The Wolverine review

X-Men fans can breathe a sigh of relief right now – The Wolverine is much better than the previous movie that focused primarily on the blade-handed guy with the bouffant hairdo, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. While that one had numerous bad guys and mutants around to detract from our super-strong super-healing hero, this one focuses on the man/mutant otherwise known as Logan, giving star Hugh Jackman some actual plot and action to really sink his claws into.

Starting off with a bit of back story that puts Logan/Wolverine in a WWII Japanese prison pit just as Nagasaki is blown to pieces, we see he was a nice guy even then, saving one of his guards from the fatal blast. Fast forward to the present day and he’s a loner brooding over the death of his love Jean Grey (Janssen) until sparky Yukio (Fukushima) tracks him down and convinces him to come with her to Japan to say goodbye to the dying man he saved all those years before.

With the rest of the movie’s action taking place in Japan as Logan becomes embroiled with the yakuza and various other bad guys who want to kidnap his old friend’s beautiful daughter (Okamoto), this looks unlike every other X-Men movie that has gone before, and the location is a breath of fresh air, especially during a stunning chase above a high speed train. Some plot points could have been expanded on – Logan loses his healing powers and strength, but aside from finding it tougher to fight bad guys, it’s not explored too deeply – and one of the movie’s bad guys, the snake-like Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova) is about as sexy/scary/convincing as a caterpillar, but in the main this is an action-packed, fight-filled adventure that, while not perfect, certainly has more heart and fun than some other 2013 blockbusters (Pacific Rim, we mean you).