The Wolverine

The Wolverine is a sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand which focuses solely on Wolverine and his life after killing Jean Grey. It is the sixth film to be released in the X-Men series, and the first one to be released in 3D.

Plot
Some time after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, Logan has become a recluse after the death of Jean Grey and the disbandment of the X-Men, living in an isolated forest just outside of a small town. He begins experiencing nightmares involving Jean and an event in 1945 Japan, where he saves the life of a young soldier named Yashida after the island is nuked by two planes. One night, he notices a mortally wounded grizzly bear. When Logan encounters the bear, a poison arrow has been shot into its back, and Logan is forced to kill it to put it out of its misery. Logan later encounters one of the hunters responsible for killing the bear in a bar, and stabs him in the hand with the same arrow, only to be attacked by the hunter and other men in a bar. As he is about to attack them, he is stopped by Yukio, a young Japanese woman with the ability to see into the future.

Yukio informs Logan that her employer is dying, and wants to see the Wolverine. she also reveals that her employer is Yashida, the young Japanese man Logan had saved years earlier. Yukio later convinces a reluctant Logan to accompany her to Tokyo by plane, where Logan discovers that Yashida owns a large multi-national company. He and Yukio enter Yashida's hilltop home to discover that he has a number of armed guards due to kidnappings and assassination attempts. There Logan meets Yashida's son Shingen and his granddaughter Mariko, as well as the mutant Viper, who poses as Yashida's oncologist. When Logan is cleaned up, he meets with Yashida, who offers him the chance to become mortal again, in exchange for Logan transferring his healing factor to Yashida, who wishes to live forever. However, Logan turns down the proposal, and Yashida later dies, after Logan awakens from a dream about Jean.

At Yashida's funeral whilst the family pay their respects, Logan catches a glimpse of a tattoo on one of the monks, and identifies him as a member of the Yakuza. He interrupts the ceremony to inform Mariko, only for the monks to reveal themselves as Yakuza members, who kidnap Mariko and shoot Logan, who does not heal from his wounds. Logan chases the members down to save Mariko, accompanied by Harada, a childhood friend and former flame of Mariko. When Logan finds Mariko, he unsuccessfully attempts to convince her that she is still in danger, and follows her onto a bullet train, where he fights off more members of the Yakuza, only to be further injured in the process.

Logan decides to stay under the radar, checking himself and Mariko into a love hotel. There he suffers through another dream involving Jean, and he collapses. Once he is treated by the son of the hotel's owner, Logan and Mariko make it to the Yashida seaside house, where Mariko recounts her childhood with Yukio and Harada, and Logan visits the bunker where he saved Yashida. When escaping from the rain back to the Seaside house, Logan and Mariko have an intimate conversation and later kiss, which leads to them sleeping together. The following morning, Logan wakes up to discover Mariko missing, and chases after her captors, only grabbing one whilst the others escape, and discovers Noburo Mori, the corrupt minister of justice who is to marry Mariko, ordered her kidnapping. He meets up with Yukio, who explains that she had a vision of him lying dead and holding his heart in his hands. He goes to confront Mori, who is flirting and playing with two women, and interrogates him for information on Mariko's whereabouts. Mori reveals that Shingen ordered her kidnapping, and Wolverine throws Mori over the edge of the building, only for him to land incidentally in a swimming pool.

At the Yashida residence, Shingen informs Mariko of how Yashida was to leave everything to Mariko, and attempts to "free" her using his blade. However, Viper and Harada intercept him, and Harada kidnaps Mariko whilst Viper poisons Shingen, and the make their escape. Logan and Yukio enter the residence to find the bodyguards dead, and Logan uses Yashida's pin-bed to discover that viper planted a bug on his heart which caused his healing factor to shut down. Logan cuts into his body to remove the bug, but Shingen intercepts them and fights with Yukio. Logan removes the bug, but supposedly dies on the table. However, he awakens and heals, fighting off an armored Shingen, who stabs him but to no effect. Logan later stabs and kills Shingen.

Logan and Yukio flee to the research facility that Mariko is being held in, but Harada and his men shoot Logan multiple times with their arrows, slowing him down. Viper restrains Logan, and introduces him to the Silver Samurai, a giant robotic Samurai made completely of Adamantium. When the Samurai awakens, it attempts to cut off Logan's claws, but Logan is saved by Mariko and breaks free, fighting the Samurai off. Harada shoots an arrow into Viper, who regenerates her skin and battles Yukio, whilst Harada attempts to redeem himself by fighting the Samurai, only to be slain in the process. Logan continues to fight the Samurai, which cuts off his claws, forcing him to fight the Samurai with the sword. Yukio ties Viper up and hangs her in the air before kicking down, killing her. Logan manages to cut off the Samurai's head, only to fall towards the edge of the research facility, where the Samurai begins to drill into his broken claws. The Samurai reveals itself to be Yashida, who also notifies Logan that the suit keeps him alive. Yashida's age begins to reverse as he claims Logan's healing factor, but Mariko gains the upper hand by throwing the broken off claws at Yashida, giving Logan enough time to disassemble the suit and throw it out of the building, killing Yashida and allowing Logan to regain his healing, also growing his broken claws back in the process, although not made of Adamantium. Logan begins to slip away and encounters Jean, informing her that he killed her because she hurt good people, and he returns to normal.

At the landing strip, Yukio, Logan and Mariko share an emotional farewell, and Mariko begs Logan to stay, although he politely refuses. Yukio becomes Logan's self-proclaimed bodyguard, and asks him where he wants to choose his next destination, to which Logan replies that he'll see.

In a post-credits scene, the film jumps to two years ahead. Instead of going through the scanner, Logan chooses to be patted down, and he notices a small screen which advertises an invention known as the Sentinels created by Trask Industries. Logan also notices several loose pieces of metal in a basket shaking, as well as the scanner. He extends his claws and turns around, meeting Magneto, who explains to Logan that something is wrong, although Logan does not believe him. Magneto agrees and everyone around them freezes, in which Professor Xavier reveals himself, although Logan does not understand how it was possible as Xavier was killed by the Phoenix. Xavier then tells Logan that he is not the only one with gifts.

Cast

 * Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine
 * Tao Okamoto as Mariko Yashida
 * Will Yun Lee as Kenuichio Harada/Silver Samurai
 * Svetlana Khodchenkova as Viper
 * Rila Fukushima as Yukio
 * Hiroyuki Sanada as Lord Shingen
 * Hal Yamanouchi as Yashida
 * Ken Yamamura as Young Yashida
 * Brian Tee as Norubo Mori
 * Naoya Ogawa as a to-be-confirmed character
 * Famke Janssen as Jean Grey
 * Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr
 * Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier

Development
It will be produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Marvel, and Hugh Jackman is slated to return for the sequel. Hood speculated that there will be a sequel, which will be set in Japan. During one of the end credits scenes Logan is seen drinking at a bar in Japan. Such a location was the subject of Claremont and Miller's series, which was not in the first film as Jackman felt "what we need to do is establish who "Logan" is and find out how he became Wolverine". Jackman stated the Claremont-Miller series is his favorite Wolverine story. Of the Japanese arc, Jackman also stated that:

“..there are so many areas of that Japanese story, I love the idea of this kind of anarchic character, the outsider, being in this world - I can see it aesthetically, too - full of honor and tradition and customs and someone who’s really anti-all of that, and trying to negotiate his way. The idea of the samurai, too - and the tradition there. It’s really great. In the comic book he gets his ass kicked by a couple of samurai - not even mutants. He’s shocked by that at first.”

Jackman added that another Wolverine film would be a follow-up rather than continuing on from X-Men: The Last Stand. The inclusion of Deadpool and Gambit also leads to the possibilities of their own spin-offs. Before Wolverine's release, Lauren Shuler Donner approached Simon Beaufoy to write the script, but he did not feel confident enough to commit. On May 5, just two days after its initial weekend run, the sequel was officially confirmed.

Christopher McQuarrie, who went uncredited for his work on X-Men, was hired to write the screenplay for the Wolverine sequel in August 2009.

Darren Aronofsky was announced as director of the film but had relinquished his position to spend time with his family.

Trivia

 * Producer Lauren Shuler Donner approached writer Simon Beaufoy to write the script, but Beaufoy did not feel confident enough to commit.
 * Hugh Jackman is a self-confessed fan of the Chris Claremont-Frank Miller "Wolverine" comic (1982), especially the Japanese saga: "There are so many areas of that Japanese story. I love the idea of this kind of anarchic character, the outsider, being in this world full of honor and tradition and customs; someone who's really anti-all of that, and trying to negotiate his own way. The idea of the samurai too, and the tradition there - it's really great. In the comic book he gets his ass kicked by a couple of samurai - not even mutants."
 * Originally the mutant samurai Psylocke was going to be in this film and Priyanka Chopra was considered for the role, but she was written out of the script.
 * Darren Aronofsky was originally set to direct, but pulled out as the long overseas shoot would prevent him from seeing his family.
 * Christopher McQurrie is the writer of the film. He wrote the Oscar winning screeplay for The Usual Supects, which was directed by X-Men and X2 director Bryan Singer.
 * This will be the first time Wolverine will be in a movie without X-Men attached to the title.
 * Including his cameo in "X-Men: First Class", this will be Jackman's sixth portrayal of Logan/Wolverine, breaking his own record.
 * Jessica Biel was offered the role of Viper but a deal couldn't be reached and she dropped out.
 * Amanda Seyfried was considered for the role of Viper.
 * Jessica Henwick and Katie Leung were considered for the role of Yukio.
 * Togo Igawa was considered for the role of Shingen.
 * Guillermo del Toro expressed interest in directing, being a fan of the Japanese saga in the "Wolverine" comics. He met with James Gianopulos and Hugh Jackman about directing the film, but ultimately decided he did not wish to spend 2-3 years of his life working on the film.
 * In May 2011 Fox was down to a short list of eight candidates to direct: Jose Padilha, Doug Liman, Antoine Fuqua, Mark Romanek, Justin Lin, Gavin O'Connor, Gary Shore and James Mangold. Out of that list Mangold was chosen.
 * According to James Mangold, this film is a sequel to "X-Men: The Last Stand" ("Jean Grey is gone and most of the X-Men are disbanded, so there's a tremendous sense of isolation for Wolverine") but with extended flashbacks.
 * To prepare for the role, Hugh Jackman contacted Dwayne Johnson for advise on bulking up for the movie. Johnson recommended that for six months (24 weeks), gain a pound a week by eating 6,000 calories a day from a diet of "an awful lot of chicken, steak and brown rice."
 * According to James Mangold, the film had started out as a prequel to "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", but later he decided to make it a sequel: "I wanted to tell the story without the burden of handing it off to a film that already exists and having to conform to it. The ideas of immortality reign very heavily in this story, and the burden of immortality weighs heavily on Logan. For me that's such an interesting part of Logan's character that it is nearly impossible to explore in a prequel."
 * Hugh Jackman confirmed on having discussions with director James Mangold about test screening a PG-13 rated cut and an R rated cut, but did not comment on filming sequences for them.
 * Director of photography Amir Mokri was originally brought on to do the film, but was replaced during filming by second unit director of photography Ross Emery. Mokri went on to do the superhero film "Man of Steel".
 * According to James Mangold, this film is influenced by the Japanese samurai films "13 Assassins" and Hiroshi Inagaki's Musashi Miyamoto Samurai trilogy; the Westerns "Shane" and "The Outlaw Josey Wales"; the crime films "The French Connection" and "Chinatown"; and the dramas "Black Narcissus", "Floating Weeds", "Chungking Express" and "Happy Together".
 * Hugh Jackman said that with this film, he finally achieved the physique that he always envisioned in his mind that Wolverine should have. He said that for some reason, on each of his 5 prior takes at the character, he felt that he never had enough time to get in shape; for this film he finally had enough time, and got his body exactly the way he wanted it to look. Co-star Will Yun Lee also said that it was Jackman's best physique for the role of Wolverine.
 * According to Hugh Jackman, Wolverine being surrounded by death while being unable to die due to his healing factor is a major theme in the film: "He realizes everyone he loves dies, and his whole life is full of pain. So it's better that he just escapes. He can't die really. He just wants to get away from everything."
 * The first X-Men film to be released in 3D and IMAX.
 * Famke Janssen filmed her Jean Gray cameo in three days. Hugh Jackman said, "There's no doubt that the most important relationship in his life is - we've seen through the movies - is his relationship with Jean Grey. Yes, we saw her die at the end of X-Men: The Last Stand, but in this movie, she has a presence which I think is vital to the movie, particularly for him confronting the most difficult thing within himself."