‘The Wolverine’  Movie Review: Marvel’s favorite mutant gets back on the right path, even if it’s bumpy at times.

[rating=3]

Hugh Jackman has the dubious distinction of playing a cinematic superhero for longer than any other actor. His character Wolverine, has had a charmed box office life, but critically it’s been mixed. X-2 remains one of the greatest comic book movies ever, but X-3 and X-Men: Origins Wolverine were lackluster.

In truth, Origins was unfairly savaged. It wasn’t terrible, but it felt non-essential. We already knew Wolverine’s back story, and it did little to fill in the blanks.

What fanboys expected, was a cinematic adaptation of the original 1980’s Wolverine mini-series written by Chris Claremont and illustrated by Frank Miller.

And with the sequel, ‘The Wolverine‘ they’ve finally gotten it, for the most part.

It starts off with a pivotal scene; Logan, is a POW in WWII era Nagasaki Japan right as the Atomic bomb drops.  A Japanese soldier named Yashida jumps into his cell to take shelter from the blast. Logan saves his life, covering him during the explosion. Yashida lies in awe of Logan’s regenerative abilities.

Flash to present day, and Yashida requests Logan’s presence in Japan. While Logan stays fit and ageless, Yashida (now a wealthy technology CEO) is dying of old age and cancer.

But he wants to repay Logan for saving his life. He says he has the ability to grant him mortality. He can live and die normally, and not outlive everyone that he loves. In exchange, Yashida can use Wolverine’s healing powers to regain his health.

But Yashida dies shortly afterwards, and Logan has a whole new dilemma. Yashida’s granddaughter Mariko will now inherit his fortune, and all the danger that comes with it. She becomes a target for the Yakuza and he takes a vow to protect her. But he’s been weakened by a mysterious assailant, and his healing factor isn’t working like it used to.

This makes the fight scenes that follow far more climatic, given the stakes are higher. And there are lots of fight scenes. The standout has Logan taking on several Yakuza members on the roof of a 310 MPH bullet train.

But there’s romance too, as Logan is drawn towards Mariko, even if he’s steal betrothed to the late Jean Grey in his dreams.

The Wolverine has a lot going for it; taught direction by James Mangold (Walk The Line, 3:10 To Yuma), an exotic score by Marco Beltrami, and Ross Emery’s cinematography is clean and elegant offering crisp images (in particular a scene with Wolverine squaring off against endless Ninjas in a snowy mountaintop hideout).

But the plot and character’s motivations are sometimes nonsensical and at other times over-explained, as in an overstuffed third act, which features arch-villain The Silver Samurai, but not in the form that comic fans are familiar with.

This is a problem that many recent comic-book movies have faced; there’s such a need to amp up the stakes that logic and pacing often fly out the window in exchange for spectacle.

Jackman remains a standout, even if at times, you’d wish he’d push Wolverine’s berserker rage to the level it gets to in the comics. But his moody temperament is well in keeping with the character. And his physique made me immediately want to go home and do push ups. He looks a like a man quite capable of violence, belaying his own middle-age. Befitting a man playing an immortal.

The Japanese setting does wonders, giving a new flavor and feel for the series. And the lack of overt superhero theatrics gives it a unique tone.

And be sure to the stay for the credits; it sets up the storyline for the upcoming X-Men Days of Future Past. Wolverine isn’t ready to put his claws up just yet…