Note: This review contains spoilers for X-Men, X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand.
Despite the cold reception X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Origins) faced on release, the X-Men film series continued going strong and development began on a follow-up film simply titled The Wolverine, based on the original Japanese arc of the Wolverine comics. Although development began in 2009, with Darren Aronofsky later set to direct, it ran into certain production troubles along the way. These troubles included a delay brought on by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Aronofsky’s departure and finding a replacement director willing to take on the lengthy commitment. In spite of these obstacles, the final film released in 2013 to higher critical praise than Origins and greater box office returns, earning $414.8 million against a budget of $100-132 million.
Considering how much Origins had missed the mark, I knew going into The Wolverine that there would be some improvement, especially after seeing some fans characterize it as an “apology” for its predecessor. What I didn’t quite expect, however, was that The Wolverine not only held up very well after over a decade, but is easily one of the stronger films in the franchise.
