The Wolverine: 5 Elements They Nailed And 1 That Failed

2. The Presence Of Jean Grey And The Emotional Payoff

The ultimate tie-in with the original X-Men trilogy, Jean Gray's role in The Wolverine is seen, from my point of view, as a brilliant move that gives Wolverine reason enough to fall into relapse and question his role in the world, and whether he should accept an honorable death by finding a way out of his misery. The death of Jean Gray aka the Phoenix by the claws of Wolverine in The Last Stand left little to chance, as some saw it as the only way to end the film was by having Logan take the life of the one person her loved. While it soiled the character of the Phoenix, it did present a quandary in Logan that wasn't touched upon until the release of The Wolverine: having Logan haunted by nightmares of Jean laying next to him, taunting him about her death and how she can be his if he gives in and accepts death himself. It has a strong presence in the film in the form of a handful of brief scenes that present Jean to Logan, comforting him but at once continuing to haunt him and his whole existence. While Jean's role has been reduced to a few cameo appearances, the return of her character not only shows how strong-felt the presence of the previous trilogy is, but also how far Logan has come as a character after The Last Stand's chilling yet enigmatic climax. With Jean Grey comes a more scarred and soft Wolverine, damaged by what he has done and paying the price of witnessing her spirit in a nightgown teasing him to join her in death. Morally speaking on Wolverine's behalf, he wants to be with Jean and put an end to his endless pain, but after stumbling upon Yashida and being thrown into a series of events he has no control over, he chooses to come to grips with his immortality and accept his place as a man not living on borrowed time, but living on the memories of his past and feeding off them. The emotional side of Wolverine in this film is what really drives the experience; all these different elements congregate off one another to form a study of Wolverine that no one has ever seen before, revealing a more emotionally scarred and vulnerable Wolverine that actually has a soul underneath the adamantium.