REVIEW - THE WOLVERINE

Far from being sick to death of playing this character, Hugh Jackman still seems remarkably positive about assuming the role of Wolverine for, now, the sixth time. After all, it's the role that made his career, and it's a curiously neat fit for the usually more theatrical star. This time out, it's Wolverine himself who's sick to death of playing his own character, and when his immortality is stripped of him, almost literally so. Not so many wisecracks from Logan now, which is reasonable considering what he's gone through, but a lot more contemplation and self-doubt. He's the latest superhero to suffer from a severe case of 'conscious vulnerability,' which is when a superhero gets all glum about themselves and starts caring about how they feel, like a big ol' wuss. Off to Japan with this self-obsessed prick! There, he gets involved in an odd plot about corporate familial relationships like an episode of Dallas. This supplies him with a litany of foes, some human, some mutant, like the 5'11" size 2 blonde bombshell convincing no-one that she's a doctor, and her special power is really bad breath. Much as I hated Wolverine's previous solo film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I'm not so keen on how this one papers over the cracks carved out by that disastrous film, rather than sorting them out. There's a proper good fun action scene set on top of a bullet train, which might limit the box office potential in Santiago de Compostela, but is the best thing in this film anywhere else in the world. There are also some extremely silly touches, like the bit where Wolverine is best friends with a grizzly bear.