A good sequel to the Wolverine/X-Men franchise

Rating: 6/10 (16 February 2014)

I'm not a Marvel super-fan so am not as clued up as some, but do enjoy the stories... especially Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). For obvious reasons. This appealed to me because of the Japanese/Samurai/Ronin connection, that I find interesting. The storyline was more convoluted, to my way of thinking, than the other Wolverine film, and even some of the X-Men. The film is shown through a series of fantasy/dream shots and also flashbacks as well as up to date action interspersed and shows Wolverine to be vulnerable and a deeper character.
Hugh Jackman's performance was superb; physical, emotional and powerful, and I have come to really appreciate Hiroyuki Sanada (47 Ronin, The Railway Man), a superb actor who has just "popped up" in Western films recently. The other actors were a little laboured in their performances but I liked Tao Okamoto (Mariko) and Rila Fukushima (Yukio) despite this, and there was much in their performances that was impressive most spectacularly some of the fight scenes. The Samurai sword - Katana - was shown to good effect in the film in some amazing sword fights often katana vs adamantium blades. The two girls, especially Yukio were very good. There was some humour, but it was mainly drama and action, fairly predictable and I felt the film went on a bit too long. The SFX were mainly very good, but there were a few bits that were a bit less slick and a little silliness - a few goofs. It was however, an enjoyable hour or so and I wouldn't be averse to seeing it again.