The Wolverine Unleashed

The Wolverine – unleashed, the summer action-pic by Marvel Comics is now available on DVD. This was one sequel that I was looking forward too. It was entertaining, but also somewhat flat and disappointing. For Marvel Comics fans it's worth a rental – for those of you looking for a good action film, perhaps you should look elsewhere... Hugh Jackman, as the Wolverine, is always entertaining, unfortunately, it seemed to me like he was still channeling his role from Les Miserables. His acting may have been better if he was singing! He started out as the usual grumpy, grouchy, "I have nothing to live for", super-mutant hermit – the same character we have seen previously. There was even the requisite fight at the bar at the beginning. To the credit of the writers, we did learn some new things about the Wolverine, his past, and he did develop as a character through the movie. However, the conflict and emotions were very predictable. Most of the movie was set in Japan. This, for me, was interesting, but also irritating. Interesting, because I love Japan, I lived there and I have a Japanese wife. So, seeing the Japanese scenery and some of the Japanese actors was fun. The irritating part was the complete stereotypical way that the people and traditions were portrayed. There were the ninjas, yakuza, Tokyo city lights, temples, tatami mat houses, beautiful kimono clad women, the girlish redheaded Japanese punk karate expert, etc., etc. etc. For Me it all got rather tiresome. Nevertheless, the two-hour movie went by quickly and I did enjoy it. Don't expect a blockbuster or something memorable, but it is probably worth a rental.