The Wolverine

Director: James Mangold James Mangold

Overview

A haunted Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) journeys to Japan to bid an old friend farewell, and gets drawn into a conflict involving ninja and yakuza in stand-alone spin-off set following the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, and preceding the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past. The story begins in Nagasaki. As a B-29 bomber appears in the sky and air-raid sirens howl, panicked Japanese troops begin committing ritual seppuku. Terrified, yet unwilling to sacrifice his own life, young soldier Yashida takes cover in a heavily fortified prison pit containing the immortal mutant Wolverine, who shields him from a deadly blast. Decades later, Wolverine has sworn off violence after he was forced to kill his beloved Jean Grey (Famke Janssen). He's confronting a hunter who has been using illegal, poison-tipped arrows when the sword-wielding Yukio (Rila Fukushima) comes to his aid, and summons him to Japan at the behest of the dying Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), now the head of Japan's largest and most powerful tech giant. Just hours before passing away, Yashida implores Wolverine to protect his granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamato), whom he has personally chosen to take over the family business -- much to the chagrin of her plotting father Shingen (Hiroyuki Sanada). When the yakuza attempt a high-profile kidnapping of Mariko during Yashida's funeral, Wolverine comes to her rescue, and receives some much needed help from enigmatic ninja Harada (Will Yun Lee). Narrowly escaping with their lives, Wolverine and Mariko go into hiding with the yakuza and ruthless mutant Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova) hot on their trail. But the battle is far from over, and with Wolverine's healing powers mysteriously diminished, he may not be able to protect Mariko for long.

Product Details

Release Date:	12/03/2013
UPC:	0024543833055
Original Release:	2013
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	20Th Century Fox
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:06:00

Special Features

Closed Caption; Inspiration: a ronin's journey

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Hugh Jackman	Logan/Wolverine
Tao Okamoto	Mariko
Rila Fukushima	Yukio
Hiroyuki Sanada	Shingen
Svetlana Khodchenkova	Viper
Brian Tee	Noburo
Will Yun Lee	Harada
Ken Yamamura	Young Yashida
Famke Janssen	Jean Grey
Nobutaka Aoyagi	Security
Seiji Funamoto	Servant
Shinji Ikefuji	Pock-Face
Qyoko Kudo	Aya
Nobuaki Kakuda	Buddhist Priest
Chiharo Mizuno	Old Woman
Takao Kimoshita	Fruit Cart Vendor
Conrad Coleby	Red Beard
Taris Tyler	Bar Man (Red Beard's Friend)
Sarah Naylor-Liddell	Yukon Bar Patron
J. Remilton	Yukon Bar Patron
Andy Owens	Yukon Bar Patron
Allan Popple	Yukon Bar Patron
Geoff Burke	Bartender
Yasuyo Shiba	Reporter 1
Mai Ishikawa	Reporter 2
Yuriko Kimura	Mieko,Hitoshi
Briden Starr	Party Girl 1
Maria Lukasheva	Party Girl 2
Tess Haubrich	Cashier
Taki Abe	Japanese Businessman
William Takayanagi-Temm	Tower Guard
Kuni Hashimoto	Lead Officer
Erich Chikashi-Linzbichler	Senior Officer at POW Camp
Shingo Usami	Driver
Naoya Ogawa	Yakuza 1
Atsushi Sawada	Yakuza 2
Takashi Matsuyama	Yakuza 3
Masa Yamaguchi	Yakuza 4
Eric Laciste	Yakuza 5
Hideki Sugiguchi	Yakuza 6
Garret Sato	Dying Yakuza
Kosuke Masano	Army Officer 1
Yoji Tatsuta	Army Officer 2
Yoshinori Fukushige	Train Commuter
Hiroshi Kasuga	Yashida Security Guard
Yumiko Nakamura	Mariko Staff
Kimi	Saki
Keiko Matsumoto	Shizu
Louis Okada	Pat Down Guy
Ross Emery	Actor
James Mangold	Actor
Marco Beltrami	Actor,Composer
Mark Bomback	Actor
Hutch Parker	Actor
Scott Frank	Actor
Ron Bartlett	Actor
James Bolt	Actor
Hal Yamanouchi	Yashida

Technical Credits

Scott Frank

Mark Bomback

Christopher McQuarrie

James Mangold	Director
Hugh Jackman	Producer
Lauren Shuler-Donner	Producer
Stan Lee	Executive Producer
Joe Caracciolo Jr.	Executive Producer
Scott Frank	Screenwriter
Mark Bomback	Screenwriter
Chuck Michael	Sound/Sound Designer
Dror Mohar	Sound/Sound Designer
Marc Spicer	Camera Operator
Jessica Kelly	Casting
Sarah Katzman	Casting
Priscilla John	Casting
Yoko Narahashi	Casting
Suzanne Smith	Casting
Lisa Beach	Casting
David Leitch	Second Unit Director
Paul Katte	Makeup Special Effects
Rachel Coenen	Makeup Special Effects
Nick Nicolaou	Makeup Special Effects
Georgia Lockhart-Adams	Makeup Special Effects
Kyle Gardiner	Stunts
Alan Poppleton	Stunts
Doug Jackson	Sound Effects
Hutch Parker	Producer
Jesse Prupas	Producer
Ron Bartlett	Sound Effects
James Bolt	Sound Effects
Joseph M. Caracciolo	Producer
David McCormick	Special Effects
Eric Stewart	Special Effects
Nick Haines	Special Effects
Krishnakant Mishra	Special Effects
Dave Everett	Special Effects
Damian Lund	Special Effects
Julian Summers	Special Effects
Shinji Ikefuji	Stunts
Gilbert Larose Jr.	Stunts
Joe Caracciolo, Jr.	Executive Producer
Christopher McQuarrie	Screenwriter
John Palermo	Producer

Editorial Reviews

You can take away his powers and pump him full of lead, but you just can't keep a good mutant down. Director James Mangold and screenwriters Scott Frank and Mark Bomback prove this point with style and energy to spare in the X-Men spin-off The Wolverine, a rare comic-to-film adaptation that doesn't sacrifice substance for the sake of thrilling action. The story begins in Nagasaki. As a B-29 bomber appears in the sky and air-raid sirens howl, panicked Japanese troops begin committing ritual seppuku. Terrified, yet unwilling to sacrifice his own life, young soldier Yashida takes cover in a heavily fortified prison pit containing the immortal mutant Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), who shields him from a deadly blast. Decades later, Wolverine has sworn off violence after he was forced to kill his beloved Jean Grey (Famke Janssen). He's confronting a hunter who has been using illegal, poison-tipped arrows when the sword-wielding Yukio (Rila Fukushima) comes to his aid, and summons him to Japan at the behest of the dying Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), now the head of Japan's largest and most powerful tech giant. Just hours before passing away, Yashida implores Wolverine to protect his granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamato), whom he has personally chosen to take over the family business -- much to the chagrin of her plotting father Shingen (Hiroyuki Sanada). When the yakuza attempt a high-profile kidnapping of Mariko during Yashida's funeral, Wolverine comes to her rescue, and receives some much needed help from enigmatic ninja Harada (Will Yun Lee). Narrowly escaping with their lives, Wolverine and Mariko go into hiding with the yakuza and ruthless mutant Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova) hot on their trail. But the battle is far from over, and with Wolverine's healing powers mysteriously diminished, he may not be able to protect Mariko for long. When X-Men Origins: Wolverine was unleashed onto screens back in 2009, 20th Century Fox was in an uproar over a leaked version of the film featuring unfinished effects, and fans were largely underwhelmed -- not just because of the pedestrian storytelling and action on display, but also the blatant mishandling of Deadpool, a cult character known casually as the "merc with a mouth." In The Wolverine, Mangold, Frank, and Bomback are operating on a whole different level. Taking place after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand and largely drawing inspiration from the popular 1980s Marvel miniseries by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, Frank and Bomback's script folds complex themes of mortality, family, honor, and forgiveness into a kinetic, sci-fi-tinged adventure that ups the ante with each subsequent action scene -- and does a good job at keeping us guessing about key character motivations throughout, providing a fairly straightforward story with a satisfying air of neo-noir mystery. The distinctive Japanese setting gives this one-off a flavor all its own, even as the characters and conflict tie in seamlessly with the universe set up by Bryan Singer 13 years ago (Jackman must have set some sort of record for playing the same comic-book superhero in so many films over such an extended period), resulting in a film that satisfies our craving for mayhem without insulting our intelligence. A battle atop a speeding bullet train successfully redefines a cinematic trope that grew stale decades ago, and just when the story seems to run off the rails in the final reel, Mangold and company manage to pull it back from the brink, bringing the story full circle with a tragic denouement. By now it would be a shock to see Jackman mishandle the character, and in The Wolverine not only do we find the actor in top physical form, but also playing up the mutant's tortured past to poignant effect. His talent for quips can still get big laughs too, as perfectly evidenced in a scene that finds the short-tempered character realizing he hadn't dispatched one of his enemies as intended. The rest of the largely Japanese cast toe the line with sturdy reliability, and Khodchenkova is appropriately serpentine as the poison-spitting Viper. The score by Marco Beltrami, meanwhile, combines Eastern and Western sensibilities with a fantastic ear for detail, at times seeming to echo Ennio Morricone's best work to deliver an air of palpable tension, which helps put this sinewy side story on par with the best of the main series.