The Wolverine - Movie Review

Fans of the X-Men series and the comic book hero, as well as many of their wives, will salivate over The Wolverine, the sixth installment within the mega-successful series. The movie features Hugh Jackman again as the main character as he battles with his immortality. Jackman gets a producer credit for the film, which is set in Japan.

Cast

After Jackman in the lead role of Logan/Wolverine, the cast is a Who's Who of Japanese actors and actresses. Tao Okamoto plays Mariko Yashida, who is the daughter of an important Yakuza crime boss. Mariko is pulled between her love and feelings for Logan and also her required duty to her father. Mariko's father, Shingen Yashida, is the number one antagonist to Jackman's Wolverine. Moviegoers may recognize Will Yun Lee, an American-born actor of Korean descent. Lee has played a recurring role on the new Hawaii Five-O series and recently served as Captain Cho in the remake of the 1980s classic Red Dawn.

Summary

The film is set some time after X-Men: The Last Stand, where Logan has traveled to Japan to escape. He realizes that everyone he has loved and cared about dies and, being immortal, he does not. Faced with so much pain, he retreats into his world while living in Japan. He is happy to get away from everything and everyone until a mysterious someone from his past tracks him down. Someone he has saved in the past finds Logan to give him exactly what he is looking for - mortality. Logan is hired to protect Mariko Yashida when she is threatened in a war between the Yakuza and local law enforcement. Logan/Wolverine will be pushed to his emotional and physical limits as he goes to battle the Yakuza.

Review

If you are an action movie seeker, you will find enough action in The Wolverine to tie you over for weeks. The sheer site of the shirtless Jackman will be all it takes to get the wives and girlfriends in the seats. Set in Japan, there are plenty of samurai swords and ninjas for the action lover. Throw in a bullet train ride and some nice explosions and The Wolverine proves its worthiness as an action film extraordinaire. But, the real story is Wolverine's battle with his own personal demons. He doesn't know how to deal with his own immortality. He has a tough time watching his loved ones die. But all that will change and Wolverine will come out of his ordeal stronger and more powerful than ever.