Reviews

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The Telegraph — How could a movie that begins with a nuclear explosion, features ninja, samurai and Yakuza, and culminates in a battle with a sword-swinging robot, feel this stuffed with Siberian goose down? Perhaps if Mangold (Walk The Line, Knight and Day) had set his sights on more appropriate source material, The Wolverine might have been an X-Men equivalent of You Only Live Twice, with hollow volcanos, silvery secret passageways, and a bouncing delight in its own silliness. Set aside a joke about a swimming pool lifted almost word-for-word from Diamonds Are Forever, though, and Bond’s influence is nowhere to be seen. Nor, unsurprisingly, is there any meaningful trace of Ozu’s Floating Weeds, nor any other film whose characters do much apart from growl, pout and punch. (2 out of 5 stars)

Coming Soon — Fans of the character disappointed by “X-Men Origins” who have been clamoring for a great Wolverine movie, one that lives up to Bryan Singer’s early “X-Men” movies, should be thrilled. Those just wanting a solid, well-made action film might be surprised by how much depth Mangold brings to the mix. The results are the best comic book movie of the summer and one that rarely feels like a comic book movie. (8.5 out of 10)

What Culture — The Wolverine is a movie that begins well, though not necessarily as it means to go on; the opening act does a sublime job of building both world and character, as Logan is jetted off to Tokyo and the array of Yashida family members are introduced. Meanwhile, Jean Grey makes her presence known through a few perfunctory if pleasant flashbacks which hammer home the central thematic point – death is always going to surround Wolverine, and there’s not much he can do about that. (3 out of 5 stars)

Total Film — True, there’s probably one too many scenes of steel striking adamantium. But the 3D-assisted action is never less than spectacular, notably during a Kurosawa-flavoured ambush that sees Wolverine turned by arrows into a mutant pin-cushion. Another plus is Svetlana Khodchenkova (from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) as a sexy vixen who spits venom, licks like a lizard and casually discards her skin like last season’s fashions. (3 out of 5 stars)

Digital Spy — X-Men aficionados will no doubt get a kick out of this attempt to deeper explore Logan’s psyche, but you suspect it won’t generate much enthusiasm from Joe Popcorns expecting big-scale spectacle. It feels like there’s a great film buried somewhere inside The Wolverine, it’s just a shame that Takashi Miike wasn’t behind the camera to help make it a reality. As it stands this is an interesting if flawed exploration of the X-Men universe’s favorite son. (3 out of 5 stars)

Hey U Guys — The Wolverine is a refreshingly good entry in the X-Men franchise that completely wipes out the nasty taste Origins: Wolverine left. In fact, it might very well be the best of the bunch. Mangold’s never been more suited to a project, getting to be gritty, intelligent and fun all at the same time, and that translates into a movie that for the very first time, genuinely feels like an X-Men comic on screen. As good as a Wolverine movie was ever going to get. (5 out of 5 stars)

SciFi Now — Like one of its stupendously choreographed fight scenes, The Wolverine manages the delicate balance of respect for the source and the convention of the genre, big top sensation, and an unlikely, heart-wrenching emotional punch. (4 out of 5 stars)

Empire — It’s regrettable, then, that in a film concerned with immortality, nothing lasts forever. The final showdown, tonally and in terms of scale, is deeply unsatisfying, with ludicrous reveals, bad CG and plot turns so convoluted they threaten to derail the movie at 300 mph. (3 out of 5 stars)

Flickering Myth — Of course these are just small niggles in what was a thoroughly entertaining and more surprising heartfelt instalment in the X-Men universe. The unique story coupled with beautiful scenery, an excellent supporting cast and berserker rage suited only to our favourite hero make this a film that anyone can enjoy – though I suspect that die-hard Wolverine fans may enjoy it a little more.

Den of Geek — It hasn’t got the swagger of the Iron Man films or the densely layered story of the Dark Knight movies, but it’s at least getting part of the way towards being that good. Wolverine’s versatility as a character is one of his biggest strengths, and in The Wolverine, we finally have an on-screen demonstration of what that actually means. For all its loftier ambitions, the best gift The Wolverine gives is a simple one: that you’ll leave the movie theater wanting to see more of the character. And that’s, straight away, a vast improvement over the last standalone Wolverine outing.