SYNOPSIS: Based on the celebrated comic book arc, THE WOLVERINE finds Logan, the eternal warrior and outsider, in Japan. There, samurai steel will clash with adamantium claw as Logan confronts a mysterious figure from his past in an epic battle that will leave him forever changed.

REVIEW:  

Logan: A lot of people have tried to kill me... and I'm still here. 

And in so many different ways too, no wonder the biggest star of the X-Men cinematic world has been Wolverine, and he is still here and he can still put on a great show. Ironically, with the exception of Origins, every X-Men has had a focus on someone else more than him. The first one was more about Rogue, the second Xavier, and the third Jean Grey. Granted he is a very close second in each. Well heck, even Origins is focused heavily on Victor. This one is truly and almost completely about him. If you are a fan of X-Men, you know you are going to see it. If you are a newcomer to the series, or you haven’t seen at least X1 through X3 you might be a little confused. But first, let me mention that the biggest question I had going in was where does this film fit in regards to the other films. I purposely didn’t want to find out until I saw it so as to be surprised and I pleasantly was. This story takes place as a sequel to X3 which I thought was fantastic. I was looking forward to the saga continuing after having seen the timeline jump around in Origins and First Class. So being a sequel, I do recommend that having seen X1 through 3 will make this one more enjoyable. In this installment we get a pretty good story, very good action of course, and a little bit of good drama. It is fun and sexy, with touches of humor at just the right moments. As you well may have noticed in the previews and commercials, the story is wrapped around Japan and Japanese characters. I mention this because the accent that some members of the cast have were a tad difficult to understand at times so you gotta stay on your toes with open ears. The cinematography in Japan, though, was spectacular. It spanned from big city Tokyo to the breathtaking countryside. Even the scenes before getting to Japan were nice too. But great cinematography does not automatically generate great visual effects. There was some CGI that looked cheap which was a little shocking and a bit of a turn off. Luckily it was only for certain situations, so for the most part the effects were spot on.

There is so much I would love to tell you about the storyline and characters but I really don’t want to give anything more away. But there is one more thing I will warn you about. I read a comment somewhere online before going to the screening which helped prepare me and I’m grateful for that. There are very few mutants depicted in this movie. Easily the least of any X-Men feature, so don’t go in with high expectations in regards to mutants. It is one of the characteristics I enjoy the most about these films and yet even though it didn’t have many, the movie was still very good. Overall the cast did a good job with performances. There are some new faces and some recognizable ones. And then there’s Hugh doing his thing, a role he was born to do. What a vast array of genres the Director of this film has successfully done. James Mangold has given us Cop Land, Girl Interrupted, Kate & Leopold, Identity, Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma, and Knight and Day to name a few. Some of these are Oscar nominated or winner, and you can see the variety. So adding a well done superhero flick to his collection should be no surprise. I will close with a heads up for a mid ending credit scene. I love end credit scenes. They are like having a little chocolate mint after a scrumptious dinner at a fancy restaurant as you depart. Probably my all time favorite one is at the end of Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest. Oh yeah, and that one at the end of The Incredible Hulk. Good stuff! Well, let me tell you that this one rivals those for the top spot.

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