Well let's face it, there's much you could do to improve on 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine; to start with, a better script, a more coherent plot, fewer wasted characters (hellooo, Deadpool and Gambit), an actual sense of peril... So, from the outset, 'The Wolverine' doesn't have a lot to do to do better than its predecessor. Sadly, while Hugh Jackman's commitment to the character, and telling this particular story (from one of the best known comic runs), just about shines through here (it's been more than evident from the charm offensive he's launched to publicise the film), once again he's let down by a plot that isn't quite all there, and a script that doesn't seem to share his convictions about the character.
From the outset, the film attempts to make for a brooding atmosphere - this makes sense given the state in which we find Jackman's Logan at the start, living a feral existence, exiled in the wilderness. Unfortunately the pace of the first act makes this seem more dour, rather than brooding; occasionally the script-writers give Logan a decent line to deliver before he starts unleashing the rage on the bad guys - but it's as though they're too worried that a one-liner will spoil the characterisation they're going for. Now, Logan's hardly the type of character you expect to wink at the camera, or to delivery a snarky aside in the manner of Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark; having said that, comic fans will tell you that Wolverine has still delivered some memorable kiss-off lines before opening (or should that be 'snikt-ing?' :-p ) a can of whup-ass on the villains.
As well as this, the plotting and script don't do enough to outline each character's motivations for their role in the preceedings; there's more than one moment when someone will do something just because it's what the story demands, without any sense of it relating to what they've been doing or said before.
Having said that, Jackman owns the role of Wolverine - like the aforementioned Downey and his portrayal of Stark, it is impossible to imagine who else could play him (OK, anyone else who is muscly and hairy might be a good start..!); but what helped him to imprint his take on Wolverine in the first two X-Men movies were, aside from his performance, a number of really damn impressive moments that reinforced what a cool character Wolverine is. Sadly, in this movie nothing makes quite the same impact; apart from a fight against Yakusa on a speeding bullet train, or maybe a duel against a villain in full Samurai get up - but even a key scene in the comic, which pits him up against a whole clan of Ninjas, fails to have any impact, it's a bit of a wasted opportunity to be honest.
I don't think any of the film's flaws can be attributed to Jackman, or the direction of James Mangold, who has spoken passionately of the influences he has tried to bring to this particular tale. This story really needed more skillful screenwriters to give the plot more of a sense of urgency and peril - as well as a better script with more attention to character - to do this highly regarded tale, and it's iconic central character, full justice. One can only dream about what a writer like, say, Joss Whedon, could do with the character. But then you're getting in to a whole other dream, shared not just by Jackman himself, but also with me and no doubt countless comic book fans everywhere...
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