Impressive action scenes in the latest X-Men series offering

Rating: 7/10 (4 September 2013)

WHEN a South African makes it big in Hollywood, I'm often extremely proud of their achievement. From Arnold Vosloo playing the "badie" in almost everything that he stars in, to a farm girl from Benoni winning an Oscar, and more recently Sharlto Copley and Neil Blomkamp being a part of one the best science fictions to date — South Africans have made their mark in Tinsel Town. However, when Johannesburg-born director Gavin Hood took the helm of X- Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009, it was less impressive, and that is an understatement. Fan boys were eager to see something better than Brett Ratner's piece of rubbish X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006, but Hood didn't deliver the goods. But thankfully in 2011 Matthew Vaughn brought back the series standards when X-Men: First Class stunned audiences around the globe. Now James Mangold — the director who brought us Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma (2007) — gets into the driver's seat to try to keep up the pace Vaughn brought to the X-Men series. The story take place after the events of The Last Stand, with a flashback to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki during World War 2, and, not giving anything away, this scene really gets your attention with a mix of emotion, good acting and a pinch of digital computer wizardry. Fast-forward to present day and we see Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) living in the wilderness and being comforted by the ghost of his last love. He then finds himself on his way to Japan where the dying owner of the country's biggest technology company wants to repay the favour — by giving Wolverine an "honourable death". Wolverine gets caught up in a family dispute, and ultimately has to protect the tech-giant's granddaughter — and all the while he has to deal with not having the healing powers that he has been using his whole life. In a "summer film" aimed at teenagers and young adults, the action scenes are very important. This is where the director gets the job done, as the first major action scene is pretty far into the movie. The build- up with regards development is far more important, especially with a character-driven film like The Wolverine. Stand-out scenes include a fight on top of a bullet train, and a ninja assault on the family's home. However, in the third act this film becomes very predictable and then turns into the standard-issue formula of any superhero film. It is a nice change to have a film set in Japan, where the modern city- scape as well as the beautiful countryside with its traditional and cultural aspects, are showcased. There are a few jokes not suitable for children but it's nice that the film caters for older viewers, with Wolverine slicing and dicing his enemies with his adamantium claws.