Countdown to Logan: The Wolverine (2013)

Post date: Feb 27, 2017 2:29:49 PM

By: Robby Timmler, Staff Writer

The Wolverine was a movie adaptation of the 1982 comic series “Wolverine” by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller. The Wolverine is about Logan/Wolverine dealing with the loss of fellow X-Men Jean Grey (played by Famke Janssen) whom he had a crush on, but had to kill because she lost control of her powers as seen in X-Men: the Last Stand (2003). Following the tragedy, Logan left the X-Men and lived in the woods when he is later picked up by Yukio (played by Rila Fukushima) a deadly assassin for the Yashida Clan. Yukio takes Logan to see Yashida (played by Hal Yamanouchi) who Logan saved back in WWII when Nokia Socy was bombed. Yashida is now dying, and as his dying wish, he wants Logan to give him his healing ability so that he can live longer and Logan can live a normal life, but Logan doesn’t feel okay with that. Later at night Logan is visited by Yashida’s nurse, Viper (played by Svetlana Khodchenkova) a mutant that has the power to poison people through her fingernails or lips, kisses Logan. That night Yashida dies and the next day at the funeral, Logan senses something is wrong and is proven correct when Mariko (played by Tao Okamoto) is kidnapped, but saved by Logan. When the fight is over, Logan sees that his bullet wounds haven’t healed at all like he was able to do before. So Logan has to figure out how to get his power back and keep Mariko alive.

The Wolverine is a mildly entertaining flick. The story is interesting with Logan, a character known for his invincibility, loses that invincibility and has to learn how to live without it. The action is very exciting and adds a new layer with having Logan not be able to heal, so he has to use a new technique to protect himself. The film dives more into Logan’s pain after killing Jean through the hallucinations that he has of her and how she has become part of him. The Japanese setting is very nice looking and adds to the style of the film. The thing that makes The Wolverine only mildly entertaining is that while the heroes are very developed characters, the villains are one dimensional or have no development at all. The Wolverine gets 6/10 stars.