The Wolverine

(M) ★★★

Director: James Mangold.

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Haruhiko Yamanouchi, Hiroyuki Sanada, Will Yun Lee, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Famke Janssen.

Lovely day for it.

THE X-Men movies generally fall into two distinct categories - the good and the awful.

In the former column is X-Men, X2, and First Class. In the latter; The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

The Wolverine is the first to land right in the middle.

For much of its running time, it transplants the blade-bearing hairball to Japan, making for an interesting juxtaposition.

Logan aka Wolverine (Jackman) finds himself embroiled in an intriguing family struggle after old acquaintance Yashida (Yamanouchi) requests the clawed mutant visit him on his deathbed. Soon Wolverine's on the run with Yashida's daughter Mariko (Okamoto) from the Yakuza while trying to figure who's trying to kill who and why.

Ordinarily this would be a cinch for the effectively indestructible mutant, but Logan's superhuman healing powers are mysteriously out of action.

The sixth outing in mutton chops for Jackman (counting his brilliant one-line cameo in First Class) is engaging on a few levels. It features the usually invulnerable Wolverine at his most vulnerable, it captures an emotional insight into his torment at Jean Grey's death in The Last Stand, and it uses the mutant-as-prejudice metaphor of the X-Men series and turns it into a way to look at being a westerner in Japan.

The Japanese backdrop is also a nice point of difference from the rest of the series - it has a look all its own, and the fights embrace a frenetic samurais-and-ninjas style.

The problem is the film says "sayonara" to these strengths - and its sanity - as it hits the last act. The plot unravels with alarming speed, characters quickly change allegiances or entire codes of honour in a heartbeat, and the whole thing devolves into a generic smash-'em-up battle.

This battle sees the introduction of villains Silver Samurai and Viper, who prove to be unsatisfying and uneven. Hardcore fans of the comics will add these to the list of characters the series has failed to do justice to (alongside Deadpool, Juggernaut, Banshee, Gambit, etc).

The effects-heavy final battle feels like it has beamed in from another, less-interesting movie that lacks the grace, intrigue and culture of the first two acts.

Having said that, the first two acts are not without their flaws, such as when Logan criticises a woman's fiance for being adulterous, right after Logan has slept with the woman. There is also a perpetual run-and-chase quality to the middle section, although this is softened by some nice intimate moments and a rather cool battle atop a bullet train.

The major positive is that at least it's better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Last Stand. Sadly it goes no further than that.