Connect the dots

Rating: 3/10 (5 December 2013)

First off something positive: I love Hugh Jackman, both as an actor in general and especially as the very incarnation of Wolverine! Just look at this hunk of manly manliness who at the same is so in touch with himself that he can convincingly express a variety of fine emotions - what an actor! The movie gets three stars solely for Jackman's marvelous primeval presence which he skilfully balances with some degree of vulnerability, grief, affection and anger.
As for the rest, i.e. the movie itself: It's set in Japan and consists of an exhaustive mash of every single stereotype and platitude there is about this country and its culture. The (far from complete) list in more or less chronological order reads: WW II, harakiri, atom bomb, swords, sword-wielding schoolgirls, industrial tycoon clan, dojo, ronin, patriarchy, face shields, more suicide, yakuza, ninjas, more swords, pachinko, shinkansen, love hotels, racism (gaijin!), more ninjas, samurai stuff and still more swords, ninjas again (even on motorcycles!) and to put the cherry on the cake: a samurai armor suit! The plot is best summarized as a connect-the-dots of these elements and mixed with Logan's grief and lack purpose.
It's not always clear who the villain is supposed to be since the focus changes several times. Shingen the ambitious son, the Yakuza (just henchmen I guess), Viper (who is just some exotic but dispensable prop in this plot), Noburo (Minister of Justice, just your typical corrupt, ambitious and hedonistic politician), Harada (who conveniently turns good guy again after being stabbed in the leg - how cathartic! - and then continues to jump around like a cat), or Yashida, who - unsurprisingly - plotted to gain immortality all along! So take a pick!
The love story isn't too bad if you ignore the obvious erotic calculations of pairing a brutish force of nature (Logan) with a delicate fragile woman (Mariko). It doesn't evolve to much and mainly serves Logan to get over his guilt and anxiety over Jean's death. So this is also optional.
Half the action scenes are good, with three exceptions: The scene on the shinkansen roof goes way over the top with physical plausibility (the part with them accelerating all the time). The scene with the snow plow truck: The grisly humor wasn't totally lost on me, but for my taste way too implausible again. Those inaudible cat-like ninjas, that were doing somersaults just for the heck of it 15 minutes earlier, being surprised by that truck and getting run over? Finally the fight between Wolverine (after regaining his healing abilities) and Shingen (with samurai armor, katana and wakizashi...): I expected a real fight, blade against claw. Instead we have Shingen slashing away at Logan who takes hit after hit, serving as a sword dummy. At this point of the story they should have shifted the focus away from Logan's (in)vulnerability, which was to this point done for 90 minutes, back to him being Wolverine, the guy with the long sharp claws, the fighting machine.
I kinda hated this movie a little but still don't regret seeing it thanks to Hugh Jackman. I'd recommend it to fans of him and the X-Men franchise - otherwise: avoid it!