Movie Review: 'The Wolverine'

This second stand alone Wolverine film is a lot better than the first, in my opinion, and with Marvel Studios going full pelt into their universe, what with the recent 'Iron Man 3', 'Avengers, and the upcoming 'Thor 2: The Dark World' and recently announced 'Avengers 2', Fox have had to up their game a bit with their 'X-Men' movies to compete with the similar properties, and it does show, if a little rough around the edges.

The story is better too and tells of Logan's struggle with his immortality, as well as the love story between him and Mariko (Tao Okamoto). I did think that the villains in 'The Wolverine' were a bit meh, throwaway type villains if you will. Not really fleshed out enough, although that was maybe mainly due to the plot being about more of the suits behind corporations than say an evil force to subdue.  That said, if you add in the few decent fight sequences; the funeral, on top of a speeding bullet train and of course the climactic fight at the end, plus the deep Japanese culture and lush scenery throughout, it's a decent enough effort into the X-Men mythos. Entertaining, but maybe not quite on par with the Marvel/Disney efforts, but almost there.

And a word of warning, you've just GOT to stay after the end credits, as it seems to set up things to come. It's worth it, believe me!

***1/2 out of 5