Graphic novels used to be the exclusive property of the geeks and nerds among us – they most definitely weren’t for mainstream consumption. The recent explosion of massively popular movies based on Marvel characters has done much to drag the genre well into the mainstream and with The Wolverine, we have the latest installment of the breakout favorite of the X-Men. This article was created in In Association with Jet2.com.
So, what’s the hairy mutant with the suspicious sideburns up to this time? He’s hopping over to Tokyo to flex his reluctant superhero muscles and claws in Japan, that’s what. And that means Hugh Jackman is back in all his muscle bound glory to carry off the character of the tortured Logan.
It’s hard to fault Jackman’s performance, as usual, and much like Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man, it’s impossible to imagine anyone else playing The Wolverine. His very physical presence brings a hugely important visceral energy to the film – without Jackman it would be a pretty weak deal.
Wolverine is a brilliant character – he has it all, he’s dark, broody, mysterious, gorgeous, conflicted, noble, a hero, has amazing sideburns. But, it has to be said that without the rest of the X Men it remains tricky for the character alone to carry a film.
Only Jean Grey pops up in some rather weird dreams of Logan’s and other than her none of the others even bother to show. Which is a shame, because the X Men are always at their best when they’re together. Iron Man and Thor stand alone – they are too arrogant and confident to need other people – but Wolverine seems a bit lost and lonely without his gang of outcasts.
It’s also true that Iron Man and Thor have a load of stuff going on outside of their super powers – Stark is really, really rich and Thor is son of Odin – if you need a bit of a refresher, try the Thunderstruck 2 slots for loads of fun and Thor stuff. Wolverine, by contrast to this charismatic pair, just kind of mooches around until his next adventure.
This film takes place after the X Men trilogy (unlike the previous Wolverine vehicle, which was a prequel showing how Logan became the Wolverine) so there are lots of bits of Logan being sad because Jean is dead. Then he drinks a bit and then suddenly he’s in Japan fighting the Yakuza.
The whole reason he’s in Japan goes back to World War II when Logan saved a guy called Yashida from dying in the atomic bombing. Yashida is now old and dying so a random young woman shows up in the woods where Logan is being all angsty and asks him to come and see Yashida. Logan decides he’ll go for one day (quite far to go just for one day, but whatever) and then finds out that Yashida is dying and is after Logan’s wolfy powers. And then he has to fight lots of gangsters, and then it just all goes a bit odd.
The plot becomes more convoluted and far too complicated to follow. It turns out no one is really who they said they are. There are some ninjas and some romance. It’s all OK – it works as an average action flick but it’s basically not good enough for Jackman’s performance.
Somehow the writing and story just don’t allow Logan to be anything other than one dimensional, so it’s mostly him fighting, being surly and delivering cringe worthy one liners. Still, it’s worth a look if you love the X Men, Wolverine or even Jackman himself. Oh, and make sure you stay all the way through the credits… This article was created in In Association with Jet2.com.
Final Grade D