, so she probably needs protection. So why wouldn’t Wolverine stay awhile and enjoy life?

Instead, they have him getting on a plane, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to mention that he’s ready to rejoin the X-Men. I thought that’s what they were going to do…but nope! Wolverine gets on a plane with Yukio, and she tells him they can fly anywhere in the world. He could have said, “New York” or “Westchester” or even just looked at something with an ‘X’ on it, but nope! He just says, “Up.” He wastes the entire set-up. I mean, c’mon! We all know about the next X-Men movie. We all know what Wolverine is going to rejoin the X-Men. So why waste your ending like that? It was more than a little annoying.

Though now that I think about it, that may have been the point. There are a few seconds of Wolverine and Yukio just sitting there in awkward silence as the plane prepares to take off. Maybe the director was just taunting us.

While we’re on the subject of endings, The Wolverine has a rather cool mid-credits epilogue teasing X-Men: Days of Future Past. It was fun, but equally ridiculous. Wolverine was clearly walking in the direction of where Professor X was waiting for him at that airport. So why go to the trouble of having Magneto approach him first, shake all that metal, and get within claw-range? Why not just let Wolverine walk 10 more feet and just find Xavier waiting for him?

What the heck, surprise epilogue? Make more sense!

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