Merry Snikt-mas! Here's another trailer for THE WOLVERINE

After waiting months and months, with nothing but teasers posters and set pics, we finally got our first trailer for James Mangold’s The Wolverine yesterday I don’t about you guys, but I m still struggling to get the blood back into my other extremities after being exposed to its awesomeness.

But apparently it’s Snikt-mas time, as the gifts just don’t stop coming, because shortly after that first International trailer released, we got another one domestic one to double up on your Wolvie goodness.

Based on the celebrated comic book arc, this epic action-adventure takes Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), the most iconic character of the X-Men universe, to modern day Japan. Out of his depth in an unknown world, he will face a host of unexpected and deadly opponents in a life-or-death battle that will leave him forever changed. Vulnerable for the first time and pushed to his physical and emotional limits, he confronts not only lethal samurai steel but also his inner struggle against his own immortality.

Clearly director James Mangold is pulling out all the stops when it comes to the action sequences, with that set piece on top of the speeding train clearly being a standout, but what’s really grabbing my attention is the direction that the story is heading into. Wolverine’s extreme healing factor has always been more of a hindrance than a boon in my opinion; it lowered the stakes considerably since you always knew that no matter what happened to him, Wolvie will always be OK after a couple of minutes. In the comics, at one stage his healing factor became so ridiculous that he was capable of regenerating his entire body from just a single eyeball. Eventually though, writers dialed its efficacy down as it made for much better storytelling when your hero could actually be placed in some personal danger.

That seems to be what writers Mark Bomback and Scott Frank have done here, not only upping the stakes for Wolvie but also apparently utting him through a bit of an emotional wringer as he has to adapt to not being able to just absorb whatever punishment gets thrown his way.

And with these two trailers revealing this angle, The Wolverine has just skewered the eyeballs of all the competition and shot straight to the top of my list of most anticipated movies for 2013.

Last Updated: March 28, 2013