Summoned to Japan by a comrade from World War 2, Logan (aka Wolverine) is presented the opportunity to end his curse of near immortality. Born with a mutant healing factor that allows him to recover from virtually any wound, disease or toxin at an accelerated rate, the healing factor also slows down his aging process, enabling him to outlive everyone around him. Vulnerable for the first time and pushed to his limits, Wolverine becomes embroiled in a conflict that forces him to confront Yakuza, ninjas and samurai, but the greatest battle of all is the one where Logan tiptoes between being a monster and becoming a human being.

Scott Collura of IGN writes, “This story paints a deep and compelling portrait of Logan, a haunted character that Hugh Jackman still finds new ways to play all these years later. A standalone adventure for the classic character that reminds us that there’s more to this genre than universe-building and crossovers, The Wolverine is the superhero movie surprise of the summer.”

Jocelyn Noveck of the Associated Press writes, “At this point Hugh Jackman could play the role in his sleep — but he doesn’t, and the nuances he and director James Mangold bring to the character lift this enterprise up from the usual blockbuster-sequel fare.”

BoxOffice.com is predicting that The Wolverine opens at $72M this weekend.

Rating: PG-13 // Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy // Runtime: 2 hr. and 6 min. // Starring: Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, Will Yun Lee // Directed by: James Mangold // Written by: Mark Bomback, Scott Frank, Christopher McQuarrie // Produced by: Twentieth Century Fox, Marvel Entertainment, Donners’ // Distributed by: Twentieth Century Fox