New Release Review: 'The Wolverine'

Huh. The Wolverine actually seemed... Okay. Yet I'm pretty sure it wasn't. I have three working theories to explain that:

1) It actually was okay, and I should just get over the shock.
2) Every blockbuster this summer has been so stunningly mediocre that The Wolverine is doing little more than failing upwards.
3) It's a sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and everything, ever, looks good compared to that film.

Hugh Jackman was great, the action scenes were actually properly thrilling (a surprise considering how monotonous the action was in James Mangold's last film Knight & Day), the love interest didn't feel forced,  and the action was great. (Yes, it's worth repeating.) I'm inclined to go with theory one; except there's the whole everything-else-about-the-film. The plot, which sees Wolverine travelling to Japan to say goodbye to an old acquaintance only to find himself caught up in a feud between the government, the Yakuza, and the family of said acquaintance, doesn't make any sense. At all. The various peculiar allegiances can (almost) be explained away, but nothing else stands up to scrutiny. The chief villain's maneuvering only makes sense in the world of The Middleman, a little seen show that was cancelled before its time, in which villains concocted the most insane and convoluted plans they could, then explained them away as being perfectly logical despite all evidence to the contrary. In that world the plot makes sense. In the one we're presented it's just nonsensical.

Unfortunately the film's problems don't end there: there's a comic book villain (a flunky to the main Big Bad) so over the top comic villain-y that I can't think of a single comic writer who'd deign to use her; there's the middle-of-the-road cinematography that utterly wastes Japan as a location; and there's the slight problem of the complete lack of characterisation of anyone who isn't played by Jackman. Which is a longwinded way of saying I'm probably leaning towards theories two and three.

The Wolverine is (mostly) serviceable. It's just that it's really close to being better than that. Well... Two or three rewrites away, perhaps.

Overall: 6/10

Or

First 70mins: 7.5/10
Last 50mins: 5/10