by R.C. Samo
Editor-in-Chief
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2oth Century Fox and Marvel Studios’ sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, makes the original look like a low-budget fan-film. The Wolverine has Hugh Jackman reprising the role of the everyone’s favorite clawed mutant, who with a flick of his wrists, “SNIKTS” foot long blades to take on the Yakuza with the help of Yukio (Rila Fukushima) to protect her adopted sister, Mariko (Tao Okamoto), the heir to the Yashida fortune.
Logan is called to Japan after having saved a World War II Japanese soldier name Yashida (Ken Yamamura) in Nagasaki, the moment “Fat Man,” was dropped. Yashida’s fascination with Wolverine’s healing factor leads the elder man (the elder Yashida portrayed by Hal Yamanouchi), who did not wish to die then seek immortality by asking to the mutant to share his powers with him.
Jackman has played Wolverine a record eight times and is not slowing down anytime soon. This is his best portrayal of the character and with director, James Mangold at the helm, fanboys and casual audiences finally get a Wolverine film worthy of the character. It’s violent, sarcastic and loaded with shell shock, especially with Logan’s dreams bringing him back to Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and losing the love of his life at his own hands (see X-Men: The Last Stand to find out how it happened).
Honestly, after seeing “Origins” I was skeptical about The Wolverine, but with pulling inspiration from Frank Miller’s run on the comics, creator Len Wein’s can be proud of his most famous character. Jackman is a true entertainer making Logan, not only savage, but allows the audience to empathize with the soldier seeking peace and redemption.
The Wolverine opens nationwide Friday, July 26th.