Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'The Wolverine'

​Written by Scotty

With only a split second appearance in X-Men: First Class, it is good to see the old man back in action for his second full length movie. The Wolverine will never die in many people’s minds and since he is one of the most popular characters of the X-Men Franchise, why not try and keep him in front of the camera for another couple of movies. It was difficult to see where the overall storyline would take the X-Men after the lack of a post credit sequence in First Class, so thank goodness Logan still has a fanfare to get us to what might be the last of the series to feature the team if X-Men: Apocalypse doesn't do well.

Living in the woods, far enough from society, Logan has enjoyed his time out of the limelight, but this is only short lived when he sees that a couple of boozed up hunters cheated their game and left it to die in the middle of the woods. Taking the fight to town with poisoned arrows, he is ready to make a point, in more than one way, but is stopped as Yukio steps in. Being able to see things in the future, Yukio is able to convince Logan to let the poor hunters die by their own accord and instead join her on a trek to Japan to visit her employer. Although Logan does not want to leave his current lifestyle, he sees a relic from his past that encourages him to make the trip.

Arriving in Tokyo, Japan; Logan sees Yashida on his death bed and while he was brought here to say goodbye to his old friend, Yashida has other ideas. Wanting to give the man who saved his life in Nagasaki an honorable way to die, Yashida has found a way to make it happen. Not believing that this can be done, Logan says his goodbye and shortly after, the old soldier passes on. Knowing the old man’s love for his granddaughter, Logan takes the next step in trying to do right by him and keeps an eye on Mariko. While at the Yashida funeral, Logan sees that something is up and tries to alert Mariko of what he believes is a threat, but before he is able to make his move she is taken by the Yakuza. Chasing the gangsters in his normal fashion, Logan finds out that his healing powers have been stopped and now instead of being able to run through gun fire, it slows him down. Not allowing this to keep him from achieving his goal of rescuing Mariko, Logan is forced to battle through the pain, along with the unknown.

Being able to rescue his dead friend’s granddaughter, the two try to run south, but the Yakuza are never too far behind. Having to kill several more members of the gang, Logan is starting to run out of steam and needs a place to rest and allow his body to heal. While Mariko’s father is searching for her, only a select few understand what he means to do when he finds her. With the help of his future son-in-law, he is able to locate Mariko before she inherits the Yashida fortune and becomes the most powerful person in Japan. Having her brought back to the family palace, Shingen does not have time to fulfill the need of ending his daughter's life as a group of ninjas faithful to the Yashida dynasty have taken over the palace. Taking Mariko for their own needs, Logan has to find out what is going on with his body that is keeping his healing factor from regenerating and once healed, go to the mountains and find Mariko before any more harm can come her way. But little does he know that Mariko has never been the target, they have always had their sights set on bringing in The Wolverine.
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This is a great follow up to X-Men Origins: Wolverine and does little to hit on what First Class did. I was a little surprised that they were not trying to tie this in somehow, especially with how First Class was originally received. But Logan is back and badder than ever and the Wolverine will not let the evil people of the world conquer it, even if he is without his healing ability. Throughout the movie, Logan has dreams with Jean Grey being next to him, begging him to take the cure and die so they can be together once again in the afterlife, but he is stubborn and will not go down without a fight. Once he finds out what Yashida really wants with him, Logan is quick to turn his back on his old friend. Being told that his powers are a curse does put the Wolverine in a hard spot mentally, but there is so much he has been able to do with his gifts and when breaking his promise to not harm anyone anymore, he still knows what the difference is between right and wrong. Needing to keep people safe is what the Wolverine is good at and now with Yukio at his side to watch his back, I pity anyone that gets in their way.  Now on to Days of Future Past, and I cannot wait to wrap this up and see what happens in Apocalypse.  

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