When X-Men Origins: Wolverine came out, it was so shockingly bad that it nearly killed off the possibility of future spinoffs featuring everybody’s favorite mutant bad boy. Eventually, of course, we got the masterpiece that was Logan, and Hugh Jackman revived the character for Deadpool & Wolverine. But none of that could have happened without the success of The Wolverine, the underrated Marvel sequel now streaming on Hulu.
The premise of The Wolverine is that our title character is still mourning the death of Jean Grey (at his own hands–er, claws) when he gets the offer to transfer his healing abilities to an old colleague who is now dying. This would allow the tired mutant to finally die, but things go sideways as soon as he sets foot in his friend’s home country of Japan. What follows is a whirlwind tale of love, death, and betrayal, and even if he can survive his adventures in the far East, Wolverine will never be the same.
Before you ask, I need to mediate some expectations: The Wolverine isn’t as good as Logan, the Western masterpiece that served as a coda for the entire Fox era of X-Men movies. But it’s also leaps and bounds better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which was like a fever dream of a film with cartoonishly stupid special effects. And it tells a story unlike any other superhero film, one brought to life by a cast that’s (ahem) a cut above the rest.
The cast of The Wolverine brings their A-game to this comic movie, starting with Tao Okamoto (best known outside this movie for her role in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice) as Wolverine’s love interest. Rila Fukushima (best known for her role in the superhero show Arrow), meanwhile, plays Wolverine’s partner, a ninja with the ability to see the future. And Svetlana Khodchenkova stars as a mutant whose toxicity extends to more than her fantastic powers.
Of course, the real star of The Wolverine is Hugh Jackman, who disappears into this familiar role to deliver a Wolverine like we have never seen before. Fans of the character will love the deep dive into the character’s lore, while fans of Jackman will just enjoy seeing the actor claw his way through one cool action setpiece after another. No matter your reason for checking out this unconventional Marvel sequel, Jackman delivers a powerhouse performance as fierce as it is nuanced.
On Rotten Tomatoes, The Wolverine slashed its way to a 71 percent rating, which is a major improvement over the execrable X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Critics praised this sequel for riding the line between being a faithful comic adaptation and entertaining audiences who never so much as read an issue of Uncanny X-Men. The movie also lets Hugh Jackman stretch his acting chops (and not just his mutton chops) by taking Logan out of his comfort zone, and it’s downright engaging watching this murder-happy mutant’s misadventures in the far East.
Fair warning: by the third act, The Wolverine admittedly dissolves into the kinds of over-the-top battles and mutant melodrama that you’d expect from the standard tights-and-flights movie. Before that, though, the movie is downright restrained, offering up the rare character study of Logan, the world’s most popular (and arguably most misunderstood) movie. And it does so while still interspersing all of the slicing and dicing you’d expect from a hero famous for unleashing his berserker rage on anyone who gets in his way.
Will you agree The Wolverine is the most underrated Marvel movie, or will you be aching for your own healing factor by the time the credits roll? You won’t know until you stream this film on Hulu, accompanying Logan on an unforgettable journey across the world. It’s a movie fit for all audiences, but if you were reading X-Men comics back in the ‘80s, you really owe it to yourself to watch Logan and Mariko fall in love, one glorious battle at a time.