Almost Great! (very very very minor spoiler, not even a really a spoiler)

Rating: 7/10 (29 June 2014)

The Wolverine is Hugh Jackman's second outing, (if you count that first abysmal piece of trash) as the character, and let me just say right off, I loved this movie!.mostly. The Wolverine is an awesome, character-driven, badass comic book film..or at least two thirds of one.
One of the coolest things about The Wolverine is it very closely follows the story-line of Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's definitive miniseries about the character. The film picks up sometime not too long after The Last Stand and we first see our hero bumming around through the mountains in his grief over Jean Grey's death at his clawed-hands. Logan is in somewhat of a slump and at a crossroads when he meets a woman named Yukio while he's in the middle of beating up some hunters in a bar. She gives him an invitation to come to Japan at the request of an old, dying industrialist who's life Logan saved in WWII. With not much else going on, Logan accepts and meets with the man, Yoshida, who offers Logan the chance to become mortal by transferring his healing powers to him. Logan declines and shortly after, Yoshida dies. Chaos ensues from there when the funeral is attacked by Yakuza assassins and Logan discovers his regenerative powers have ceased healing his wounds. Logan makes it his mission to protect Yoshida's granddaughter, the beautiful Mariko and flees with her to get her somewhere safe.
There are so many strong aspects of the movie. For one, there's a solid director this time around in James Mangold, who gives the film both style and subtlety that marks an immediate quantum leap in quality from the last Wolverine movie. The storyline is also compelling as it's a personal story that focuses on Logan's inner struggle, his never-ending journey and his relationship with Mariko. It doesn't shove a bunch of one-dimensional, under-developed mutants in the movie just for fan-service, (insultingly cynical fan-service at that). The movie has focus, it has humor, character, and some pretty kick-ass action. One particular sequence that has to be mentioned as a stand-out is the fight on top of a moving bullet-train; one of the best-executed and most thrilling action sequences I've ever seen. The movie deftly balances and alternates between character moments and action and gives you a story you can actually care about. The problem with the movie: ..the last third goes downhill in very pronounced, overt kind of way. You can just feel that it starts to lose steam and they drag it out simply because every comic book movie has to have a dragged-out, over-the-top finale. And that's what it has. The movie has a really cheesy, underwhelming climax, and "The Viper" is a lame, borderline annoying villain. It's so unfortunate that's the case, because otherwise this is an awesome movie. I liked all the characters and their portrayals, (aside from Viper), from Mariko to the evil Shingen, to Logan's "Bodyguard" Yukio. I did like the actual ending, (before the credits) of Logan on the plane, (still afraid of flying!) with Yukio, and them going wherever he goes next together, but with the events of DOFP, it doesn't' seem like any continuation of that is possible.
Overall, The Wolverine does right by the character and the storyline it's based on, which is a real rarity. I can see why there are divided views on the movie, it has a lot of good, as well as some great and some lame. I think though, the more you care about the character, the more you'll enjoy it. 7.7/10