Movie Review : The Wolverine

'The Wolverine' is essentially a story of a man filled with self-reproach over the death of a loved one, and how he comes to terms with it and ultimately finds redemption and lets go of his guilt. The muscular Huge Jackman (not a typo) reprises his role as the rebellious, gruff and damaged X-men who must now take up the role of a hero and save the future 'most-powerful-person-in-Japan', Mariko Yashida, from her own family while facing great challenges most of which are of a personal nature.

The movie begins with a scene depicting the World War II Nagasaki bombings. It is really brutal scene filled with hopelessness. A nuke is being dropped onto what looks like a village, everyone is running for their lives and some soldiers are stabbing themselves with swords to avoid getting vaporized by the nuke. Logan says,"You can't run from what's coming.". But the overall movie does not share the dark tone of the beginning scene.

A Complicated Plan

Amidst all the despair, you have our protagonist who saves the life of a young Japanese soldier who would become obsessed with Logan's healing ability and then would wait till he is on his death bed to concoct a complicated plan to eventually transfer Logan's healing ability to himself by drilling holes exactly through where Wolverine's claws were(after he had cut them off using an Adamantium Sword which he used while inside an Adamantium humanoid-mecha made to look like a Samurai). Also, in order for this to be successful he must devise another complicated plan involving his granddaughter. An attempt to kidnap her would be made and Logan would instinctively protect her and both of them would escape and then develop feelings for each other. Then the grandfather would actually kidnap her and hope the Wolverine would come and rescue her so that he can extract his bone marrow or whatever by drilling holes precisely where his claws had been after he had cut them off using an Adamantium Sword which he used while inside a an Adamantium humanoid-mecha made to look like a Samurai. Also , he will have to fake his death to get inside the Adamantium humanoid-mecha made to look like a Samurai.

All of this would work assuming that the Wolverine would come to Japan with the Red-haired precognitive-mutant Yukio in the first place.

Weaknesses

Well, what I am trying to say, if I am saying anything at all (other than trying to bore you so that you stop reading and find something interesting to do), is that the weakest aspects of the movie were the plot and the character motivations. After the bear incident, Wolverine trusts the Red-haired girl just because she did some cool moves with her sword. Also, he has no reason to go to Japan other than to "say goodbye to an old friend" whom he does not remember. I have already talked about how complicated old man Yashida's plan is. But don't worry, you won't feel the weakness of the plot only until the end. While watching the movie the plot unfolds smoothly, it is only later on when you think about it that you see how complicated the old man's plan was.

The other villian, the Viper woman, has no backstory and there is no explanation as to why she is helping the old man. The ninja who tries to protect Mariko in the beginning also has no backstory or motivations other than he was sworn to protect her family. Weak character motivations.

The Strength

Huge (again, not a typo) Jackman carries the whole movie forward. His depiction of the brooding Wolverine who has nightmares, as he blames himself for Jean Grey's death, is quite believable as is his depiction of being reduced to a vulnerable and limping state after losing his healing ability. I felt his character motivations were not as lacking as the rest. His motivations for doing what he does in the movie are shown to be his way of trying to redeem himself of the guilt by protecting the Yashida girl. The red-haired girl tells him that he is a soldier and hence cannot tolerate injustice. This was also established in the bear incident.

Consistent Humour

Jean Grey keeps popping up throughout the movie to remind him, and the audience, of what had happened at the end of 'The Last Stand'. When Wolverine is part of a team, like in the X-men, he is usually the rebellious outcast who would always have some wisecrack to drop especially when Cyclops is the leader. In this movie he is alone and has to take on the role of a leader. He still has some wisecracks to make and humour is consistently present throughout the movie.

Good Action Scenes

The action scenes in this movie were not excessive, contrary to what one would expect from a Summer Action movie. There are some nice chase and hand-to-hand combat scenes with the Wolverine is using  actual claws rather than CGI ones (which were used excessively in 'X-Men Origins : Wolverine'). Also, there are many visually impressive shots throughout the movie. Among many is the scene where Logan stands with a sword through his torso after having killed Mariko's father. There is a sword metaphor with the sword symbolizing power. He pulls it out symbolizing that he had regained his ability to heal and has found his strength within himself. Another shot that was really great was when all the ninjas on the rooftops in the village during the final act have shot arrows with ropes (ninja harpoons?) at him to stop him and he is struggling to walk and eventually gives up and is captured. According to the Internet, that scene is a tribute to a 1957 Japanese movie 'Throne of Blood'.

Throne of Blood (1957)

The movie tries to humanize the Wolverine by making him actually vulnerable. The emotional core of the movie is his journey to find redemption after the events of 'The Last Stand'. There was nothing particularly remarkable in the different way the character has been portrayed but kudos to Marvel for trying something new with the character.

Rating : 8.5/10