‘The Wolverine’ is 3/4 the thrilling character driven spinoff we wanted.
Rest assured, The Wolverine washes away most of the sour taste leftover from 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The Wolverine is not an origin story, nor is it similar to the usual X-Men fare. Under the consistently solid, if not stellar, direction of James Mangold (Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma, Knight & Day), The Wolverine manages to resurrect the energy of a character who was losing appeal due to over exposure and silly effects-laden films. The first three quarters of The Wolverine make up one of the most entertaining comic book adaptations to date. Pardon the expression, but The Wolverine is almost ‘Nolan-esque’. In more ways than one, the story is also filled with parallels to Greek mythology (much of the X-Men universe is), all the while maintaining a strong loyalty to the fan favorite title character. Unfortunately, all comes tumbling down in the final act.