Six times in the past thirteen years, Hugh Jackman has snikt’d his way into theaters as
Wolverine, and now that he’s finally starred in an adaptation of a much-loved
plotline from the comics – Logan goes to Japan – I feel even better about
naming Jackman’s performance(s) as the #4 Comic Book Movie Moment. The
Wolverine is a film that takes a written-in-the-stars casting choice,
throws it in a bold new direction, and still manages to appease Joe Popcorn.
After the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, Logan (Jackman) has gone into self-imposed exile, retiring his Wolverine identity out of fear and denial at the prospect of killing another loved one; as it is, he’s haunted by visions of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), whom he killed to save the world. But after the deadly clairvoyant Yukio (Rila Fukushima) tracks him down so that her employer Yashida can thank Logan for saving him at Nagasaki, Wolverine finds himself without his healing powers as he protects Yashida’s granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto) from the assassins working for Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova).
Most of the positive reviews for this film have already noted the compelling emphasis on character exploration over plot-driven mutant hijinks, so I’ll just add myself to that chorus and say that The Wolverine does well to stand on its star’s strapping shoulders. Jackman handles Logan’s grief well, maintaining throughout some of the quintessential Wolverine characteristics (his berserker rage and his hunter’s humor, mostly). Indeed, it’s to Jackman’s credit that the film can oscillate between moments of despair and the high-octane X-action we expect from the X-Men franchise.
It’s worth noting that Fukushima and Okamoto are both newcomers to the acting game, though both perform quite well – especially Fukushima who, despite a few unconvincing line readings, manages to hold her own opposite powerhouse Jackman and in the film’s more demanding action sequences. The only piece that never quite fits is Khodchenkova’s Viper, whose theatrical villainy feels more at home in The Last Stand than The Wolverine; while she doesn’t do anything wrong per se, she’d be more appropriate in a Technicolor comic book film, and I would have appreciated a subtler villain in her place here.
Director James Mangold, of 3:10 to Yuma fame, earns some of the credit for the film’s success with his engaging cinematographic treatments of Japan, shots that would look beautiful in any context without pandering to preconceptions of what stereotypical Japan “ought to” look like. Mangold creates an appealing topography, from bullet trains and “love hotels” to funeral pagodas and corporate bases. Mangold keeps a methodical pace through the film, keeping the plot progressing forward while stepping through character moments like a Noh play – slowly but precisely.
Simultaneously, Mangold knows when to let The Wolverine off the leash and treat audiences to the action sequences without which this wouldn’t feel like a superhero movie. The fight atop the bullet train recalls Spider-Man 2 by way of The Matrix, and the film’s third act – which some have critiqued as being inappropriately blockbuster in such a nuanced character-driven piece – manages to weave the family drama plot elements into the ongoing mutant tapestry quite well.
Be sure to stay through the credits for another nod to that aforementioned tapestry – with a few cameos that are too swell to spoil – but even taken as a standalone entity and not as an installment in an ongoing franchise, The Wolverine is a solid alternative superhero piece that places more emphasis on protagonist than on punching. It’s almost Superman Returns done right, a more thoughtful take on the superhero’s place in the world without relying on the Donner formula of escalating super-feats. It’s my hope that films The Wolverine become more frequent rather than novelty items in the genre – just as long as he gets to snikt his way out of a snafu or two.
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