What superhero movie are you most excited for this summer? “The Wolverine”? No, I thought not. Between “Iron Man 3” and the forthcoming “Man of Steel”, along with a slew of non-super block-busters, the sixth X-Men movie and do-over of 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” has been struggling a little to make its way into our collective consciousness. But never fear: we are here to change that.
As we approach the July 26th release date and more details about “The Wolverine” (to be played once again by Hugh Jackman) emerge, it is beginning to look more and more worthy of our attention. Director James Mangold (“Girl, Interrupted,” “Walk The Line”) recently spilled some beans to Entertainment Weekly (print edition only) regarding the more nerd-tantalizing elements of the film, specifically, the role of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), a perenially-resurrected mutant of godlike power who is central to the wider X-Men world and who in this film, despite being a “shadow presence” (and not necessarily alive) “pops up to mock, comfort and advise Logan much as Number 6 tortured Gaius Baltar on ‘Battlestar Galactica‘ ” (we warned you this would get nerdy).
Mangold teased (kind of) on an even more intriguing aspect of the project, a not-so-secretly-filmed final scene featuring Patrick Stewart (Professor X) that will link “The Wolverine” in some way to the forthcoming “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” the next film in the main X-Men series that will serve as both a sequel to 2006’s “X-Men: The Last Stand” and 2011’s “X-Men: First Class.” Asked about going to Montreal recently to shoot a scene, Mangold said “I don’t want to comment.” But then kinda confirmed if anyway, saying: “It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with what’s inside [‘The Wolverine’].”
Are you confused? Yes? Well, don’t worry, because all you really need to know for now is this: “The Wolverine” takes place in Japan and features Wolverine, ninjas, ninjas on motorbikes, a bit with Patrick Stewart, and (we presume) a lot of stabbing. ComingSoon has the pictures to prove it and Empire has a fancy new bilingual cover to show off the Japanese setting. What more could you possibly want?
