The Wolverine

Rating: 4.5 Shurikens

Hugh Jackman returns, again, as Logan, the mutant X-Man also known as Wolverine. Jackman first appeared as Wolverine in the first The X-Men, then in the sequels, X-2 and X-Men: The Last Stand, and then in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He also did a brief cameo scene in X-Men: First Class. I am wondering if the same actor has ever appeared as the same character in more movies than Hugh Jackman. I count six, so far, with another one a fair certainty in a couple of years. James Bond has been in more movies, but so many different actors, and Christopher Reeve came pretty close as Superman. But I digress...

The Wolverine seems to be in the continuity of the first 3 X-Men films, with Famke Janssen reprising the role of Jean Grey, who was Marvel Girl, Phoenix and Dark Phoenix in various X-Men comic book series dating back to the early 1960's. In this movie, she is the same Jean Grey that died at the end of X-Men 3. Her interaction with Logan is a dream, and it is hard to tell whether she exists in another realm, trying to seduce Logan into joining her, or whether she is actually a dream construct of Logan's own mind. I lean towards the comic-bookish explanation that she is somehow disembodied, but not really dead. It seems that people hardly ever die in comic books.

The movie begins with Wolverine in a Japanese POW camp, very close to Nagasaki, and just as the atomic bomb is being dropped. A Japanese soldier is releasing prisoners as a couple of B-29's is flying in, seemingly for an air raid. Logan acts as if he knows it is the A-Bomb coming. I don't get how he would expect that, being locked up in a hole in the ground in Japan, and given that all of the activity surrounding atomic weapons at the time was highly classified. The Japanese Soldier frees Logan from his prison, and Logan pulls the soldier into the hole, so they can wait out the destruction. The soldier's name, we learn, is Yashida, who is played by Ken Yamamura.

Much later, we see a troubled Logan in modern times, and having dream conversations with Jean Grey. He is living in the forest in the Yukon, and drinking a lot of whiskey. When he goes to town for supplies, he is picked up by a Japanese girl named Yukio, who was sent to bring him back to Japan. Yukio is played by Rila Fukushima, a relative newcomer to the acting scene. She plays a very good action heroine, with skills as well as poise. Yukio is a mutant with precognitive abilities who was rescued as a child from orphanhood and raised as a companion for Yashida's granddaughter, Mariko,  played by Tao Okamoto.

A very-much-older Yashida is dying, and has sent for Logan because, ostensibly, he wants to thank Logan, and to say goodbye. Yashida offers Logan a cure for his regenerative power that keeps him alive. We learned in X-Men Origins: Wolverine that Logan was born before the civil war, and that he has a mutant ability to regenerate damaged tissues almost instantly upon injury. This makes him really good in a fight, because if he gets cut or stabbed, he heals right up as good as new and keeps on fighting. This also keeps him young and makes him immortal in a sense. Yashida realizes that Wolverine is immortal, and offers him the gift of transferring his mutant abilities to someone else, so that he can live out a normal ordinary life and die of old age.

Yashida has grown quite rich over the years, building a huge industrial corporation. He has hired a blond woman doctor as his oncologist. There is something malevolent about her, and it turns out very soon that she is also a mutant, called the Viper. Played by Svetlana Khodchenkova, the Viper has a snakelike tongue, and can exhale poison gas and caustic venom, as well as being immune to all poisons herself. Viper is based on a villain from the comic books, with quite some artistic license invoked. Svetlana Khodchenkova is an accomplished actress, but new to American films. Ultimately, something happens to Logan, which actually causes him to lose his regenerative abilities, and which the Viper is involved in. The story unfolds with Logan being beat up and shot but unable to heal.

Yashida has a son, Shingen, played by Hiroyuki Sanada, who is the father of Mariko.  Sanada played in Speed Racer, among other roles. There is some tension between Shingen and his daughter Mariko, and when Yashida dies, he leaves his estate to her, which makes Shingen really mad. This is somewhat of a subplot that develops later. Yashida, being from a well-positioned family, has a follower that watches over Mariko after his death. His name is Harida, played by Will Yun Lee, who was in the movies Elektra and the 2012 remake of Total Recall. Harida is a Samurai and a Ninja, with great bow and arrow skills. When Mariko runs from the Japanese mafia after her father's funeral, Logan goes with her to protect her, and Harida follows. We learn that there is some history between Mariko and Harida.

The movie is filled with action and lasts well over 2 full hours.The plot is very involved, with lots of twists and turns, and remains exciting from beginning to end.  some of the fight scenes are filmed way up close, so that you only see a part of the movements, and this detracts from the quality of the action scenes. For example, you see the sweep kick, and the villain falls down, but you don't see anybody's legs. Otherwise, the film is engrossing and the action is pretty intense. Plus, there are lots of minions between the Yakuza, the Ninjas and Yashida's own securty guards, so the body count is pretty high. There are places where it is obvious that people are dying, but they keep it from being too gory. This is also a function of close camera views which leave parts of the action outside of the screen area.

I highly recommend this movie to everyone who likes action, even if you are not a comic book fan. Other than the closeness of the cameras to the action, the story is enjoyable, and the characters are realistic. I give it 4.5 Shurikens for action and intensity. Go see it, and soon!