The next entry into the X universe for Marvel has arrived. Hugh Jackman is back as Wolverine and he has some new dancing partners to entertain him this time.
Film starts with a flashback where we see Wolverine ne Logan as a prisoner in Japan right before the U.S. drops the atomic bomb in 1945. He saves one of his captors named Yashida from the blast of the bomb. We flash forward to present day and see that Logan has left the X-Men and is living in the forest with the animals and having dreams/nightmares of his true love Jean Grey. The dreams consistently haunt him every night. Some local hunters harm one of his animal friends and when he confronts them he is introduced to a young lady named Yukio who was hired to track down Logan and bring him back to Japan to say good bye to Yashida who is dying.
They head back to Japan and Logan is confronted by Yashida as wanting to become mortal and live a normal human life and Yashida can do that for him and take his healing power from Logan and transfer it to Yashida himself so he may live. Logan turns down his offer and soon Yashida dies. Prior to leaving Logan meets Yashida's granddaughter Mariko and you can tell there is something between them. As everyone attends Yashida's funeral there is an attempted kidnapping of Mariko by one of Yashida's enemies but Logan intervenes and him and Mariko are soon on the run. Yukio who has become like a sister to Mariko worries for her safety as she knows where they end up. All the while Logan is also suffering some type of reaction as his healing factor is not working properly which in time he figures out it was tampered with by Yashida's doctor, Viper.
Logan and Mariko become closer while on the run which makes the dreams with Jean Grey all the more interesting. Soon kidnappers show up again and finally do their job and get Mariko but not before Logan figures out where she is being taken too. Yukio comes to take Logan to where he needs to go and to help out as she says she will be his "bodyguard". To get to the building that Mariko is imprisoned in he must battle numerous ninjas, more healing factor issues and a very big individual going by the name of Silver Samurai. While Logan is dealing with the Silver Samurai, Yukio helps out by taking on Viper. After the battle we see while Logan must attend to issues back in the U.S. there are now roots planted in Japan with Mariko and that he will be back soon enough. Yukio decides to join Logan in his journey. A major change happens to him during the battle that obviously will play out in future movies and is seen when the after credits scene appears.
VERDICT : The source material is from the critically acclaimed work from the 1980's from writer Frank Miller when Logan first visits Japan. With that being said this is a very good Wolverine film but not a very good Marvel "action" flick that we have been grown to love over the past few years in Avengers, Iron Man, Thor et al. The action is sporadic at best with the two biggest being the climax and very entertaining train scene. It is more drama and character building than most Marvel films have been and me being a big Wolverine fan I am fine with that. Hugh does a great job as always though some of the lines are very cheesy. The supporting actors do a good job with Yukio and Mariko being the best of the group. Even with Jean Grey "dead" she plays a major part in this film and probably more so in the next X-Men film. If you are a Wolverine/X-Men or Marvel fan in general you will probably love this film like I did. If you are an action film lover don't expect as much and you won't leave disappointed as some people I have talk to have due to less than wanted and/or excpected action. With that said a THUMBS UP to this movie. Not the best Marvel has put out but much better than the first Wolverine train wreck of a film.
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