Here is your chance to fix a box office mistake and enjoy a very solid flick all at the same
Despite good reviews, The Wolverine opened to $55 million. The 2009 movie, which was maligned by many, the origin story debuted to $85 million. So there are a bunch of you that have missed this great film. In many ways it was better “Iron Man 3” and “Man of Steel” and should have been the superhero film of the summer!
Based loosely on the 1982 mini-series by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, the film opens with a prologue involving Logan saving a Japanese soldier from the atomic bomb at Nagasaki before shifting to Canada where Logan has gone to pot following the death of Jean Grey (in 2006’s “X-Men: The Last Stand“), and where he is still haunted by his involvement in her death. When he finds a dying bear in the woods that’s been poisoned by a hunter, he looks for the man responsible, the one portion of Mangold’s film that’s taken almost verbatim from the comics.
This movie is less about saving the world and more about being a Ronin (a lordless samurai) on an individual sojourn to fine one’s place in a world where death is everywhere but never visits you.
While Logan is dealing with the hunters, He is found by Yukio (Rila Fukushima) a fellow mutant with a talent for sensing the presence of the death of others. Her mission is to bring Logan back to Japan to meet up with Yashida, the dying head of a giant electronics giant, and as a young man, the Japanese soldier saved by Logan when the A-Bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
The ailing Yashida offers Logan a way out, by exchanging his immortality with him. Logan considers, but rejects the offer only to be affected by the draining breath of The Viper [Svetlana Khodchenkova].
All these events lead to Logan taking on the task of ensuring the safety of Mariko (Tao Okamoto), Yashida’s granddaughter, as she is hunted by her jealous father in the wake Yashida’s death and who’s will passes the corporation to Mariko.
The action adds to the plot, not just moves the plot. The train scene, the funeral fight, and the showdown with ninjas are filmed in way that just pleases the eye and show what care the cast and crew took to pull them off. In the Unleashed Extended Edition fans will get extra and extended action scenes, in particular plenty of ninja battles. How much the adds to the movie can be debated but the extended did answer a question about the snow-cat from the theater edit. Most of these scenes were cut to keep the movie’s violence down to a PG-13 rating.
Besides the action sequences, there are the one-liners that Jackman delivers perfectly. Such as when when he tells Mariko who refuses to acknowledge she’s being hunted down: “You can’t pretend s— isn’t happening when it is princess.” Rila Fukushima also offers up an intense performance as Yukio, showing both a humorous side that complements Logan and an amazing martial arts prowess.
The Digital HD version reviewed looked beautiful on both a home set-up and on and iPad. While there are a large amount of dark action scenes, the print was clear and clean, with excellent details. Lots of attention was paid to visuals in the film. The sets and background shots are artistically composed and small detail aren’t overlooked, even down to custom jewelry for Yukio, made by artist Dana Schneider. Audio is crisp, even when loud. If you have a cinema sound system in your home, the movie will be a treat.
Rating 4.5 
The Fans of the character disappointed by “X-Men Origins” who have been clamoring for a great Wolverine movie, this is the one and you should own it! This movie lives up to Bryan Singer’s early “X-Men” movie and it great comic book and action movie. To be blunt, it is a great movie regardless of genre.
The Wolverine Unleashed Extended Edition is available as a Digital HD now with the Blu-ray disc version available on Tuesday, December 3.
