The Wolverine – He’s baaack!!!

The Wolverine came out today, and of course I went to see it in 3D.

Wolverine has always been one of my favourite Comic book heroes, from the days of the X-Men cartoon of the early 90’s to the movie series of the noughties.  He was always a bit of an anti-hero, but that just made him more likeable, he usually has the best one liners, and probably some of the coolest powers – who wouldn’t love almost instant healing, near immortality and bone claws coated in an unbreakable metal???

Hugh Jackman has played the character in all of his live-action outings, and I think it is because of Jackman’s portrayal of the character and dedication is the reason he was 1 of the main characters in X-Men, X-2, X-Men: The Last Stand, and was even given 2 standalone movies.  He is also the only character to appear in every X-Men movie (you could also count Professor X at the end of Origins), with his hilarious cameo in X-Men: First Class.

Hugh Jackman actually guest starred on ‘Top Gear’ as the Star in a reasonably priced car, to promote ‘The Wolverine’ last Sunday, you can watch it here.

Here’s the trailer for ‘The Wolverine’

WARNING: Spoilers beyond this point!!!

‘The Wolverine’ takes place after ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ However, the movie itself opens to Nagasaki, 1945.  Wolverine is a P.O.W. in a prison camp.  Soon after, they notice an american bomber, a soldier tries to free all of the prisoners, so they can escape.  He tries to get wolverine out of his well prison, but Wolverine throws him down the hole and shields him from the blast.

Logan wakes up, lying next to Jean, only to wake up in the real world, lying beneath an outcropping of rock looking like a caveman, somewhere in Yukon, Canada.  Logan heads to town for batteries and probably whiskey, where he meets some hunters.  That night he is woken up to screams and gunshots.  He follows a trail from a campsite to a wounded bear, and puts it out of his misery. Logan follows the Hunters scent and confronts him about his poisoned barbed arrows, and stabs him with one.  This is where we meet Yukio (Rila Fukushima), who intervenes with a samurai sword.  She tells Logan that her employer (the man he saved in Nagasaki) has sent her to bring Logan to Tokyo, so he can say goodbye.

After an amusing clean up scene with 2 old Japanese ladies, the Logan we know and love is brought in front of Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi).  Yashida tells Logan that he can pass his immortality to another so he can grow old and eventually die, so Yashida can live longer to look after his company. That night, after refusing Yashidas offer, Logan is attacked/seduced by Viper/Dr. Greene (Svetlana Khodchenkova, but i’m pretty sure dubbed over by Dawn Olivieri) and sprays a poison into his mouth.  The next day, Yashida has passed away, and Shingen Yashidas son (Hiroyuki Sanada) argues with Yashidas Granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto).  Later, at Yashida’s funeral, Mariko is attacked by the Yakuza, who were disguised as Buddhist priests.  Wolverine fights them and is able to make it out of there with Mariko at his side.  During the fight Logan is shot, but something is wrong.

They make it to a Bullet Train, and Logan has a chance to check his wounds, that aren’t healing. Then, he is attacked by more Yakuza, which leads to a great fight scene on top of the speeding train.  They get off at the next stop, and decide to stay in a hotel in a seedy part of town.  Logan collapses from blood loss, and Mariko gets him assistance from a Verterinary student. They head to the family’s cabin in the south, in the same village as where Wolverine was held as a P.O.W.

Logan and Mariko spend a few days together and start to get very close. Logan is happy with his new immortality and eventually Logan and Mariko sleep together.

The next day Mariko is captured by thugs in suits, Logan tries to get to them, he grabs one, but they get away in their car.  He tortures the one guy left, and finds out that Noburo (Brian Tee) Mariko’s fiance and her father had planned to have her killed so Shingen can control the Yashida Technologies instead of Mariko.

Logan gets back to Yashidas villa, but everyone is dead or gone (almost). Logan uses the diagnostic bed to scan himself, and finds out a little metal bug has attached itself to his heart – the reason he isn’t healing, and decides to cut it out for himself.  During this Shingen attacks them and Yukio keeps him at bay, Logan takes the bug out, and dies for a few seconds, before coming back as his old self and fighting Shingen to the death.

Logan finds out that Mariko was taken to a facility in Yashidas birth village.  He gets there and is attacked by a few dozen ninjas, who are able to take him down rope and poison arrows.  he awakes in the facility strapped in a chair, next to a giant silver robot Samurai.  They want to cut off his claws.  Mariko steps in the way, and Logan gets free.  He fights with the ‘Silver Samurai‘ Logan gets his right claws chopped off by a heated adamantium blade, he then takes one of the swords and manages to cut the head off the robot.

Unfortunately, it is only a mech and it manages to cut off Logan’s remaining claws.  The Samurai reveals itself as Yashida, who faked his death so he could forcefully take Logan’s healing factor, which he begins to do, by burrowing drills into the marrow of Logan’s claws. Mariko throws one of the claws into Yashida’s head and Logan is able to defeat him, this adventure finished.

Logan then reluctantly leaves Japan, as he says, he is a soldier and he has something to fight for. Yukio stays with him as his bodyguard.

Then after they land we get a little bonus, watch for yourself (audio with pics)

I really enjoyed this movie, I have always loved the character of Wolverine, and this movie has lived up to all of my expectations.  The story leads on perfectly from ‘The Last Stand’ and shows us a side that was rarely seen before in the series, the sensitive side.  He was destroyed by having to kill Jean and has exiled himself. The fight scenes were really well done and very enjoyable to watch, especially aboard the bullet train.  To keep it from getting too dark and monotonous there are some nice humorous moments spread throughout, like the Vet student scared for his life of a clawed sedated Logan. The movie uses the loss of his powers really well for Logan to realise that he has a purpose, with or without healing, and makes him appreciate it more.  I am really disappointed that he has lost his adamantium claws and hope he gets them back in the next movie – bone claws kind of suck.

All in all a really good enjoyable movie, that will entertain you and let you forget about the world outside the cinemas walls.  A great cast, from the minor to major characters, I especially loved the Japanese actors, but I have a thing for Japan ;-). My only problem was with the Viper character, as her dialogue was very clearly re-dubbed with an american actress, noticeable and kind of annoying.

Go see this movie, a near perfect addition to the X-Men and wider Marvel franchises – BRING ON A CROSSOVER 😀

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