Family Movie Night: The Wolverine

The Wolverine DVD action figures

I have some bad news for you guys. Sadly, we didn’t have Friday Night Family Movie Night this week. Nope. Instead, we had Saturday Night Family Movie Night! (Oh, I’m just so witty, aren’t I?)

This week we got to watch 20th Century Fox’s The Wolverine! We never saw this one in theaters, so I was pumped when I was sent a Blu-ray copy of the film to review! Jason couldn’t wait either and Ryan (who for some reason now claims he hates all superhero movies even though he watches them and seems to love them) even said he’d watch it with us. Allie too!

For you continuity buffs, the film fits in at some point in time after the 3rd X-Men film (X-Men: The Last Stand). My biggest complaint about The Wolverine though is that if you came into this one cold, not having seen the other X-Men films, you’re going to miss a lot. Wolverine’s powers and adamantium skeleton are never really explained, though most people should be aware of them by now. But (SPOILER ALERT: Stop reading if you haven’t seen X-Men: The Last Stand) Jean Grey pops up a lot in this one and if you haven’t seen X-Men: Last Stand yet, you’re going to continually wonder who the heck that redhead is.

Setup aside, I have seen all the previous mutant-filmed movies so I knew exactly what was going on. Now my super duper short review of The Wolverine is that it’s 100 times better than the first Wolverine flick X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I hated that film for a gazillion reasons.

Except for the Jean Grey tie ins, The Wolverine is pretty much a self-contained story. Set in modern day Japan, Logan reunites with an old friend from World War II. (The Japanese WWII flashbacks are pretty darn cool.) I won’t give too much away about the plot, but it involves an arsenal of ninja, Yakuza, samurai and a creepy venomous villain. Oh, the big wrinkle in this one is that Wolverine’s healing powers? Well, yeah, they’re pretty much history.


The overall storyline can get a bit confusing (Ryan had no clue what was going on and Jason followed most of it but was a bit lost at times.) considering there’s a lot going on with a number of different factions fighting over the same thing. The action, however, is pure Wolverine adrenaline. Lots of great street fights, a battle on top of a bullet train that’s not to be missed, and a totally Wolverine moment when the lone X-Man takes on countless ninja armed with deadly arrows. It definitely felt just like Wolverine jumped out of the comic book pages on those fights.

I remember reading a number of X-Men comics from the ’80s that saw Wolverine head over to Japan, where he met Mariko and Yukio, both of whom play a large role in this film. I definitely want to go back and re-read those now after seeing the movie.

Like Jason, I was a bit confused overall by the storyline but the action and acting (Hugh Jackman just is Wolverine) definitely make up for it. I also just love the entire Japanese setting and always was a fan when Wolverine would visit.

I’d probably rank this a bit higher than X-Men: Last Stand but not nearly as good as the first two X-Men films. If you’re a fan of the overall series, I certainly recommend checking it out. And for you ladies out there, yes, you get to see a buff Hugh Jackman walking around shirtless.

Make sure to watch into the credits because there’s a bonus scene that totally sets things up for the next huge film X-Men: Days of Future Past!

The Blu-ray DVD also includes a number of special bonuses such as a Days of Future Past set visit, an alternate ending and The Wolverine Second Screen App.

 

The Wolverine, X-Men, DVD

Buy The Wolverine on Blu-ray | DVD

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27 thoughts on “Family Movie Night: The Wolverine”

  1. was debating seeing this one as I am a big X-men fan! Thanks for the review will watch for it when it hits the movie network

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  2. I just saw The Wolverine on DVD a few days ago and I thought it was pretty good. I think I saw X-Men: Last Stand but I don’t remember Logan killing Jean, was it because of the whole Dark Phoenix Saga (I remember it from the cartoon)? I think I need to go back and re-watch it. Thanks for this review, I agree with what you said here.

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  3. Good review, without giving too much away.

    The more I watch “X-Men: The First Class”, the more I like it.

    No need to even let the readers know that the first two X-Men were good,…
    Bryan Singer was involved with those, so, yeah,… GREAT!

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  4. I was always a big fan of the XMen movies, but I haven’t seen any of the Wolverine movies! I want to though, Wolverine was always one of my favorites! Hopefully I’ll see them soon!

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  5. I enjoyed all of the X-men movies, some so much more than others. I especially like Wolverine and I did like the first one with his brother played by Liev Schreiber. Hugh Jackman was made to play Wolverine, and he’s done a great job.

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  6. ive not seen any of them yet,,I was worried it would be too violent for the older grandsons,that are 5 an 8?? was your boys okay with it?

    Reply
    • Hiya, Vickie! I’d probably say it’s way too violent for your grandkids. It was “questionably” too violent for mine, and they’re 8 and 10. They’ve seen the 3rd Star Wars Prequel, which was also PG-13 and in my mind, way violent for kids. They survived that, so I figured Wolverine’s fine for them.

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