Not perfect, but very enjoyable

Rating: Null/10 (26 July 2013)

In a brief preamble, we discover that mutant Logan, held prisoner in Nagasaki during World War II, saves the life of Japanese guard Yashida when the atomic bomb is dropped. Years later, while Logan is having extreme difficulty in coming to terms with his having killed the woman he loves, the now wealthy Yashida summons Logan to bid him farewell as he is dying. But Yashida has other motives...
Much of this movie will be a puzzle to anyone who has not watched X-Men 3 or Wolverine's Origins movie - who is this woman in Logan's dreams? How come he has claws, and heals so fast? How come he was in WWII and is still alive without ageing now? But who cares - I know, that's why I went to see it! And I expect you do, too.
The Wolverine origin movie didn't go down that well, although I enjoyed it. This one feels totally different - the Japanese setting comes through very strongly - and is much more clearly structured to belong within the X-Men movie universe continuity (not least by way of the mid-credits teaser). I enjoyed this one, too, with two mild caveats. One, I felt that there was, if anything, too much action: there wee times when lengthy action sequences followed one after the other without advancing the (fairly sketchy) plot one step further. And, two, in a serious movie, there were a couple of times when I felt like laughing.
Jackman retains the physicality and intensity which has characterised Logan's 5 previous appearances. Harukiko Yamanouchi is an imposing older Yashida: the other Japanese male actors were less impressive. Svetlana Khodchenkova never really convinced as Viper but Rila Fukushima, in her first feature, was excellent as Yukio: physically very able, sexy, funny and dark - an extremely accomplished feature debut. And Tao Okamoto as the iconic Mariko was, I thought, perfect. Her character's development arc probably covers most ground (after Logan) as Mariko teaches him how to value being alive again, and does so with a centre of serene intensity.
The obligatory stand-alone F-bomb doesn't even have the virtue of being amusing like the one in X-Men: First Class. It really annoys me that it seems to be seen as essential to include one "just because we can."