The Wolverine

James Mangold blotted his copybook with 2010's mediocre Knight and Day, though at least he's safe in the knowledge here that even if he had mucked this up as well it would just about be covered up by almost guaranteed decent box office returns. Basically any director who picks up the megaphone for a superhero film these days can breath easy before the cameras have started rolling as we're truly living in a time where the relationship between quality and turnover has almost divorced for good. This latest instalment in the X-Men film series is a case in point. A film that is nothing more than average, but due to an already established built in audience, people will pile in anyway. OK, to be fair, The Wolverine is actually an above average film, but we're at the stage now where the non-Marvel fan needs something original to keep the interest going. Mangold and a bevy of established screenwriters (Bomback and McQuarrie amongst them) hang the hat of the story on the Wolverine character's major sticking point. It's must be pretty cool to be immortal, but it leaves the audience cold. How can you be excited about a film where you know the main protagonist can't actually be hurt? Therefore the scripters have moved things to Japan and introduced a plot in which old Logan isn't immortal after all. This actually works up to a point, but apart from a good line of humour running through the movie and the occasional thrill (a fun and frantic chase atop a speeding Shinkansen being the highlight) overall the feeling is still that of same old, same old. At least Hugh Jackman hasn't given up and arguably gives his best performance so far playing ol' mutton chops. Shame the rest of the cast is shocking, with Svetlana Khodchenkova so wooden as Viper that they might as well just have made her whole character CGI. As the film meanders into its standard final act you can't help but think what this could have been like had original director Darren Aronofsky stayed aboard. Aronofsky's fingerprints register throughout and it's frustrating to think that this could have been something quite different. Alas, we're left with a safe director, a safe script and a safe film. Rating: 6/10.