The Wolverine

Man, Wolverine is so cool. He has like claws and regeneration and mutton chops. What I would do for a pair of those. This Japanese-set, Australian-filmed action movie is unlike any of the X-Men movies that have come before, apart from the fact that Logan is once again the central character (when you look back at it, the only time he wasn't a main character was when Professor X and Magneto were recruiting the initial team in the 60s).

So, this film starts when Logan (Hugh Jackman) is a POW in Nagasaki, prior to the US dropping the bombs that ended the war in 1945. This scene is pretty full on, as we get a ground view of an atomic bomb detonating. Something that no one lives to tell anybody about. Except for Logan and Yashida (Ken Yamamura).

In the present day, Logan is living as a homeless man in the mountains of Canada with his only friend being a bear. He is tracked down by Yukio (Rila Fukushima), a mysterious Japanese woman, who says that her master wants to thank him for saving his life all those years ago. Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi) is now an old man dying from cancer (probably from the radiation caused by the bomb). He offers Logan a way out of his immortality, which he rejects. This film deals with Logan's internal struggle with his mutation.

This movie is really cool in the fact that it's not like the other superhero movies we've seen recently. Although it does revolve around his mutation, it's not the focus of the movie. It's more of just an action movie, where the tough main character has claws. Speaking of his claws, I've only recently been wondering about the blood on his claws and if he wipes them off before retracting them, because that is a really weird hygiene problem.

I don't really need to say whether Jackman is good as Wolverine, because he's played the character in six movies. The only other character that he should be able to slip into with the same amount of ease is Peter Allen.

The real rising star of this film is Rila Fukushima. The 170 cm model is really graceful in her action scenes and has real talent when it comes to acting. Although she has only previously been in a short film and handful of music videos, I can see her having a real future in the industry.

The only other white actor in this film is Svetlana Khodchenkova (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy). She plays Viper, although her character is very different from in the comics. Her character isn't explored too much and I wanted to know more about her background or her in general.

Verdict: A really fun movie that doesn't need background knowledge of the character or any of the previous films. Although it does call back to the comics, especially his use of 'bub'.