The appeal of the character of James “Wolverine” Logan (nee Howlett, invented in 1974) has always been his loner renegade aspects. Wolverine is the comic book version of, say, Dirty Harry or Paul Kersey. He is a lone wolf (er, wolverine), quick to fight, and equipped with switchblade knuckles. Teenagers can easily pick up on and perhaps relate to the dark solitude of the character.
Wolverine, like most superheroes, is hugely capable, seemingly immortal, nearly invincible (his skeleton is make of unbreakable metal, and he can heal rapidly), yet brooding, wounded, and protective. In many ways, he’s like the wilderness-bound version of Batman, only with actual superpowers. Haunted by a past he either cannot or doesn’t want to remember, forced into doing good, living on the outskirts of society (his powers are a point of prejudice in his world). He was invented in the 1970s, and his character is very much of 1970s cinema. Broody, tough, vengeful. That he has to constantly interact with a plethora of X-Men only makes his character more complex.
Odd, then, that the two feature films made to date exclusively about Wolverine (including the oft-maligned-but-actually-adequate X-Men Origins: Wolverine from 2009, and now this film) should feel so much like they were made in the wham-bang action mold of the 1980s. To elucidate: The hero may be tough and cool and fun to look at, but the villains are cartoonish, their motivations only vaguely evil, and the climax – perhaps by comic book necessity – must take place in a giant cylindrical techno-lab with our hero fighting a giant Iron-Man-like battlebot, while his psychic sidekick is three levels up fighting a poison-spitting Russian model wearing skin-tight green vinyl pants.
The Wolverine, directed by James Mangold, is a mildly bonkers affair that occasionally reaches for a gritty yakuza drama, but clearly aches in every scene to collapse into a gleeful, giddy pile of ninjas, psychics, snake women, and multiple stabbings. This is a film that is gritty and melodramatic half the time, and wonderfully cheesy half the time. The gritty parts, you’ll just have to wade through. The cheesy part, though, will leave you clapping your little hands.
The strategy of the five previous X-Men films (yes, The Wolverine functions as X-Men 6 in all regards but the title) has been to stuff the frame with dozens of variously powered characters who all do creative battle with their seemingly random gifts. Even the previous Wolverine film (which functioned as X-Men 4), supposedly about one character, still featured an entire team of mutant superbeings. The Wolverine is the first film in this franchise to scale back on the character glut, and focus more on a small group of people who are all personally connected with our central hero. This approach is perhaps the film’s second greatest strength, as it gives us an opportunity to focus on the dramatic plight of a single stoic hero, rather than having to split our attention between seven or eight of them.
Its greatest strength is, as in all of the previous X-Men films, Hugh Jackman himself in the central role. Jackman plays Wolverine like an affable tough. A man who is pained, but not broody. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that Jackman’s manly and healthy physique can serve as the envy of every male in the audience. Despite all of the film’s CGI, Jackman’s body is the best and most impressive special effect.
The Wolverine takes place in largely Japan in the future, sometime shortly after the events of X-Men 3 (2006). Logan (Jackman) has been summoned by a Japanese frenemy named Yoshida (Hiroyuki Sanada) who is dying of cancer, and was once saved from the bombing of Nagasaki by Logan. Yoshida wants to somehow siphon Logan’s healing powers into himself and save his own life. Logan may or may not have had dreams of dying of old age, which might work.
Yoshida has a very pretty, but perfectly bland granddaughter (Ralph Lauren model Tao Okamoto) that Logan will fall in love with for some reason (and is the film really going for the offensive “gentle Japanese flower” angle that was exploded in M Butterfly?), and a half-snake, poison-spitting henchwoman named Viper (Svetlana Khodchekova) who is dubbed over by a different actress, and who is easily the best thing in the movie. Logan also finds that his healing superpowers have somehow been turned off early in the film (although to what end we never learn), so when he gets shot, it actually aches for days rather than just a few moments.
The Wolverine most certainly doesn’t pass the refrigerator test, and if you start thinking about the villain’s ultimate scheme, your head will begin to hurt. But, like the previous Wolverine film, The Wolverine is possessed of a playful comic book sensibility, an embracing of its more silly aspects, that you’ll find you can’t help but enjoy. There is a long lull halfway through the movie wherein the plot forces Logan to romance the dull Okamoto, but then she is kidnapped, ninja stars are swarming the screen, and the silly factor kicks into high gear. I appreciate a film that is this slick and fun, and yet this weird and goofy. It’s the kind of balance that many comic book movies shoot for, but too often tip into the “too broody” (Man of Steel) or “too silly” (X-Men 3) territory.
There is, natch, a post-credit stinger that is intended to tie this film into X-Men 7, which is already in production. That film promises, once again, to be a swarm of characters. If the busyness has turned you off in the past, then stop by The Wolverine for a second and appreciate its relatively small scope.
Witney Seibold is a featured contributor on the CraveOnline Film Channel, co-host of The B-Movies Podcast and co-star of The Trailer Hitch. You can read his weekly articles B-Movies Extended, Free Film School and The Series Project, and follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind. If you want to buy him a gift (and I know you do), you can visit his Amazon Wish List.
