After a few days of teasing fanboys with brief glimpses, the first full trailer for The Wolverine has finally clawed its way onto the web. Starting out as a directing vehicle for Darren Aronofsky, with a clear mandate to take a more introspective approach to the feral X-man, hence going with a title that draws immediate comparison to Aronofsky's The Wrestler, the film is now directed by James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma) who claims to have drawn from a myriad of influences in crafting its tone.
While Mangold has claimed to draw inspiration from The Outlaw Josey Wales, Chinatown, and even Chungking Express, the film is mostly driven by Chris Claremont's classic comic book mini-series, which sends Logan (Hugh Jackman) to Japan where he faces old foes, finds new love, and puts his vaunted immortality to the test. We know that this film takes place after the events of X-men: The Last Stand, where Wolverine has seen many of his friends perish, and based on this it looks like he's still racked with guilt over the whole experience.
Mangold is certainly balancing the adamantium-clawed action we all expect with some heavy dramatic beats, a definite departure from the action-oriented but poorly received X-men Origins: Wolverine. But there are also a lot of characters here that most will be unfamiliar with, and while the locale is fresh and exotic, it's not where most casual fans are used to seeing Wolverine in action. There's also an international version of the trailer which serves up some new footage. Both look fantastic to me, but I was hyped for the last film, and that didn't turn out so hot.
The Wolverine opens on July 26th.
