An Excellent Addition to the Wolverine Saga

Rating: 9/10 (31 July 2013)

Wolverine is my favorite superhero and I am a huge fan of the X-Men movies as the first two are my favorite of all superhero movies. I enjoy that Fox has been taking on Wolverine and doing films about him. James Mangold, whose previous directing credits include Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma, is the man helming this new Wolverine adventure.
The Wolverine begins with Logan (Hugh Jackman) as a prisoner in a POW camp in Japan during World War II, where he saves a soldier named Yashida after the American drop the atomic bomb. This however, is a flashback as Logan wakes up finding himself in bed next to Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), who he ends up killing back in X-Men: The Last Stand. This is also a flashback as Logan currently lives a recluse life in the Canadian wilderness. Logan is found by Yukio (Rila Fukushima), a fellow mutant who has the power to see how people die. Yukio is there to find Logan and bring him to Japan as Yashida is dying. In Japan, Logan also meets Mariko (Tao Okamoto), Yashida's granddaughter. Yashida offers to trade powers with Logan, who turns down the offer. However, a woman named Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova) introduces something into Logan's body that makes him vulnerable. The next day, Yashida passes away and at the funeral, the Yakuza tries to kidnap Mariko, but Logan interjects and gets Mariko out of Tokyo. Logan and Mariko hide out in a house in Nagasaki. Meanwhile, Viper talks with Yashida bodyguard Harada (Will Yun Lee), who is forced to hunt Logan and Mariko down. The film deals with Logan dealing with the demons of his past, specifically seeing Jean in his hallucinations, and fighting with Viper and the Silver Samurai.
James Mangold does a great job with directing this and shows his talents with each scene, the cast, and handling the material. Mangold knows when the drama is necessary and when to keep the film exciting showing his excellence in directing a superhero movie. Like all films, there needs to be a great script and Mark Bomback and Scott Frank deliver with a great one that makes for one exciting Wolverine movie.
Hugh Jackman is great as always as Wolverine. Yet this time around, he is more interesting seeing him as a more vulnerable and human like character. He is also more relateable as someone with some demons in his past and trying to fight new ones. Rila Fukushima is interesting in her role as fellow mutant Yukio who fights alongside Wolverine and becomes a reliable asset. Tao Okamoto is also great in her role as Mariko, who is more than a damsel in distress and is someone who can fight, just not in the same way that Wolverine and Yukio do. I enjoyed seeing Famke Janssen return as Jean. She did what the role needed, but nothing more.
From a technical standpoint, I truly enjoyed the work with the camera by DP Ross Emery as it is some of the best camera work in a superhero movie. The production design by FranÃ§ois Audouy is very nice and had some very cool looking sets. Michael McCusker's editing is crisp and well put together. The sound design is quite enjoyable with the combination of dialog, the sound effects, and the combination of the exciting score by composer Marco Beltrami. The visual effects are also a feast for the eyes.