The better Wolverine adventure

Rating: 7/10 (12 August 2013)

I liked this, a lot. After the letdown of X3 and Origins movies, this was called for. I wanted this. It's not everything it could have been, but I'll take it gladly. I saw in the theatre, and now I saw the extended cut on blu-ray.
This movie tries to examine Logan's soul and basically his reasons to live. Why would he want to live (almost) forever? He's basically a drifter now, without purpose. Who/what is he and what does it take to find himself? Sadly, it's not as deep as I'm making it seem, but the core of the idea is put out there and also handled in a satisfactory manner. He lost his love (Famke Janssen's Jean Grey) in X3, and it haunts him. He has constant nightmares. At this point, many readers will get cautious. Don't worry, it's nothing cheesy as in X3 or Origins. The dreams deepen the story and Logan's motivations while fitting perfectly into the narrative.
Oh yes, the narrative. I like it. It's always present, be it a dream sequence, an action scene, a conversation scene or just plain exposition in various methods, it always furthers the story and most of the time (excluding the last act) it feels like a "real movie" instead of "just" a comic book movie. At times, s*** hits the fan and action starts, then it cools down again and lets us breathe, but it never feels rushed or prolonged. Everything in the pacing just seems to fit. I would also like to compliment the score, I even got a certain melody playing in my head after seeing the movie. Marco Beltrami, well done.
The action. Sometimes, there was a little too much shaky cam. Otherwise, love it. For a PG-13 film, there's a lovely amount of blood and that certain nasty grit (extended, unrated version has more blood and longer battles). Wolverine gets hurt a lot, and he hurts others a lot. There's one train scene that is impressive and memorable, but I liked the plain good old man-to-man fights the best.
The setting is different, and it's beautiful. Japan. You get some nice scenery, along with some old- and newschool Japanese architecture. Yes, you get samurai/ninja fights (one of them is clearly cut short, but included in the unrated cut). Not only just scenery and fights, but characters too. What I like about this movie is that it takes not only Logan, but the closest characters to him seriously. Yukio and Mariko (Rila Fukushima and Tao Okamoto, both starring in their first feature film) were two characters I really liked, and both are handled well, not just as props in a Wolverine movie. I became fond of them, especially Yukio who gets to have some nice action too. I would've liked Mariko to be more memorable, but at least she feels like a real person. The whole Japanese cast is good. Well done, thumbs up.
This movie is not perfect though, although I absolutely feel the need to see it again. Even though this is not a X-men movie but a Wolverine movie, he won't be the only mutant. One especially just...feels like doesn't fit in well, and most people who have seen the movie know who I'm talking about. I'm not sure if it's the character itself or the actor, but I didn't care much for it. Don't worry though, it doesn't ruin the movie and this isn't a mutant fest, this is Wolverine's movie.
Also, at the end things go a little crazy. Certainly nothing compared to what can happen in movies of this genre, but doesn't fit in well with the more realistic, more mature nature of the first 3/4 of this movie. Some may like it though, and even I can't say that I hate the final act, it just felt like a little stretch concerning the tone shift.
Another thing that can be a problem for some: It's not a mind-bending spectacle and certainly nothing of grand epic proportions happens (except for the very nice opening scene). In a way it's smallish in scale and just does what it sets out to do: gives us a pretty good Wolverine movie. It doesn't try to impress you that much, which can be good or bad, depending on what you're looking for.
Anyway, I came out of the theater a little underwhelmed, but still very satisfied. Wolverine's character was handled well. The story took its time and was paced nicely, cinematography was good, most characters were treated with respect, action was thrilling at times. In addition to that, the Jean Grey - love interest (which I wasn't a big fan of in the first place) gets finally wrapped up in a satisfying manner and perhaps I can now watch the dreaded X3 again without so many grievances.
I'll be honest: I'd probably give this a 6, if I could be neutral enough. If you take Wolverine out of the movie and replace him with John Doe, It would only be decent, even though it has the "real movie" feel to it. However, I'm just glad I got to see a Wolverine movie I can honestly like and respect - thus the rating of 8. The overall quality is certainly there. James Mangold is a good director, he knows how to construct a story and put it on the screen. This is the work of a good filmmaker.
The extended cut is worth it, though it doesn't improve the movie in itself but adds some nice touches here and there.
Reminder: don't miss the mid-credits scene at the end. Days of Future Past is around the corner.