Review-The Wolverine

After the events of X-Men:The Last Stand (X-Men 3), in which our titular hero had to make a hard decision. Logan AKA Wolverine  is a shadow of his former self, he has abandoned his X-Men teammates and lives a solitary life in the wilderness. He is brought out of his hiding by Yukio, who works for Yashida, a man whose life was once saved by Logan during World War II. Arriving in Tokyo, Logan comes to see his friend, who wanted to thank him for saving his life and in return, grant him the wish to become mortal.

Let me start of, by writing that the last movie based around the character , X-Men Origins: Wolverine was very bad. It was a cheesy and forgettable action flick that replaced Steven Seagal with Hugh Jackman, therefore I was not thrilled when this movie was announced. I can safely say now, that my fears for this film did not come true, as this new entry in the X-Men franchise is surprisingly good!

Right from the beginning, director James Mangold and his writers establish it as a Wolverine film, by this I mean truly putting him in the forefront and surrounding him with mostly human rather than mutant induviduals.
The story and the script are tailored to be a character study of Logan, giving room for some great character development of not just the main actor, but also the supporting cast with it best used on Mariko, the love interest and Yukio, probably the closest to a sidekick Logan has in the picture. What I also love is that through the entirety of the running time, the hero is always in physical danger, as well as going through psychological torment with the usage of crafty dream sequences. The action scenes are well done, nicely paced and exciting and shaky cam is nicely used to raise the tension and does not ruin them in the process.

Hugh Jackman gives his finest performance as Wolverine, proving that he is not ready to give up the character yet, because of everything that he goes through, Jackman is able to give an extra dimension and humanizing him to the fullest extent. Don't worry, Jackman is also in animal mode, slashing through villains like paper. Rila Fukushima and Tao Okamoto are solid as Yukio and Mariko, respectively, making them more than just two-dimensional puppets for the plot. The rest of the cast is serviceable.

The problems of the film start at the end, when the third act begins, where it decides to leave the character-driven arc to instead end it as a superhero vs super villain fight and tying up all the loose ends the fastest way possible. It creates this jarring tone and tests our suspension of disbelief. The second major issue is that the villainous Viper, played by Svetlana Khodenchenkova is heavily underwritten and feels unnecessary.

While not the best way to make a Wolverine movie, it is a solid fun movie and a nice return to form for the character 

7/10